Half of the fiber-optics products FIS sells are its own, while it buys, stores and redistributes the other half.

Many companies use the adage “we wrote the book” when referring to their position in their respective industry. But Fiber Instrument Sales (FIS) can make that claim literally.

In 1998, Lightwave magazine commissioned a fiber-optics survey to determine what was considered the top reference guide in the industry. President Frank Giotto says his company’s catalog, which lists prices of fiber-optic equipment when most of the competition does not, was named No. 1.

“Just about every user has seen our catalog,” Giotto says. “Not everybody buys from us, but we include fair pricing, so they are able to quickly quote jobs and use us as a competitive source to make purchases. In particular, that is one of our biggest strengths and one of the reasons why we’ve taken the No. 1 position.”

Giotto founded FIS in 1986 when he realized the fiber-optics industry had no distribution network. He used an old schoolhouse in Utica, N.Y., for his office and warehouse and employed one person. Today, the company has 240 employees, 120,000 square feet of manufacturing and warehouse space and annual sales of $50 million. “We’re growing at a rate of 18 percent this year and the market is growing at 7 percent, which means we’re taking market share,” Giotto says.

FIS moved into manufacturing 15 years ago to have better control of products design through distribution. Today, 50 percent of what FIS sells is its own manufactured products, while it buys, stores and redistributes the other half of its products.

“When you rep a company as an independent sales rep, there is little commitment with a signed contract and a time period,” Giotto says. “In manufacturing, you engineer the product, you’re married to the product and you’re part of the whole evolution of the event. This is a product we really believe in, and you start manufacturing from there.”

Training its People
With seven years of experience as a math teacher on his résumé from his days before moving into fiber optics, the educator in Giotto is still alive and kicking. FIS is a big believer in training employees, and the company has a national training program in fiber optics that is mandatory for all employees and all offsite representatives throughout the United States.

The course counts for college credit as well as Building Industry Consultant Service International credit. It is taught by FIS’s national trainer to FIS employees ranging “from custodians on up” and its national sales force.

“Our culture is not a traditional Harvard MBA culture,” Giotto says. “We’re more successful molding our own employees vs. starting out with someone pre-molded.”

With such intense training the past 10 years, all FIS employees can be considered consultants when customers call and have the knowledge to offer suggestions instead of just taking orders, he says. “This way, our people know what they are talking about and can make recommendations to the callers,” he explains. “They don’t need to call us and give us a part number. They can give us the technical challenge and we can offer a solution. We are specialists, and to do that everyone must know what they are talking about.”

‘Geico’ Campaign?
Giotto says FIS is considering adopting an advertising campaign similar to what insurance giant Geico used to become a leader in that industry.

“We spent the last two days throwing around the concept of whether to conduct, with huge amounts of money from profit pool, a Geico-like advertising campaign,” he says. “We believe we deliver the best value, and we could amplify our sales two or threefold if we were on people’s mind all the time.”

In addition to the investment it would require, Giotto says the company must prepare for the results of the ad campaign.

“If you put out an ad campaign and it is successful, then you have to look at how it changes the culture of the company and how would the infrastructure be able to react,” Giotto adds. “You need to look at all aspects of what a double or triple in sales means. What is my vision of the future? Unlimited.”