No Boundaries

the sale in order to get the repair business. There are certain lines of equipment for
which we don’t carry the parts or whatever else is necessary to service. In those cases,
we link up with another repair house locally that has parts for all of the lines. When a
repair is outside our expertise, we have a place to go.”
Competing In A Changing Marketplace
One of JC Paper’s goals as it continues to compete and grow in today’s everchanging
business landscape is to remain flexible and to remain open to
change. “I read recently that there are 330,000 distribution points in the
DUSTING
FOODSERVICE
Colour coded combos
are available in Green
Blue Red, Yellow and
Grey to help prevent
cross contamination
WET MOPPING
WIPING
FLOOR SQUEEGEES
Available for
PRIVATE
LABEL
COLOUR
CODE
SYSTEM
United States. The article also said within 10 years 70 percent of those will be out of
business,” Shipman said. “That doesn’t mean distribution isn’t important. Rather, it
means distributors are going to have to come up with a different set of game plans
to compete, and I think technology is going to lead the way.
“A lot of buying decisions are being taken away from department heads and are
being made by people who are in the financial end of companies. This means a CFO
(chief finance officer) is the one deciding with what supplier his or her company is
going to do business. CFOs are making decisions outside the scope of the guy who
actually does the cleaning.
“Our goal is to be flexible enough to take an order however it comes to us, and
to be responsive to whatever the
needs customers may have.”
Clarke echoed Shipman’s remarks
on the importance of JC Paper to be
able to take orders no matter how customers
choose to place them, whether
Introducing A New
Colour Code System
available for many
of our products.
FLAT MOPPING
by phone, email, online, etc. Clarke
also reiterated how important it will
be as the company moves into the future
for sales people to be on top of
their game and be willing to adjust to
change.
“We tell our newer sales people,
‘Drive down the road and if a business
or facility has a parking lot with
cars in it, it is a customer. There are
people there who need the basics.
They need skin care, trash can liners,
etc., and you are a supply source that
every customer down the road needs.
It is for you to ingratiate yourself
there so we, as a company, can provide
the customer the ability to place
an order however he or she likes,’”
Clarke said.
Clarke is optimistic that JC Paper
will have a strong future in its market.
He said it is important the company
continues the process of distinguishing
the Clean Smart Solutions Division
from the paper side of the
business.
“We know the printing paper side
of our business is a challenge. The
supply side of that business is diminishing.
Fifteen years ago there were
11 paper distributors in our market,
and now there are only three. On the
jan/san side, there are probably 30 or
40 distributors in the San Francisco
Bay Area. I think there will always be
a need for jan/san distributors, because
the customer base for jan/san
products is out there.” Clarke said.
Going down the road, Clarke said
the Clean Smart Solutions Division
will continue to expand in such areas
as healthcare, CRE, government and
education to offset expected declines
in the printing paper market.
“We are more flexible and more
willing to change than many of our
larger competitors,” Clarke said. “If
we want to make a change, there is a
three-member management team here
who can make decisions. We don’t
have to go to a corporate headquarters
or somewhere else.”
59 Talman Court, Concord ON L4K 4L5
T: 905.738.2007 I F: 905.738.2006
marino@m2mfg.com I www.m2mfg.com
Contact:
JC Paper,
47422 Kato Road,
Fremont, CA 94538.
Phone: 800-527-2737.
Website: www.jcpaper.com.
16 — Maintenance Sales News — January/February 2016