Motorola has agreed to use a sales automation tool designed by Milwaukee-based Sales Automation Support, for use with wireless phones.
The Mobile Marketer application is intended to provide mobile sales forces with on-demand document creation and fulfillment services from their wireless phones. Mobile Marketer allows sales professionals to generate and send letters, literature and samples, as well as manage individually personalized campaigns, from select Motorola iDEN mobile phones, including the i90c and i95cl models.
"Sales Automation Support’s same-day sales support fulfillment services provide mobile sales agents with accurate, timely, and highly effective business correspondence capabilities," said Peter Aloumanis, vice president and general manager, U.S. Markets Division, Motorola’s iDEN Subscriber Group. "This offering serves as a valuable productivity tool for the road warrior, regardless of industry."
To use Mobile Marketer, a mobile sales professional drafts and registers a set of personalized, pre-defined template letters. Those are generated on the user’s letterhead and can even include their photographs. The letters are signed with a reproduced signature that is virtually indistinguishable from the original, said Michelle Keshel, chief executive officer and founder of Sales Automation Support (www.salescampaigns.com).
After visiting a prospect, the salesperson can use the Mobile Marketer application to request that a specific letter and attachments be generated and sent to the contact. The system also provides full support for individually personalized sales campaigns that can consist of any number of personal correspondences.
Mobile Marketer is compatible with many customer relationship management (CRM) applications and is available at www.nextel.com/idenupdate. The download is free, and there is a nominal transaction fee each time the service is used, which covers document generation, letterhead and envelopes, postage, and mail fulfillment.
Wisconsin Leasing, a provider of commercial water heater leases, has moved from the We Energies headquarters to its own corporate headquarters at 2514 S. 102nd St. Milwaukee.
The move marks a transition to independence for Wisconsin Leasing, the former division of Wisconsin Energy Corp. Lynne Robinson and SB Partners, a private equity group in Chicago, purchased the leasing operation in June.
Robinson had been owner and president of Robinson Management Resources, a financial consulting firm based in Brookfield.
As part of its growth strategy, the company is expanding product lines, Robinson said. It has entered into an alliance with Water Doctors, a Wisconsin-based dealer of water conditioning equipment, to provide financing, marketing and sales support of its commercial line of Kinetico water-conditioning systems.
Wisconsin Leasing provides operating leases for small-ticket commercial equipment, and represents more than 3,000 corporate customers in six states, Robinson said. The firm is on the Web at www.wisconsinleasing.com.
The firms of Wipfli Ullrich Bertelson, and Sycamore Group have merged. Both firms have headquarters in this area, with Wauwatosa-based Wipfli, a CPA firm, specializing in information technology and management consulting, and Sycamore Group, a downtown Milwaukee-based management consulting firm, specializing in strategic information technology management services. With the merger, Wipfli adds 20 consultants to its information technology and business process services practice.
Bruce Barchus and Kurt Hahlbeck, principals of Sycamore, will become partners in the Wipfli organization and will manage and operate the Sycamore practice.
The Milwaukee-based firm of Wuesthoff
Wickman, marking its 30th year in business, has changed its name to Legacy Capital Partners (www.legacycapitalpartners.com), said Thomas J. Wickman, president. The firm was founded by Winfred W. Wuesthoff as WW. Wuesthoff, Inc., in 1972 as an independent, fee-only investment advisor. Wickman and Jeffry Brigman are now the firm’s principals. It has more than $100 million in client assets.
Wisconsin Lift Truck Corp. (www.wisconsinlift.com) has been appointed the metropolitan Milwaukee dealer for Gehl skid loaders and AVANTAGE compact loaders. It will also have access to skid loader attachments offered by CE Attachments. Wisconsin Lift Truck is a 40 year-old, full-service material-handling distributor employing more than 450 employees at its headquarters in Brookfield, its branches in Green Bay, Eau Claire, Janesville and Wausau, and at its sister companies Illinois Material Handling, and Wolter Hydraulics and Power Systems. The Gehl Company is based in West Bend while CE Attachments is in Cedarburg.
