Hello. I am Jim Intravia, the owner of Knight Business Systems. In 1983, after 10 years in the copier business as a technician, tech specialist, service manager, branch manager and regional service specialist, I went into business for myself. Like many of you, I had no money, just my own two hands. My plan was to repair every copier out there, which I was able to do. After 3-4 years of this, I found that I was supporting my wife and four little children decently, but hated certain aspects of the business; namely selling. I also realized that I had the ability to help other technicians with their problems, and was fairly good at writing up procedures. In many cases, I was able to produce short efficient methods of doing things, that previously required a factory service manual. Since I liked service work better than sales, I decided to try and organize this information and sell it to the trade; to technician’s and dealers like you. In 1986, INTRAVIA’S TOOL CASE GUIDE TO COPIERS was not called the 1^st edition, because I did not know if there would be any more. To make a long story short, it was well received, and a new edition is brought out every two years or so, covering approximately two years worth of copier introductions. In my day to day operations as a copier dealer, I established and maintained accounts with several manufacturers and aftermarket suppliers. As a result of this, in addition to my own needs, I can get parts and items that others need, and do not have access to.

At this time, Knight Business Systems does business in three different ways.

1. Knight Business Systems has its own retail customers who use copiers, laser printers and fax machines,. There is myself and one part-time shop technician. We go to the field and work in the shop, just like you do.
2. Books and other publications. When I am not doing service calls or making typical business decisions, such as deciding if I should empty the garbage in the morning or in the evening, I work on the books. I gather service manuals and other information from many sources. Eventually, a book comes out, to make technician’s lives easier. Usually, I am working on several at a time, including cross reference lists, personal copier manuals, and the next edition, as well as several monthly articles.
3. Wholesale parts. Because we are able to buy parts, we are able to sell them to other dealers.

The wholesale parts business is a pain in the butt. I have discontinued it in the past and started it up again in 1993 only after establishing very strict rules. The net profit is incredibly small, due to the labor involved in researching, inventory, shipping & receiving, phone calls, etc. Maintaining prices that make the parts affordable to dealers and not a loss to us is a constant struggle. We have extremely strict policies about special orders (pay in advance), returns (generally, there are none), warranties (none), open accounts (There are none. COD, payment in advance, or credit card). We have discovered that any dealer who is hard to deal with, for any reason, hurts our operation so badly, that we don’t want them. The books are a better profit center, but there aren't enough people buying them. I am reasonably sure that I could make more money by simply dropping the parts, and the books, and going back to being a full time copier dealer. But money is not the only reward. I like doing something for copier technicians that no one else does. I like knowing that we can help some little one person operation 1000 miles away make a living. When you call this office, you will find that the incredibly small staff (Knight Business Systems barely has enough people to start a poker game, including me!) is cheerful and helpful, within the rules that I have established. Anybody who is difficult, demanding, or tries to get something special out of us, is usually terminated as a customer. Anyone who refuses a shipment and sticks us with a UPS charge that they didn’t pay, or something similar, is branded. They will never again do business with us, unless they straighten out all past problems. Furthermore, we exchange lists of these companies with other wholesale suppliers, so that we know to avoid some before anything new happens. There are some cases where we brand a dealer "No parts" in our system. This means that we will still sell them books, but will not sell them parts anymore, because it has been too much trouble. No hard feelings, we just want some people to go elsewhere to purchase parts.

Jim Intravia

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