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Polek & Polek
Going the Extra Mile- Knowledge
Let Polek & Polek teach you how
digital copiers can make you more per copy (last
section “Being Distinguished in the Digital Future”); and in
the mean time, pay less for copy machine parts. Need a
high quality copy machine lamp, staple cartridge, drum, or
toner? They can help. Family-owned, Polek and Polek has been
in the copier business for 30 years. In fact, if you need a
new vacuum, you just missed your chance to be a top finalist
in their vacuum hall of shame. 3 dealers with pictures of the
worst vacuums they ever saw won an Omega Vac on Dec. 2nd,
valued at $159.95.
They carry parts for printers, faxes,
and copiers from manufacturers such as Panasonic, HP,
Lexmark, Canon, Konica-Minolta, Kyocera Mita, Copystar, Ricoh,
Savin, Gestetner, Lanier, Hitachi, Brother, Toshiba, Sharp,
and Xerox. And not only do they sell parts, they help
train you on how to sell them. Their website (which recently
up-graded to an e-commerce site in November) displays guides
on selling HP compatibles, End-User Objection Guide-
compatible laser cartridges, marketing, machine power
protection articles, and a company newsletter.
Clearly, Polek & Polek knows copiers and
they know what their customers need to keep their cost per
copy down and their profit margins up. One solution is
compatibles. Another, however, is punctuality. Understanding
end-users helps Polek & Polek understand their dealers’
needs. Same-day shipping on orders made before 4:00 EST, drop
shipping, over-night options, and custom packaging are all
services that will help dealers and technicians stay ahead in
the copier service world.
“We can actually drop ship products to
their customers’ location,” says President and CEO, Chris
Polek, “So, if their customer is out of a bottle of toner or a
fax cartridge [we] can overnight a cartridge to them today, so
that it arrives at their office first thing tomorrow morning.
If it’s a critical replacement part that they need, we’ve had
times that we drop shipped it directly to their customer’s
site so that when the technician shows up, the part has
already arrived at their location instead of them having to
wait to receive it at the office and then drive out to the
customer’s location.”
Home Beginnings to Warehouse
Operations
Polek & Polek, located in Pine Brook,
NJ, is relocating next fall to a 31,000 sq. ft. facility.
“That’s about a 30% increase for us in space over our current
location. We need that to be able to expand for our warehouse
operations and office. We need a bigger location so that’s
why we’ll be moving in the fall,” Chris Polek said. In
addition to increasing in size, they are also experiencing an
increase in revenue. Since 1997, their annual revenue has
tripled. Would you believe a business of this size and
expertise was started out of someone’s home? It was.
In 1974, John Polek founded Polek &
Polek. He had been working for Saxon Business Solutions until
the early 1970’s as the National Sales Manager. “He noticed,
working with copy machines through Saxon Business Systems, the
high prices that were on all the replacement parts for
servicing a copy machine,” Chris Polek said of his dad, John,
founding Polek & Polek.
He went on to say, “What he was looking
to do was offer a high quality alternative to these parts and
be able to offer significant savings to these dealers. So,
what he did was go around the world to find the manufacturers
and factories that made these replacement parts for the
copiers.
He first focused on the copier lamp
manufacturing business and he made an arrangement to offer
those products through Matsushita Electric, which is also
known as Panasonic Company. So, that is how Polek & Polek got
started, by providing the copy machine lamps to copy machine
dealers. And when he had shown his service and high quality
of the copier lamps, most of the customers started asking for
more and more products that they needed help with saving money
or getting timely delivery on. So, my father went out to
expand his product line to provide other parts customers were
asking for. We initially started out with one type of
product and we now carry thousands of different items today,”
said Chris Polek, President and CEO.
Technically, son, Chris Polek began
working full-time for the company in 1988 and in 1999 became
President and CEO He describes this experience nostalgically,
“I was doing some work for my father when he first started the
company. He’d have me help him count inventory on the
weekends, back when I was 10. I’ve even worked during
summers when school was out. When my father first started
the company, I actually made the first sign for Polek and
Polek. A wooden sign and I still have it to this day.
