Tell us about your company – how it started and what helped drive your success.

Our company was actually started through an associate company, Granitize, which is based in Southern California and has been in business since 1930. We had a product that we were using in the aviation industry that we actually developed for Boeing.We thought that there would be a good use for it in the automotive industry. At NADA 2004, Xzilon was launched and we have had a booth at NADA every year since the launch.

Tell us about the products that you offer and how they work.

We have three products for the exterior of the vehicle and two products for the interior. One product for the interior is for the vinyl and leather and the other is for carpet and fabric. Our exterior products have evolved as the automotive exteriors have evolved over the years. We have our basic Xzilon™ product and two enhanced products Xzioln+™ and Xzilon X4™. The product itself has evolved as the automotive exterior has evolved. Example being, we have an additional benefit now for dings and dents. This evolved from cars no longer having the protective side moldings. Our products have to protect against those dings and dents. So as vehicles have changed, we are changing our products to move with the industry.

How does your product offering differ from other appearance protection providers?

We like to say it’s our product. Our exterior product is easy to apply, it goes on all the exterior surfaces of the vehicle, and ours, to my knowledge, was the first that could do that. This makes it an easier product for application because you don’t have to worry about getting it onto plastic or rubber surfaces.

Some products if applied to plastic, for example, dries white. You can get it off, but that’s more time and labor at the dealership, which costs. Our product, when put on to plastic, dries clear so there is no distinguishing mark and it also helps to protect that plastic. Our product can go on all the exterior parts of the vehicle with the exception of tires.

Our interior product for leather is a nice product. This product doesn’t go on greasy. Unlike leather conditioners that go on greasy and take a long time to dry, as soon as the application of our product is done a person could sit on the seat and the product would not mark their clothing. An additional benefit of our leather protectant is that it leaves the leather with a nice supple feeling.

Our fabric protector is a quick dry. It doesn’t take long after it’s applied for someone to sit on the fabric also. The fabric protector does dry as quickly as the leather, but it’s a fairly quick dry.

Typically, we train people to apply our interior products first and by the time the exterior application is completed the interior is dry and the car is good to go. This process doesn’t take long and I don’t think that is dissimilar to most products out on the market. We have a much bigger difference on exterior products than interior.

Who are your target markets, how do you deliver your products to them and what message would you like to give them?

Our target markets are automotive and RV industries. We sell through a network of agents. We don’t sell direct to dealers.

We’ve always said that Xzilon is the ultimate appearance protection and that has been our motto over the years. We have a top of the line product to go along with our top of the line customer service. Plus through our website clients can process claims and warranties.

Looking back over the past five years, how has the appearance protection industry changed and how do you see it changing in the future?

We have adapted and will continue to adapt our products to provide the necessary protection as vehicles change within the automotive industry. In the future I see changes in the industry going more technological. There will be more online capabilities similar to what we have through F&I Admin. We have used his product for over a year and we are very happy with it. I think our products along with the other products in F&I are quickly evolving to the online technologies. Dealerships are doing more things online rather than how they used to do them – by hand. I think in the next five years the idea of processing information by hand will totally be gone away.