During the summer I had the chance to catch up with Chris Polek (CEO) of Polek & Polek for a short interview so our readers and members could learn more about Chris and his company.
Now, I'm probably not the best at this, however I think I'm getting better and hope to bring more of these interviews in the near future with our other sponsors. Enjoy!!
I know Polek & Polek is a Premium provider of supplies for the office equipment industry. When did Polek & Polek first open their doors and where?
In the Summer of 1974, Polek & Polek started as a one person army (John Polek, my father) out of his home in Montclair, New Jersey.
How did you get involved with the company?
I have always had some involvement with Polek & Polek since its beginnings. When my father first told me he had opened up his own business, I made him a wooden sign while I was away at summer camp. My father proudly hung that first company sign on the wall over his desk, and I still have that sign in my possession today.
I spent plenty of weekends, and also time during school break in the summer working in some capacity at Polek & Polek; I have had experience working in just about every type of job in the company over the course of my career. I joined on as a full time employee in 1988.
How many people does Polek & Polek employee?
We have 22 employees.
What makes Polek & Polek unique and special in the market place?
If you want to talk with us during business hours, you will always be able to talk with a live person from the moment you call; that will never change. We feel that if you have an important question, or problem that needs to be solved that it is always best to be able to talk with a live person with ease, when you want to. Business is about people doing business with people, more importantly, people they like. In these times, I find it amazing that that you will find some companies that go out of their way to make it almost impossible to talk with a live person!
Does Polek & Polek support any trade associations, and if so why?
We help support trade associations that help support the education and financial growth of Independent Dealers. The Independent Dealers are the lifeblood of our business. It is important for Polek & Polek to continue to find consistent and new ways to help support the Independent Dealers forever. Some of the groups we help support are Business Technology Association (BTA), International Business Products, Inc. (IBPI), Copier Dealers Association (CDA), and Independent Copier Dealer Alliance (ICDA).
Do you offer additional products besides toner, if so what products?
More than 50% of MFP’s placed in the field have some type of finishing equipment on them. We provide the Swingline brand of refill staples. Our dealers love them because they are getting a high quality, world class recognized brand, and saving lots of money versus buying from the OEM. Whether the equipment dealers sell is Ricoh, Canon, Xerox, Konica Minolta, Sharp, or HP, etc., when it comes to stapling, customers recognize Swingline way before any of those other OEM brands. Our customers tell us it was one of the easiest money saving decisions they have made.
We also offer many of the popular technician replaceable parts, such as drums, cleaning blades, fusers, paper feed rollers, etc.
Do you think you’ll be offering 3D printer supplies in the near future?
We don’t have any immediate plans to offer products in that sector. It is quite an incredible technology. Some dealers we do business with have just begun to get involved in this market. So we are learning more about this new technology as they are, and learning where we may find a place in this new business.
Since Polek & Polek is located in North Jersey, what are your favorite sports teams?
My favorite sports teams are the Yankees, Giants, and Devils.
Have you ever had the special order or sale that made you say “that’s why I do this” and if so please tell me about it.
About a year and a half ago, we were introducing a new popular toner for use in Kyocera. We always get interest from our regular customers during the development stages about when the product will be available, yet I was surprised when the owner of this company reached me on my cell phone to ask for the price on the new toner we were introducing. I explained that we had completed testing of the toner, and we were still about six weeks away from stocking regular inventory. Naturally I asked, “What’ the reason that you need this price today?”
He went on to explain that the renewal was coming up on one of his largest customers, and he would be competing against another manufacturer on this renewal. Thankfully as a courtesy of being the incumbent vendor, his customer provided him with the competing bid. “I already did the math on this bid, and if I use OEM toner, I will not beat the other manufacturer. I will lose this customer,” he said. “And I have to submit my bid by next week. If I have the cost on your product, at least I have a shot at keeping this customer’s business. We were able to get him a cost quoted in a day, and he subsequently won the contract, and avoided losing a major account.
Do you offer special discounts to Print4Pay Hotel members, if so please explain.
We don’t have any specific discount program for Print4Pay Hotel members. I am will to provide a special offer that would be relevant to all companies that are Print4Pay Hotel members. We will offer Print4Pay members an opportunity to take the Swingline challenge and see themselves that by making this small change and using Swingline brand staples versus buying from the OEM will add significant profits to their bottom line. Call Polek & Polek, mention this interview, and we will provide those member companies with a free box (limit one per company) of Swingline brand staples to help get them started.
Over your career in supply sales I’m sure you may have a funny or humorous story, can you tell us one?
I think about back to our early days of being in business when we still operated out of my father’s house. There was a long, steep driveway to get to the house. When heavy snowstorms were forecast, it was impossible to get a car up and down the driveway. We were a very small company then, and did not qualify to have packages picked up from UPS. We had to bring our own packages to the UPS hub in Newark, New Jersey. We had this really bad blizzard in the winter of 1977. Mark Ruggieri, who still works with us today, was in high school and packed orders in the afternoon and got them delivered to UPS. Mark is one of our most dedicated employees, and he showed it early on that day. With nearly a foot of snow already on the ground, Mark went and got my brother’s sled out of the garage, and got all the boxes on the sled. He got the packages all the way down the hill, loaded into the car, and got them off to UPS, so they would be delivered to our customers on time!
I enjoyed this, I've known and done business with Polek & Polek since 1986. Never had a issue or problem. The entire team is there to serve. Please feel free to contact them Customer Support or give them a shout and mention the Print4Pay Hotel 800-526-1360.
-=Good Selling=-
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