Nationwide Marketing Group has tapped industry veteran, Mark Pollitz, to serve as the organization’s new director of service.
Pollitz’s career spans three decades across major names in the appliance sector including Maytag, LG, Electrolux, GE and Samsung. He has served in various roles as a technician, account manager, business consultant and product trainer. He’s also no stranger to small business being a former owner of a small appliance sales and service company himself, but he also knows what it takes to lead at the highest level. Some of his previous leadership roles include director of service operations, director of field operations and general manager.
“As a kid, I was always taking things apart,” Pollitz recalls. “But it wasn’t until I was hired as a greenhorn technician in 1981 that I was able to learn how to put them back together and make them work. And that’s when I realized what a wonderful industry appliance service is.”
His first job ignited his passion, leading him to launch his own independent service company in 1988.
“Owning my own service company – and then adding on sales, as well, and basically servicing the products of my competitors – was a wonderful opportunity,” Pollitz says. “I learned all the successes of being an independent business owner and also the challenges of what it’s like to sink your heart and soul into a business and have a 70- or 80-hour work week, every week. It wasn’t always easy, but as hard as it was, it was an amazing experience and one that I am eternally grateful for.”
Pollitz admits that the joy he found while owning and operating a service company is what led him on the path to Nationwide Marketing Group. The newly created “Director of Service” role provided him an opportunity to take what he had learned as both a servicing dealer and a manufacturing representative and apply it to help other independent servicers improve their operations.
“The service world is so much more complex than just fixing machines or selling a product,” he explains. “There are so many tentacles and channels and avenues that you have to walk through and manage through to make your service business efficient and effective – and, ultimately, profitable. I’m excited to use what I’ve learned throughout my career to help our servicing members – and, really, servicers across the channel – grow and thrive.”
Pollitz also serves as the national co-chairman of the SkillsUSA Residential & Commercial Appliance Technology, National Technical Committee, the world’s largest educational private-industry non-profit organization. The group relies on its 440,000 volunteer members to support skilled trades as a viable educational opportunity in the United States. These skills and emphasis on education and training will translate well in Pollitz’s role with Nationwide.
“Acquiring trained technicians is an epidemic, not just for our members but for all independent servicers,” Pollitz says. “Our Service Leaders Network is helping Nationwide’s 900+ servicing dealers leverage the buying power and strength of their membership, and providing value-added, practical and tangible programs and services to our members, including new educational initiatives.”
Nationwide’s Service Leaders Network will hold the industry’s first virtual conference dedicated exclusively to appliance dealers with a service department, May 13-14. The event is free for all Nationwide Marketing Group Members, and will include sessions for owners and managers geared toward efficiencies and profitability, as well as technician training from key vendor partners, including Bosch, Electrolux, Fred’s Academy, GE, Master Samurai Tech, Samsung, Speed Queen and Whirlpool.
Jessica is the Chief Digital Editor for CT Lab Global Media, the North American platform for IFA Berlin.
