Artisan In Concrete: Servicios Proconsa, Monterrey, Mexico

When Mauricio Zambrano and Federico Jasso established Servicios Proconsa as the national distributor for Kemiko products in Mexico, the Kemiko brand name meant little to Mexicans. “At the time,” Zambrano says, “concrete stains were a new concept.”

The Mexican construction industry lags behind the industry in the United States, Zambrano says, and concrete staining is still an innovative technique in Mexico.

Zambrano and Jasso saw an opportunity. Zambrano, a business major, had just returned to Monterrey after five years of studying and working abroad in telecommunications and automotive service franchising. Meanwhile, Jasso, a chemical engineer, was installing a chemical stain in his parents’ house. “When he showed me the results, we started a market survey with local architects and construction companies that led us to a full-scale startup with promising results,” Zambrano says.

Zambrano and Jasso set up shop in the late 1990s in Monterrey. “Federico left his job in a pharmaceutical company, and we started selling, doing mock-ups and applying ourselves,” Zambrano says.

It took awhile for the business to get off the ground. “We had almost a half-million square foot of stain in inventory, and in that first year, we couldn’t sell an ounce,” he says. He decided if he couldn’t sell the stain for customers to apply themselves, he would refocus his business. “We decided to install the stain ourselves.”

This was easier said than done. Zambrano learned about concrete stains at World of Concrete. “We had no formal training, nor videos to watch,” Zambrano says. “We had to learn the business in real job sites, and although we did screw up a couple of details in the beginning, we quickly learned how to avoid the basic mistakes.”

Servicios Proconsa also learned how to create a market for its products. Marketing, Zambrano says, begins with presentation. They hired a professional photographer to take sample pictures. “The contractor with the best pictures wins,” he says. “Otherwise, it is difficult to have architects and builders know what one is capable of doing.”

Another marketing tool was affiliating his company with Kemiko. “We visited trade shows in the U.S. and tried several brands. We liked Kemiko, especially the fact that it has been in business since 1930. It helps to have a product that has been around for a while.”

Eventually, Zambrano and Jasso trained an applicator, and currently there are 20 people working in Servicios Proconsa. Today, the business includes distribution and installation divisions, plus a consulting division that covers training and customer support. Zambrano manages distribution and many commercial issues, including marketing, while Jasso runs installing and consulting.