There’s a picture of me holding the sign.”
Another employee that has been with the
company since his school days is Mark Ruggieri. “He started
working for my father back when he was in high school, in
1976,” remembers Chris, “So, he started with us when he was 16
years old. He had originally worked in our warehouse and he
eventually moved into Sales and that’s where he’s been ever
since. I like to refer to him as the youngest 27-year
employee you’ll ever meet.”
Mark’s well known with his customers,
because he’s been with them for so long. Since he was one of
the people who had been here from the start, as far as his
resource and his knowledge of the copier industry, he’s
probably the most knowledgeable one you’ll find. Mark’s one
of our main people here for training and education of the
industry, especially when we bring on board new sales people.”
Chris recalls a poignant story involving
Mark near the company’s inception. “Actually the company was
started out of my father’s house and eventually moved out of
there ... maybe after 4 years. But when he first started
delivering the copier lamps and etc. he had to basically take
the orders and we had to drop them off at a UPS facility
because the business wasn’t big enough at that point [for UPS
to do a pick-up]. In the winter time, Mark Ruggieri,
actually had to load up the orders on a sled one day and bring
them down the hill to get them to a car to get them to the UPS
facility.”
Today, of course, UPS comes to Polek &
Polek. Chris recounts where UPS has managed to find Polek &
Polek over the last 30 years, “As the business grew, he [John
Polek] got it out of the house and got it to a bigger
location. From his home, the company moved to Bloomfield, New
Jersey; Cedar Grove in two different locations; then, we moved
to Pine Brook, and next, Fairfield. So, since my father’s
house, we have moved a total of 4 times. We have been in 5
different locations over the 30 year history of our business
and we will be moving again for a 5th time next
year in the fall of 2004."
Being Distinguished in the Digital
Future
“What most of the customers that we talk
to like about doing business with us is the overall experience
that they have with Polek & Polek and how satisfied they are
with everything. Our main focus is on the customers’
experience and what we can do to make it the best out
there,” says Chris.
Their typical customer is either an
authorized copier dealership or smaller service company that
takes care of servicing copiers, faxes, and printers. The
typical order ranges from one part needed as an emergency to
large truck orders of toner supplies and parts.
“The most important thing that they’re
dealing with when we talk about our customers (dealerships)
and their customers (end users) is the ability to service
their customers in a timely manner and getting product there
on time. So, when there’s an emergency they know we can help
them out,”says Chris.
He goes on to speak about changes in the
industry, “One of the biggest challenges in our industry is
the speed of new products being introduced into the
marketplace. I would say in the last four-five years, the
introduction of new products has probably doubled from what it
was previously. So, our biggest challenge has been developing
new products for the new models as they keep coming out.
Until we offer the alternative products, our dealers will have
to pay premium prices directly from the OEM’s. And since a
majority of [service companies’] business is done on a cost
per copy basis, their profit margins suffer when they have to
pay the premium prices for a lot of those products, so we help
them lower those costs to increase their profits.
“Since all the new products are digital,
they are coming out faster and they are getting replaced
faster out in the field, which is a good thing. It is
challenging to keep up with the products, but it is also a
good thing for us and for our dealers because they do business
on a cost per copy basis. For example, we put in a digitally
connected copier into our office here last year. We got a
Minolta Di450, which we had connected to our network. Once we
connected it to our network, the number of copies going
through the Minolta copier was fifty percent more than our
previous (stand alone copier) volume. So, if dealers can
connect more of these machines to networks, they can see
significant increases in the copy volume, which will help
increase their revenues and profits,” says Chris Polek.
Contact Info:
T: 800.526.1360
973.439.2700
F: 800.426.7972
973.439.2720
www.polek.com
(E-commerce site now available! Start ordering online
TODAY!)
10 New Maple Ave.
#307
Pine Brook, NJ 07058
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