Madison, WI – Although their company’s name is relatively new, for the past 50 years the Stevenson family and trusted employees have built a solid reputation as a janitorial/sanitary distributor and commercial cleaning service provider in and around Madison, WI. Today, Hoffman Chemical and Supply Co., Inc. is becoming KleenMark Facility Supplies.
Known as KleenMark since April 2005, for many years prior, people seeking cleaning supplies, services and advice in and around the capital city of Wisconsin looked toward Hoffman Chemical & Supply Co., Inc. However, as times changed, so did the need for a new name, logo and overall image.
Today, KleenMark’s jan/san distribution and commercial cleaning services headquarters is located in Madison, while the company also operates two commercial cleaning satellite offices, one each in the Wisconsin cities of Milwaukee and Appleton.
“Having the (commercial cleaning) services side to our business has really helped us as a jan/san distributor. It’s something we never used to leverage before until our company name change took place,” KleenMark President and CEO Scott Stevenson said. “Today, when working with customers, we look them in the eyes and say, ‘We know these products we sell work because we have 600 employees on our commercial cleaning services side who use them on a daily basis. We can’t afford to not have these products work.’”
Stevenson added that a new jan/san cleaning product doesn’t enter KleenMark’s distribution side of the business until it’s been field tested by those working in the company’s commercial cleaning services side.
“For example, if there is a new carpet extractor being introduced by one of our vendors, before we sell it to our distribution customers, we test it ourselves in the field. We can do this due to our commercial cleaning operation,” Stevenson said.
In a further effort to make sure KleenMark’s jan/san customers are offered the best in new, innovative product choices, company officials have put together a product committee.
“Some distributors do not respond properly to new product offerings available from suppliers,” KleenMark Senior Vice President Phil Durst said. “Many (suppliers) bring in new products and new opportunities. Yet, too often, only one person at a distributorship will look at these new products and into the sample closet they go, not to be seen again.”
To combat this possibility at KleenMark, the company’s product committee involves employees working in purchasing, management and sales to help provide a wide range of input.
“We let suppliers make presentations, and we (the committee) then decide if a particular new product could work for our customers. If there is a feeling it will, then we field test this product without directly impacting one of our customers per se,” Durst said. “Using our service side of the business gives our sales staff confidence to know that they are going out there with something new that we have already tested. They, therefore, have no reservations about this new product.
“They can also show that our company has been in the business for 50 years and is still growing.”
Durst added that KleenMark’s sales force also benefits from the company’s commitment toward recognized name brands that it has carried for years. Trusted lines continue to be expanded, with the distributorship enjoying the support of well-known manufacturers.
(The rest of this article can be found in the November/December 2006 issue of Maintenance Sales News magazine).
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