Synergy Solutions Grows with Help of Business Resource Network/OhioMeansJobs

The Business Resource Network (BRN) is a collaborative and growing group of the region’s chambers of commerce, workforce and economic development organizations, schools, colleges, universities, community organizations, and government agencies that all offer a business service to help employers and their employees solve problems. Stephen Denissoff shares his experience with the BRN.

Synergy Solutions is a family-owned and operated Stark County business that has been in business for 20 years. We specialize in polymer-based car wash solutions for tunnels, in-bay automatics, and self-serve washes through a network of professional distributors – trained to do more than just sell solutions. We believe in making long-lasting connections with each of our customers, providing a personal touch for each customer’s business goals – giving customers the full support from our family to theirs. No customer is too big or too small, everyone receives the full support they need. We are committed to providing synergistically balanced chemical systems designed specifically to help every car wash produce superior wash results. This results in a clean that is safe for you, safe for your car, and safe for the environment. Synergy Solutions brings comprehensive capabilities and first-hand experience, to understand every aspect of a car wash operator’s challenges and needs.

Synergy Solutions became engaged with OhioMeansJobs Stark and Tuscarawas Counties/Business Resource Network in early 2021, where a simple inquiry from our team, stated a strong professional partnership with their team. The first in-person meeting was very insightful and really put into perspective what great local and state programs are available to help small businesses like ours. It gave us ideas on how to position ourselves and grow for the future and gave us the resources that were needed to move forward with our growth.

One of the large hurdles we needed to overcome during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, was finding reliable CDL drivers. This was a major struggle for our company at the time. We had to ship nearly all our products, which we had previously delivered with our trucks and employees to provide extra service to our customers. After speaking with Ohio Means Jobs/Business Resource Network, we were delighted to learn about the Incumbent Worker Training Program (IWTP) – which offered grant money to small business employers to develop the skills of existing employees.

We have always had a wonderful team and group of people at our company, so we thought of offering CDL positions to our employees, where we would cover the cost of training (with help of IWTP) and they were able to receive a pay increase due to their newly developed skillset. This was a win-win, and we were able to come out of the pandemic strong with 3 new CDL drivers that are still with us today.

Another great resource the OhioMeansJobs/Business Resource Network was able to provide, was a Human Recourses (HR) consultant. As a small company, we do not have a need for a full-time HR person and HR consulting companies can be very costly. Human Resources is a very important part of every organization, regardless of size. With this resource, we were able to refine our company handbook and policies, hire employees faster and easier, and come up with proper procedures and reporting for misconduct. Although this was after the pandemic – this resource would have greatly benefited our company at that time with the ever-changing policies put in place by the CDC. Laws and regulations for employees change very often. It is a great feeling to know that we have experts in this field to work with and have our back when we need professional human resources help.

As a small family business, we are very blessed to have strong partners like Matt [Faulter, Project Director/Network Manager] and the OhioMeansJobs/Business Resource Network team. Our experience with the team has been very positive and we are very thankful for all of their guidance. Whenever I am looking for a certain resource or looking at different capital improvement investment resource questions, I can expect a prompt response with options and contacts that are helpful.

As our business and personnel continue to grow, keeping our sights and goals set on customer-focused relationships and service is what is going to continue to differentiate us from our competition in our industry. OMJ/BRN will be an essential resource for us to scale and plan properly. We cannot thank them enough for all their help over the past couple of years and look forward to continuing our partnership for years to come.