New Berlin Therapies marked its 20th anniversary Sept. 14. The clinic was established July 1, 1982 by physical therapist Susan Kinosian, offering physical therapy services to children and adults in community. Today NBT serves more than 600 families in New Berlin, Brookfield, West Allis, Muskego, Wauwatosa and Waukesha; offering physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, massage therapy and personal fitness services. The clinic has a staff of more than 30 therapists and a 2,000-square-foot adaptive gym for children with special needs.
Nominations are being sought for the 2003 Small Business Person of the Year awards program presented by the U.S. Small Business Administration. Nominees are sought in the following categories: Small Business Person of the Year, Minority Small Business Person of the Year, Entrepreneurial Success, Small Business Legal Assistance, Minority Small Business Advocate, Veteran Small Business Advocate, Home-Based Business Advocate, Small Business Exporter, Young Entrepreneur of the Year, Financial Services Advocate, Women in Business Advocate, Small Business Journalist, Accountant Advocate, and Emerging Small Business Person of the Year.
Nominations should be submitted by Oct. 4. Forms can be obtained from Mary Trimmier of the SBA office in Milwaukee, at 414-297-1093; 310 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 400, Milwaukee 53203.
Winners will be honored at a program next June.
The U.S. Small Business Administration has launched a Spanish-language Web site, aimed at the growing Hispanic population. The site can be accessed at www.sba.gov/espanol.
The Midwest Express Center in Milwaukee will be called the Midwest Airlines Center starting Jan. 1, reflecting the name change of the sponsoring airline. The locally based airline is changing its name from Midwest Express Airlines to Midwest Airlines to better market its scope of services. "Research showed the word ‘express’ had a connotation not consistent with our mission and reputation of providing world-class service and comfort," said Carol Skornicka, vice president, secretary and legal counsel for the airline.
Water Doctors will be the exclusive provider of water treatment equipment for Bielinski Custom Homes of Waukesha, the firm announced. Water Doctors has been a distributor of Kinetico equipment since 1982. Bielinski, besides being a home-builder, operates Bielinski Realty, Bielinski Development, Bielinski Condominiums, and Bielinski Properties.
Cherf Saw & Tool Service of Milwaukee has launched an "Ultimate Referral Program" in which customers gain points toward premiums redeemable in a gift catalog, said Patrick Cherf, who runs the business founded by his parents in 1941. "Because our clients’ tools stay sharper longer, we don’t get the repeat business a lower-grade sharpening might promote," Cherf said. "At the same time, we realized there are many people who don’t know their knives and tools can be sharpened. So we started this referral program to promote the business." The firm is at 1446 S. Muskego Ave., just south of Greenfield Ave.
Quality Color Graphics of Pewaukee (www.quality-color.com) is now offering the new "Staccato screening" technology for offset printing. The new technology is a "vast improvement" over the typical halftone screening with the rosette dot structure, which has been the industry standard for 125 years, said Jeff Letellier of Quality Color Graphics. The firm gained the capability to provide the service when it installed a Creo-Scitex thermal imaging platemaker and a Heidelberg Speedmaster CD102 40-inch press in January.
Milwaukee-based Victorian Postman (www.victorianpostman.com) has been granted a patent for an improved linkage and the ability to accommodate variable hole depths for its Pit Boss post-hole digger. The shovel is based on the 19th-century, single-handle design with a pivoting, scoop-like digging blade. The Pit Boss is made and assembled in the US, said Richard Herzfeld, owner of Victorian Postman.
Stan’s – Fit for Your Feet has closed its store at 3164 S. 27th St. in Milwaukee and has opened a store at 7405 W. Layton Ave., the Layton Plaza, in Greenfield. The firm also has stores at 76th and Capitol in Milwaukee and on Bluemound Road in Brookfield.
Curt Gielow, owner and president of Gielow Associates, a Milwaukee-based executive search firm, assisted in the creation of The Taplow Group, a worldwide consortium of more than 20 independent executive search and human capital firms in Europe, the Americas and the Far East. The Taplow Group will have its headquarters in Luxembourg.
Sept. 27, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
