Business Profile: Shipman Ward

Machines, Experience and Customer Service

–When You Need Them

By Jamie Hamilton

“When a customer of ours in eastern Pennsylvania told us that he would lose a sale if we could not get a machine to him by that afternoon, we did what we had to: get it there. I loaded it into the company van and drove it to them myself.”

The drive was 1 ½ hours one way for Sandy Scheps, director of copier sales and marketing for Shipman Ward, from their New Jersey headquarters. After researching the cost to the customer of what a courier service would charge, Shipman Ward quickly realized that what their customer needed was expedient service and not additional cost.

“Sometimes dealers depend on ‘just-in-time’ inventory because they can’t stock a warehouse full of machines,” Scheps says. “It’s part of our customer service to provide the most efficient service possible to meet these dealers’ needs.”

And with distribution centers in Moonachie, N.J., Columbus, Ohio, Valencia, Calif. and Miami, Fla., their service area spans the U.S. so that they can do just that: deliver products when dealers need them most.

“We believe that we are the dealer’s insurance: insurance that we’ll have inventory on hand when others won’t; insurance that we have the right products to help the dealers reach more customers; and insurance that we have the experience and expertise to actually help the dealers along the way,” Scheps says.

“We’re not just a voice on the other end of the phone,” he adds. “We do make field visits to dealers all over the U.S.A., taught sales training and provided service training over the years. And these, too, are where we differ from most.”

An award-winning company—having earned over 45 awards from NOMDA/BTA since 1989, including General Line Manufacturer of the Year, and a listing in INC. Magazine’s Top 500 List— Shipman Ward focuses on the industry’s demands of dealers. They realize that dealers need seasoned professionals assisting them, as the market morphs continuously. This is why Shipman Ward has established an unusual method of customer assistance that concentrates on servicing dealers through experienced, veteran industry personnel.

Shipman Ward prides itself on a tenured staff. Many of their employees have been with them for over 10 years (Shipman Ward was started in the 1920s). For instance, Edna Wittemann, West Coast factory distribution center manager, has been with the company over 15 years; southern factory distribution center manager George Mougious, almost 30 years; national sales manager Ed Michael, nearly 20 years (and everyone on his staff has been there 11 years or longer); eastern regional manager Bob Abetamarco, 11 years; and Scheps too for 10 (35 years in the copier industry). Longevity greater than 10 years with Shipman Ward holds true for many administrative and warehouse staff as well.

Scheps described their customer service technique: “New customers come to realize, very quickly, that our personnel are very different in terms of product and support knowledge than most sales and customer support staff at other vendors.

“Hourly clerks sitting in front of computers with lists and prices do not service our clientele,” he says. “You will always talk to Sandy, Ed, Bob, Matt, Paul, Nick, Ritesh, Noelle, Edna, Jim, Dave, George, Marco, Eddie Sr. and Eddie Jr.

“Having employees with that much tenure only benefits our customers, because we truly know their needs and can react to their selling demands,” Scheps points out, “Dealers can rely on the fact that someone they have had a business relationship with for an extended period of time will answer the phone. They can expect prompt, courteous and thoroughly knowledgeable responses, even if a dealer has to leave a message.”

Since 1995, Shipman Ward has been Minolta’s Authorized National Wholesale Distributor. They sell Minolta machines, parts and supplies, as well as Copystar copiers, parts and supplies.

Customer Quick Note: Shipman Ward has no minimum quantity order; orders made before 2 p.m. are shipped the same day; and quantity price breaks as well as blind drop ships are available.

Customers that need marketing assistance can find help at Shipman Ward, too. They provide dealers with marketing strategy solutions as well as the creation of ads, logos and brochures. This service has always been free for Shipman Ward customers—part of the value-added benefit provided for their clientele.

Also, look forward to purchasing online soon at Shipman Ward. They are working on a website designed to help dealers place orders 24 hours a day. The site will also provide customer service information and technical support.

While Shipman Ward is looking forward to these technological advances, their history itself is notable. Started in the 1920s as a typewriter remanufacturer, Shipman Ward quickly grew from eight original employees.

In 1960, Dominic Vespia went to work in the warehouse at Shipman Ward after being honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps. He worked his way through the ranks of the company progressing to technician, then becoming a sales rep, a very successful one. Eventually, he bought the company. In 1986, Shipman Ward moved its world headquarters to a new location in Moonachie, N.J., where they operate from today.

Shipman Ward has grown into a team of more than 30 nationwide employees selling to and supporting dealers all over the United States, Canada and Latin America. They occupy 100,000 square feet of warehouse and office space nationally to accommodate their national distribution plan.

“We have always maintained a very formidable and viable national presence, at first in typewriters and now in copiers,” Scheps says. “We want to be sure that dealers have access to us via strategic logistics with actual paid Shipman Ward personnel, not public warehousing and third party shipping. Part of our mission statement is: ‘Shipman Ward, Here To Stay—A Landmark Commitment To The Local Dealer!’ and we sincerely mean that.”

With commitment to the dealer at the forefront of the Shipman Ward customer service philosophy, going the extra mile for a customer isn’t happenstance, it’s customary.

In another instance, Shipman Ward made sure one customer not only had their order for a trade show but showed them how to use it before the show. The customer was in Long Island, N.Y., at a highly influential consumer show where they were exhibiting for the first time.

Scheps drove the 2½ hours to meet his customer at the show. He left his house at 5:30 a.m. to make it there by 8:00. “I wanted to meet him in his booth before the show,” he recalls. “By the time attendees began filing in, the customer was performing the demo of the new machine himself, and the dealer sold the machine at the show!”

Contact Shipman Ward:

East Coast/ Midwest: 1-800-577-0070

West Coast: 1-800-234-1322

South: 1-800-437-4741