PMF speaks to Mike Schlup, CEO of Kalimex, to find out how the company has fared in the 30 years since its formation.
How it all began
On the company’s origins, Mike commented, “Kalimex was founded in 1989 by my father, Jurg, a successful businessman looking to start a general import/export business. Early activities included steel trading and industrial epoxy coatings. It was the epoxy connection that led to Kalimex introducing the CarGo range to the UK in 1994. This included Quiksteel Epoxy Putty, and Seal-Up head and block repair. In the beginning, Quiksteel counter displays were placed in hardware shops and car accessory shops. UK Sales are now at 2 million sticks, and we’ve just put the finishing touches to a promotion that will see Quiksteel enter homes in the UK via YouTube, courtesy of Dr Quiksteel.
Q. How did K-Seal enter the picture?
Mike Schlup (MS): By 2000, my dad was struggling with the growing business. A conversation over Christmas dinner led to me cutting ties with my career in sales and marketing, and joining Kalimex. By then, we were importing a range of additives from CarGo in the USA. We identified an opportunity to launch our own branded products – in particular K-Seal Permanent Coolant Leak Repair. Seal-Up sales were good, albeit limited by the out of date sodium silicate technology which made it complicated to use. We hoped to double this figure with the shake, pour and go formula of K-Seal.
K-Seal was launched in 2003. In the first year, we sold 17,000 bottles. Within 30 months, we hit 100,000 bottles, and by 2010, 1 million bottles. With K-Seal launching in the USA, it was a question of hanging on for dear life as we struggled to cope with the demand! We’ve just sold 8 million bottles. K-Seal is now the number one coolant leak repair product in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
Q. How important were motor factors to Kalimex back then, and how important are they now?
MS: Very important! Motor factors embraced Quiksteel and subsequently K- Seal, and they’re just as enthusiastic today. We supported them with campaigns aimed at the professional motor mechanic, including point of sale and promotional gifts – which we still do now.
Q. How did you go about promoting K- Seal and Quiksteel in the media?
MS: We started getting involved in PMF in 2007, and we’re still in it today. In the last few years, we’ve ramped up our promotion of the JLM Lubricants’ range with adverts and editorial features. We know that we are more likely to reach our motor factor customers by being in a publication that is specifically geared towards them.
Mike Schlup
Q. Has Kalimex’s customer service changed over the years?
MS: No, we’re still a friendly voice at the end of the phone. However, the UK aftermarket has changed over the last 30 years. Many independents are no longer around, and others are now national giants. But, we still deal with customers that have been with us for almost 30 years, such as EBC Motor Factors in Hove. We help professional stockists to share news and technical details about our products to their trade customers through special event training, sales literature, product samples and promotional gifts. 2020 marks our 30th anniversary. We have a number of trade promotions lined up to shine the spotlight even brighter on the JLM product range.
