Jim Loparich, Founder, CDIA+
Dealers and resellers looking for a reliable source of OEM and compatible imaging parts and supplies couldn’t find a better partner to handle their fulfillment than Pinnacle Sales, Inc. The company, founded five years ago this October, focuses on providing a combination of the most aggressive pricing, dealer-based knowledge and support and customer service while providing a value-added proposition like no other Master Distributor in the industry.
One of the key benefits of partnering with Pinnacle is access to more than 6,500 imaging supplies of OEM and compatible toner, ink, developer, drums, maintenance kits, and ribbons.
“We do it all,” says Jim Loparich, Pinnacle’s founder.
Pinnacle carries OEM and compatible parts and supplies for an array of brands, including Brother, Canon, Dell, Epson, HP, IBM, Konica Minolta, Kyocera, Lexmark, Océ, OKI, Panasonic, Ricoh, Riso, Samsung, Sharp, Source Technologies, Tally, Toshiba, Troy, Unisys, Xante, and Xerox.
Mission Accomplished
Ask Loparich about the company’s mission and he’ll tell you it’s to provide better fulfillment and support, delivery, service, quality and pricing to dealerships. It’s a mission that’s been far from impossible the five years the company has been in business, and it’s a mission that’s been accomplished again and again. That’s why some of the office technology industry’s biggest dealers count on Pinnacle.
“Our customer service is second to none,” states Loparich. “We have $5-million, $50-million, $150-million dealers doing business with us. They’ll say our customer service is incredible, and that’s what it comes down to, having the best customer service possible. Simply put, the Pinnacle Team is outstanding.”
Loparich knows what he’s talking about and what he’s doing, having spent nearly 35 years in the industry working for dealerships as well as on the OEM side of the business. There he witnessed the manufacturer’s disjointed distribution policies, so when the time came to start Pinnacle, he had a deep understanding of how to ensure that Pinnacle’s fulfillment and distribution could best serve dealers and allow them in turn to best meet the needs of their customers.
Pinnacle has enjoyed consistent growth from the beginning and this year Loparich expects Pinnacle to grow 20 percent over 2013. He also expects Pinnacle to move more than 200,000 units of product in 2014.
The Ultimate Source for Sourcing Product
Another asset Pinnacle has is it doesn’t have a physical inventory. Products are sourced from more than three dozen suppliers across 12 states and 40 warehouse facilities.
“I’m a source for fulfillment,” acknowledges Loparich. “I know where to go to get the product. We’re never married to one inventory. I have 40 inventories to pull from, and because I have multiple locations around the country to source product, it doesn’t matter where I’m conducting business. By not having all that overhead I can keep my costs low, which I pass through to the dealer to give them better pricing and cost structures than they currently have with their major suppliers.”
All orders placed by 5:15PM are blind drop-shipped the same day via one to two-day ground to most parts of the country. Plus Pinnacle offers flat rate shipping no matter the shipment’s destination.
Premier Partner Program Highlights
Being a member of Pinnacle’s Premier Partner Program has its benefits, including:
- Order Integration with Dealer ERP Systems
- Custom Dealer Website at No Charge
- Custom Dealer Color Labels on Cartridges
- Custom Dealer Packing List
- 99.997% Same-Day Cartridge Order Fulfillment
- Private Drop-Shipping
- Batch Order Processing/Deliveries
- Inside Location Desktop Addressing
- Low Flat Rate Shipping Fee with 1-3 Day Ground Delivery Everywhere
- Warehouse/Distribution Facilities – CA, FL, IL, KS, MA, NH, NJ, NY, OH, TN, TX, VA
- Pre-loaded Order Templates for fast, easy on-line customer ordering
- 2-Year Cartridge Guarantee
- Overnight delivery of replacements
- Obscure Product Sourcing
- Wide Selection of Lexmark and HP Fuser & Maintenance Kits
- Lexmark USA Origin Re-manufactured cartridges including BSD Models
- Extensive MICR Product Line
Unique Programs & Capabilities
Dealers and resellers appreciate the unique programs Pinnacle has created just for them. The latest is contract remanufacturing. “We’re going after OEM used drums for MFPs; it doesn’t matter what brand,” explains Loparich. “We figure out if we can remanufacture the item and once we do that, we pick it up, deliver it to one of our U.S. remanufacturers who remanufactures it and returns it to us; we then offer it to the dealer for anywhere from 20-50 percent less than what they’d pay for an OEM product. It’s keeping green as well as cutting costs while providing them with a high-quality product.”
