If the pandemic has taught Tarek Hafiz anything, it is that the ways and means of conducting business will continue to change over time as the needs of clients evolve. It is not that businesses are incapable of adapting to the sometimes violent changes that visit a given industry, but when everything else that a provider could once count on to be true has disappeared, the only thing that remains is a relationship.
Just ask Hafiz. Many of the original employees he hired when CBE Office Solutions of Irvine, California (a Flex Technology Group Company), debuted in 1993—and a lion’s share of the clients he developed in the formative years—remain with him today. Regardless of whether Hafiz is selling copiers, service or widgets, having embraced the importance of cultivating enduring relationships is what has kept CBE in business for the better part of 30 years, and will carry the company well beyond.
Cliché as it may sound, taking care of the people who take care of your customers is the foundation of sustainability and Business 101. People buy from the people they like, which will remain unchanged despite all the forces (pandemics, recessions, etc.) that have applied downward pressure on business. Hafiz may not have a full picture regarding what business will look like tomorrow, but he takes consolation in knowing he WILL be in business.
“We hope to see the return of stability and get back to some type of normal life and business,” said Hafiz, a 2020 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “Because we’ll have a new way of doing business, we’ll have new opportunities, and I’m 100% sure of that. There’s going to be a tremendous opportunity for all of us. We’re a service provider, whatever that service is…we’ll always be here for our customers, and there will always be business from them.”
Toner in Blood
Hafiz found the path to his true calling in the mid-1980s. He was making a living as an insurance agent, albeit not happily, when his father paid him a visit. The elder Hafiz had sold copiers in his home country of Kuwait and suggested that his son give the industry a shot. While he initially rejected that idea, Hafiz appeased his father by getting a junior sales rep job with a firm called SKM Copiers, a Konica and Mita dealer. He spent the better part of eight years with SKM, learning how to sell himself and the company to prospects while appreciating the value of relationship building.
With the valuable experience under his belt, Hafiz started CBE in 1993, using extra space in the warehouse of his brother’s company as a base of operations. He purchased used equipment from a leasing company, and a technician friend dropped by after hours to refurbish those machines for resale. His marketing consisted of classified newspaper advertisements.
Hafiz couldn’t afford experienced industry salespeople, so he latched onto people either fresh out of college or transitioning from different industries. He sold using the cost-per-copy model, which worked well for his purposes. And the self-professed “news junkie” decided to advertise on news radio stations, just in time for the onset of the O.J. Simpson trial, exposure that was probably worth 10 times what he was paying.
“Our name got out there in a huge way,” he noted. “People must have thought we were a big company to be advertising then.”
But through it all, one of the constants remained the relationships he was able to cultivate inside his company and within his markets. Hafiz loves that many of his own people have enjoyed personal growth that has mirrored the company’s success.
“Success of the company is really based on hiring the right people and keeping them,” he noted. “And we still have customers who have been with us since 1993, and they are like family to us. The customers need that familiarity with your people; you don’t want sales reps or service techs constantly changing. Our customers find it very rewarding to work with us.”
Bucking Trends
Hafiz isn’t afraid of going against the grain, either. During the 2007-2008 economic downturn, he hired more sales reps at a time when other companies were trimming their ranks. He knew these reps would bring a book of business with them, and those portables would help CBE thrive, especially after exiting the Great Recession.
CBE continues its own evolution; despite the pandemic, Hafiz and Co. reaped the company’s largest-ever takedown, a school district account that resulted in nearly $2 million worth of work. And the dealership continues to break new ground on the strength of the 2019 acquisition by Flex Technology Group, which provided Hafiz with more tool and resource firepower than he ever could have realized as an independent.
Still, in the final analysis, relationships are the lone common denominator, and Hafiz is excited to see what the future brings. “We can’t stick to our old ways, even if they’ve served us well for the last five or ten years,” he said. “We have to figure out what that new normal will be and adjust to it.”
Away from the office, Hafiz—a father of two—enjoys spending time with his two grandchildren. He enjoys reading, walks on the beach and staying active by playing tennis.
