It was a fitting moment when the whole team at Capes, an outstanding medical products distributor, rushed on to the stage to collect the Tauranga business of the year trophy last Friday night.
Teamwork and a commitment to customer service had won them the latest Westpac supreme award.
"I was dragging people up. I wanted them to share the moment of joy," said Capes managing director, Peter Capes. "There's only a few times in your life when you experience the excitement overtaking everyone - for the team to be part of it, that was so special. They are all equals."
Only two members of the 17-strong staff were missing. Standing back, Capes founder David Capes - Peter's father - had a grin from ear to ear.
Ten years ago he left his longtime job as purchasing manager at Tauranga Hospital and started his own distribution business that has now grown into a million-dollar company.
"I thought about the firms that were supplying the hospital and they didn't have the customer service. I knew we could do better than other companies," he said.
Two years after investigating his idea, he started up in the garage of his Otumoetai home - while his wife, Wynn, stayed at the hospital in her administration role.
At first David stocked a small range of the most common products - needles, syringes, woundcare dressings and examination gloves - and supplied rest homes and clinics.
"I remember that after the first month we made a profit of $20 and I thought that was wonderful. As we got bigger and bigger, I kept buying sets of shelves to stock more items."
David operated out of the garage for four years before a patient Wynn encouraged him to move his boxes of medical products into a small shop in Bureta Rd. He took out a lease for a year, but lasted only six months before he again ran out of space.
"The business was exploding," he said. And Capes moved into a 180sq m warehouse in Portside Drive at Mount Maunganui, staying there till the end of 2007. "I thought it was so huge ... after the shop," said David.
By this time he had been joined by Wynn, as the warehouse and administration manager, and by Peter, a registered nurse.
Peter had returned from London in 2002 and also ran the Capes business from his garage in Hamilton.
"I remember the first month I earned $200 and spent $400 on the phone bill," said Peter. "I went cold-calling for sales and delivered the orders. I did the whole nine yards and it was working.
"I told Dad I wouldn't be moving over (to Tauranga) until he moved out of his garage. Some of the product was even getting into the house," said Peter.
He joined his father in 2005 and they formed a successful partnership. The big advantage was that David had the knowledge of suppliers/importers and Peter knew how to use the products because of his nursing background - which included running clinical trials in Europe and in Hamilton.
"That combination meant the customers always got an answer (about products)," said David. "The secret of our success has been customer service ... absolutely no doubt about that.
"We serviced customers in a manner they have never seen before. We provided the best price, fast delivery and didn't substitute products (in an order).
"Our motto is If it's medical, we can supply. On the few occasions we couldn't supply, then we would be honest and advise the customer where they could obtain the product.
"What makes us unique is that we are brand neutral, and we are in a position to be heard in the marketplace. Customers tell us what brand they want and we will supply it," said David.
Capes moved into its present 500sq m warehouse and offices in Tukorako Drive, around the corner from Portside Drive, in November 2007 and it now stocks a range of 4000 items, from alcohol swabs, needles and syringes to hip-protection garments, instruments and doctors' examination couches.
The family-owned business turns over its complete stock every three weeks, and that's impressive.
It buys from some of the biggest medical product suppliers in the world - American multi-nationals 3M Medical and Covidien (formerly Tyco Healthcare), Unomedical, Baxter Healthcare, Britain's Smith and Nephew, and Molnlycke, the biggest distributor in Europe.
Capes has a database of more than 7000 customers around the country, and sells product to health clinics, doctors' surgeries, rest homes, Waipuna Hospice, dentists, veterinarians, all the district health boards and hospitals, and even to tattooists, midwives and beauticians.
"The customers we visited when we started out are still with us," said David, who still looks after the purchasing and pricing. "We'd rather invest in our existing customers and service them properly more than chasing new ones."
It also has a first-aid division and services 1300 businesses through the central North Island, replenishing their first-aid kits every month to three months.
Over the past decade, Capes has experienced annual growth of at least 30 per cent and in some years turnover has doubled.
Its first year reaped revenue of $188,000 and now its trading has touched several million dollars.
Its business development manager, Emil Verster, is putting in an automatic IT system and new bar-coding to make the operation and the business more efficient.
Customers will soon be able to place their orders through a web portal - as well as by phone, fax and email.
The online customised order form will be received by the customer services, sales, administration and warehouse teams at the same time - and packing and delivery can be sped up.
Its been a thrilling 10 years for Capes and the enthusiastic team is confident the business will keep growing. They are planning on increasing their stock and staff, and introducing electric forklifts in the warehouse.
"It's a competitive market and we have to be lean and efficient to compete against companies that are more resourced than us," said David. "We have a recipe working for us, we deliver on our promises, and we are gaining market share week in and week out."
He said Capes entered this year's business awards, for the first time, because "we had no other place to benchmark us".
"No one does it the way we do and we knew we were doing it the correct way.
"Winning the awards - particularly the customer-service category - was confirmation that we could stand up against all sorts of businesses. It was wonderful," said David.
Capes hits top form in 10 years
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