A Sense of Direction
Mark Frisch knew his way around town, but it took a lot more than that to get his dental distributorship up and running
by Laura Thill
Mark Frisch had a great sense of direction. As a taxi driver in New York City, he certainly knew his way around town. But, driving a cab doesn’t pay the rent, and the newly married Frisch was forced to make a change. Armed with foresight and creativity, the future dental products distributor knew exactly what steps he needed to take.
"At the time, I knew a lot of people who sold medical products, but I didn’t know of anyone who sold dental supplies," he recalls. But, while the idea was appealing, he had "no money to start a business, no business know-how and no family in a position to help out," he says. Not to mention how difficult it can be to get new dental lines, he adds. "So, I decided to start out with disposables. They have no expiration date and, if you work very hard, it’s not [impossible] to make a small margin of profit. I had nothing to lose." So, in 2003, he began MSF Dental in Upstate New York, today known as Garden State Dental Supplies (Freehold, N.J.).
The early years
That’s not to say getting his business going was easy. In fact, it was anything but, notes Frisch. "Back then, [my wife and I] were living in a one-bedroom basement apartment," he recalls. This is where he housed his fax machine and stock, which primarily consisted of bibs and cups. "Basically, I would put it all in my car and peddle it to dentists," says Frisch. "I would leave at 6:30 a.m. to avoid traffic and make it to the dentist’s office by 9:00 a.m., and drive from Upstate New York to Brooklyn, where I’d pick up more bibs and cups." On his way back, he’d stop off for impression and mixing trays.
"I began by selling $20 items out of my car," he continues. "Sometimes, I’d walk into a dental practice without an appointment." Still, he was "cheaper than others," and his customers quickly took note of him. "Dentists began asking for more and more products," says Frisch, who never veered from his mission to ensure that all of his customers remain happy. Within several years, his business had grown to the point where it became necessary to add a partner. And, today, Garden State Dental Supplies operates from a 7,000-square-foot warehouse in New Jersey, with five field reps covering the Tri-State area. "We have two salespeople in New York, two in New Jersey and one who covers the NYC area," he says. In addition, the company also has several telesales reps.
In recent years, Frisch has been working on "getting his name out there." Controlled growth of his company is important, he points out, so he’s "trying to take it one step at a time." Still, the competition today is fierce, so joining National Distribution and Contracting (Nashville, Tenn.) was a great move, he believes.
"Selling today (compared with past years) is much tougher," says Frisch. "Yes, the economy has played a role. But, when I first started out, there weren’t as many really small companies such as mine. Today, so many more [people] have dental supplies to sell, and this presents much more competition. [The industry] wasn’t so widespread six years ago." For Frisch, this means he must work that much more diligently to ensure his customers are satisfied. "Last Sunday, for instance, I drove to our warehouse in New Jersey to pick up a missing item from a customer’s order, and then I delivered it to the dentist in Brooklyn," he says. "My customers must be happy, and I go out of my way to make sure of that."
Greatest challenge
The most difficult part of starting his distributorship was raising the necessary capital, says Frisch. "No one wants to lend a new, small company any money," he points out. "And you need money to grow and expand. So, if you have a [customer] with 28 offices and they all need more and more products, there comes a point where you simply can’t raise enough capital to supply them. If they pull out, you’ve lost your $50,000 [investment]. And, it’s very difficult for a small company to get that back."
That said, Frisch believes he did the right thing by starting out small. "Overall, I wouldn’t have done anything differently in starting my business," he says. "By starting out small, I really didn’t have a lot to lose."
He advises newcomers to sit down and lay out a careful business plan, and then raise as much capital as possible. "They should never give up hope and keep pushing ahead," he says. "So many times, I was ready to give everything up, but that would have been foolish. You just never know what your hard work will lead to."
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