800.378.9042 / 973.575.3440
As stated earlier, part of Mr. Negrin's formula for success was to develop a full service operation. Currently, the company's volume is approximately 65 percent custom mirror, 20 percent stone, and the remaining 15 percent in the automotive replacement glass market.
He doesn't like what he sees happening in the ARG market, but still thinks that there is justification in offering the service because it exposes new potential clients to the company and the various other services that it provides.
Moving and expanding in the current economic climate' has provided its moments of sheer terror, Mr. Negrin admits, but he is optimistic that things are looking up and says that the company has a good amount of work on hand. He has marketed the company heavily during the downturn, and this has forced him and Greg Csaki, vice president of sales and marketing, to get out and meet a lot of new people they hadn't had time to meet when times were better. He also credits diversification over the years as giving the company more things to offer in the current slump. Not surprisingly, commercial work hasn't "crawled back" as much as residential, Mr. Negrin points out.
Part of Mr. Negrin's success he attributes to not having originated as a glass person. His background is in management and industrial relations, and he came to the glass industry through an early job he had out of school in which he was responsible for putting the glass and metal into the first Le Must de Cartier boutique in the U.S. He is currently thinking about how he might approach an international marketplace for the products and services that his company provides.
In doing this, he still adheres to the advice that he thinks has given Galaxy its success. "You have to know what market you want to serve. We are geared up for larger projects. You have to understand costs of overhead. If it costs a company $250 to load the truck, it can't send two guys out to do a $300 vanity," he explains. "Demographics will tell you where your clients are," he points out. Galaxy will travel for its clients (It has done work in Texas, Fla., etc., for existing clients.), but Mr. Negrin has been happy to mine the 100 square mile radius that he thinks of as being the company's market. G/D
GLASS DIGEST / June 15, 1992
