Brothers Kevin & Craig Zabel began servicing x-ray equipment for the same company in 1994. They mainly serviced film processors, silver recovery equipment and daylight film handling systems. They were confident with their work and the service they offered their customers, but they always felt they could provide better customer service than the company they were working for. After six years with the same company and much debate, they decided to take a leap of faith and open their own business. On January 1, 2000 (Y2K, the day the world was predicted to end) they founded Z&Z Medical in Cedar Falls, Iowa. They had no way of knowing if any of the customers from their previous employer would follow them and convert to doing business with Z&Z, but they had to try.
The Zabel’s rented an old two stall carwash in town to serve as a warehouse for chemicals, equipment, and scrap x-ray film. The space was very minimal, but it was just enough to get started. They sold film processors, developing chemicals, x-ray film, silver recovery systems and radiology accessories. Service was Z&Z’s bread and butter so much emphasis was placed on the repair of film processors, chemical mixers, silver recovery systems and daylight film handling equipment. In an effort to save money on postage stamps and envelopes, all service invoices were handwritten on the spot for each customer and left with them for later payment.
The warehouse they rented wasn’t big enough to have space for offices, so both Kevin and Craig operated remote offices from their homes. To stay ahead of the office paperwork and free up time for both brothers to stay on the road servicing equipment, Craig’s wife Connie offered to take care of Accounts receivable and payable. This also was done by sharing office space with Craig from the basement of their home.
After opening for business, they began notifying people of their new venture and the services they offered. It was a great feeling after two weeks of being in business to finally receive their first check from a customer. Things started slow, but before long customers started to use Z&Z’s services. After a few months they decided to add Kevin’s son-in-law, Brian as a third service technician and digital expert. Business continued to grow at a slow but steady pace and before long they added a full-time salesman and moved into a larger building. Service was expanded to include x-ray and digital imaging and sales were expanded with the addition of an on-line e-commerce web store.
Business continued to grow at a steady pace, and as they say, “The rest is history.”
~Craig Zabel, Senior Partner
Organizations and companies are like people. They evolve and change over time. Like people, companies reflect their creators, their environments, their obstacles, and their strengths. They carry a core instruction set that informs he actions and outcomes of its work. It’s important to have a real understanding of your company’s DNA to be able to thrive and to win, as changes occur down the road. The key to maximizing the competitive advantage is to pinpoint that DNA and use it to grow. There are 6 basic principles for working on your company’s DNA.
Success today is as dependent on who a company is as much as on what it does. Knowing your company’s DNA and working with it – rather than against it- paves the paths to success for years to come. Knowing what you’re made of helps you make something of it. Z&Z Medical is proud to be a small family owned Midwest company that is focused on providing the healthcare community with the tools that empower them to build healthier lives. Our promise is to go the extra mile to build long term relationships and to be honest, people focused, responsive, forward thinking, and exude quality. This mission, our promise and principles are proudly displayed in our office.
The staff at Z & Z Medical is made up of some of the most qualified and courteous individuals that any company could ever have working for them. We place customer service as our most important concern and complete customer satisfaction is our number one goal. Every customer is the most important customer we have. Regardless of the size of their company or as an individual, we value every customer that chooses to do business with Z&Z Medical. With our direct ties to the Midwest and Southern regions of the US, we have a very strong work ethic and a very high value for the care and concern of our families. Work is very important to us, but families make life worth living.
Z&Z Medical operates as a company that provides sales and service of products to customers in the medical industry. Our primary focus is on products in the radiology field. We continually evaluate products in various fields and strive to select those that best fit the high level of quality that we want to provide our customers. We strive to make the buying process as quick and easy as possible for the customer out of respect of their time.
One of our goals is to acquire and keep customers through a long-term relationship that is beneficial to both Z&Z Medical and the customer. We are not interested in quick sales to boost monthly quotas or profit, rather to establish a relationship with the customer that will continue for many years. Another critical goal is to purchase products as close to the point of manufacture, eliminating as many middlemen as possible. We strive to find vendors with similar business practices to ours. They must have good quality products, be responsive to our needs and the needs of our customers. We also offer products manufactured specifically for Z&Z Medical. These unique items allow us to offer our customers the best quality and price in the industry as well as control of the quality of these items directly with the manufacture. We try to maintain a list of products that is of the highest quality and offer them at the most affordable price to all our customers.