The Northwest Wisconsin Regional Economic Development Fund, Inc. (NWREDF) awarded funding to help Rob’s Snowplow Sales and Service to purchase back stock of inventory and equipment that will help service all customers.
Rob Pocernich’s 14 years of small business ownership began in 2004 when he opened Rob’s Snowplow Sales and Service, LLC. At this time, he had worked at Northern Clearing for 13 years as a mechanic and snowplow driver, where he honed in his service skills, specifically with the plow installation and maintenance.
“Northern Clearing encouraged me to take over their Boss Plow installation line, as they knew my abilities and that I had the work ethic to turn it into a success,” Pocernich explained.
“The beginning really forged the business as from 2004 to 2005, I worked for both Northern Clearing and myself, but it cleared the way for me to open right,” Pocernich added. The transition took a couple years, but in 2009, Pocernich was able to go fully on his own and able to take June and July off to maintain his own inventory, and in 2011, Pocernich turned his business into a year round operation that services all makes and models of plows.
The building Rob Pocernich operates out of was originally built as a personal shop. Knowing that he had built a shop large enough for a snowplow installation and service, Pocernich started with the Boss snow plow line and has since added Western snow plows to his product line. Typically, he starts putting new plows on vehicles in August and runs out of plows by spring. However, he continually services the plows year round.
Knowing his strong success, former Bayfield County Economic Development Director Scottie Sandstrom referred Rob’s Snowplow Sales and Service. “Pocernich’s success was attributed to strong customers’ confidence thanks to his offering high quality service and plow selections. I knew his reputation and integrity would be a good fit for [NWREDF] funding,” Sandstrom stated.
Pocernich’s main challenge was obtaining enough current and late model part stock in his shop. Although the design and parts remain the same for many years in a row, when there is a year that finds a part modification or change, Pocernich has to special order the part. This slows the process down and adds to the overall cost to service the plow and vehicle. Pocernich likes to keep at least 2-3 years’ worth of part stock on hand, and have enough current and parts stock to make the efforts worthwhile.
“This funding really helped me provide fast service to my loyal customers as I have all the back stock on my shelves at all times,” Pocernich stated.
NWREDF revolving loan funding provided the critical inventory supply for Rob’s Snowplow Sales and Service to continue offering quick and quality service for late model plows and vehicles. To see if your business would qualify for a startup, transition or expansion loan product at NWRPC, contact loan fund manager Ken Pearson at (715) 635-2197.