Website sales tools provided by Pinnacle include analysis and reporting tools via the Pinnacle/Dealer site. This allows Pinnacle to provide dealers with sales reports as well as information on such things as volumes and quantities. The database is a full SQL server database commerce site. Pinnacle can lay out the information any way the dealer requests for their customer base. Dealers receive a confirmation for every order the customer places.
“Another major benefit of doing business with Pinnacle is we provide front end PO capture integration for dealer ERP Systems whether it’s OMD or e-automate,” reports Loparich. “At the same time we can also integrate back into the dealer’s system when they process our invoices. Instead of having to reenter our invoice and tracking info into their ERP, we can send them invoice files and integrate the data back into the system to close out the order. Two hours of data entry turns into two minutes with integration. That’s a huge cost benefit to them and their people. We own the software components and the dealer does not pay for it. It’s just a benefit of doing business with us.”
Pinnacle can also set up Websites on behalf of the dealer so it looks like the dealer’s front end or home page. Pinnacle then does what it does best, the heavy lifting, providing the back-end fulfillment. “Dealers don’t have to worry about setting up an e-commerce Website for their customers to log in and place orders,” notes Loparich. “We do that at no charge to the dealer and it’s transparent to their customers.”
Pinnacle’s emphasis on top-notch customer service extends all the way to a dealer’s and reseller’s customer thanks to preloaded Quick Order Forms (QOF), a template, which Pinnacle has created, enabling customers to place an order from the dealer’s Website. The form saves the customer’s time and contains all the preorder information—location, address, etc., and the line items and descriptions of the products.
“They can do that in literally 60 seconds and be done with their order,” says Loparich. “It’s simple, fast, and easy.”
Understanding the Channel
Pinnacle’s staff understands the dealer and reseller channel, and that’s not surprising based on Loparich’s and his sales reps’ background in the industry. Loparich is bullish on meeting with every new dealer Pinnacle brings on board. “It’s important to meet face to face,” he says. “Not all the major suppliers have field sales reps that make sales calls. I believe in that level of customer service and sales. I’ve been doing that for almost 35 years.”
Loparich’s sales reps have even more years in the industry than Loparich. “We have a lot of experience in understanding the dealer channel,” states Loparich. “That’s the key—understanding what dealers need most to support their customers in the field.”
When meeting with prospects Loparich often finds himself explaining his business model, which he points out, if you look at the Pinnacle Website you can’t tell if he’s doing $10 million, $100 million or $10 billion.
“It doesn’t matter,” acknowledges Loparich. “When I explain the story that we don’t have a warehouse and we’re a virtual company and pull from multiple inventories that I’m connected to via software, then they understand it’s a great business model. That’s how we skin the cat as best as we can to keep costs down and provide better fulfillment and a higher fulfillment percentage than our competitors.”
He reports the company is running at an impressive 99.997 percent for same day fulfillment. “That calculates to if I sold 100,000 cartridges today, we’d ship all but three,” boasts Loparich. “That means something to dealers and resellers.”
Don’t Do It Yourself When Pinnacle Can Do It
Another compelling reason why dealers prefer Pinnacle is that it frees up their internal resources from having to search for sources of hard-to-find products. “I have 40 potential sources and that’s what my people do on behalf of the dealer or reseller,” says Loparich. “We let you know within minutes that we’re on top of it and you’ll know within an hour or two where we can get it and at what price. If you want your people doing that, go ahead. Most would rather not; they want their people doing something more productive. That’s a unique proposition for our company.”
Loparich acknowledges that it’s difficult for the average distributor to be all things to all people. “Because of our business model we can because we have all of these resources and locations. If a dealer is locked into a single source and if they don’t have it, they don’t have it. I don’t have that restriction therefore I can be all things to all people because I know where to get it. That’s what separates us from some of the other major players.”
And that’s why dealers and resellers have found the perfect partner in Pinnacle.
Contact Information
Pinnacle Sales, Inc.
159 Crocker Park Blvd. Suite 400, Westlake, OH 44145
T: 440-734-9195 * F: 440-734-9196 * www.psi-ohio.com * sales@psi-ohio.com
