Commercial real estate transactions
Sales
James T. Barry Co.
Andrew and Marie Fritsch have purchased the 17,190-square-foot industrial facility at N169 W2111 Tower Dr., Jackson, from Sierra Grinding Wheel. The Fritsches will occupy most of the space with their business operation and lease the remaining space while the seller will consolidate operations into a home office.
Horvath Properties has purchased the 15,750-square-foot multi-tenant facility at 5201-5207 N. 125th St., Butler, from Dynamic Enterprises. The buyer will occupy half of the property and lease out the remaining space. The seller is relocating.
Dave Salkin has purchased the 7,190-square-foot industrial building at 1220 E. Meinecke Ave., Milwaukee, from Al and Betty Meyers. Salkin will operate its expanding in-store material and display graphic company from the location.
J&R Property Holdings has purchased the 5,300-square-foot office building at 535 N. 27th St., Milwaukee, from MPC Corp. The buyer will lease space to a clinic in the area while the seller is relocating to Minneapolis.
Pittsburgh Avenue LLC has purchased the 19,898-square-foot industrial facility at 117-121 W. Pittsburgh Ave., Milwaukee, from Hess Investments. The buyer will lease the space to office and industrial tenants until a conversion to residential units is viable.
C.I. Banker Wire & Iron Works has purchased the 15,064-square-foot industrial facility at S84 W18999 Enterprise Dr., Muskego, from Lloyd Hamm. The buyer will use the building, in the Muskego Industrial Park, to expand his nearby business while the seller will move to a smaller facility.
Boerke Co.
A 1,200-squqare-foot retail building at 9724 W. Forest Home Ave., Hales Corners, the Thomas Kinkade Gallery, sold to Thomas L. Ueberroth and Darlene F. Hanson by Frank W. Pum and Nancy E. Pum for $400,000;
3.522 acres of land at 600 Dakota Woods Dr., Saukville, to Napoleon Investment Properties by the Village of Saukville for $94,389;
An 8,853-square-foot retail building at 7100 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis, to Don Falk by Jericho Properties for $397,500.
Dickman Real Estate
A 7,190-square-foot industrial building at 1220 E. Meinecke Ave., Milwaukee, to Dave Salkin by Al and Betty Meyers.
Inland Companies
Horvath Properties purchased a 15,800-square-foot warehouse building at 5201-5207 N. 125th St., Butler.
Gladon Co. purchased three acres of land in Oak Creek.
Becton Dickinson leased 80,150 square feet of warehouse space at Franklin Commerce Center.
Major Finance Corp. leased 496 square feet of office space at Glen Oaks 1 in Mequon.
NAI MLG Commercial
Bando-McGlocklin Capital Corp. has sold a 20,000-square-foot industrial building on 3.1 acres of land in New Berlin. The property, at 5515 S. Westridge Dr., sold to D&S Development for $1,112,500. The company chose the property due to its proximity to employees and customers.
The principals of Badger Home Builders Inc. have purchased a 7,500-square-foot facility at 1323 Poplar Dr. in Waukesha. Badger Home Builders plans to move its business to the new location later this summer, after completing renovations to the building. The company chose the location due to the close proximity of its employees. The property was sold by DAZ Group for $460,000. The principals of DAZ Group were also the owners of D.C. Motors, the property’s previous occupant.
Krueger Bearings Inc. of Menomonee Falls has purchased a 51,000-square-foot industrial building at 8811 W. Dean Rd., Milwaukee. The building was purchased for $2.5 million. Krueger Bearings chose the facility because it needed a larger building with additional land for future expansion.
Ogden & Company
The Kanekoa Gardens Apartments, a 50-unit complex on Locust Street in Milwaukee, was sold to JHH Enterprises LLC by Kanekoa Gardens, LTD.
A 2,700-square-foot building at 212-214 N. Jefferson St. in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward was sold to James W. Biehl for $245,500. The single-story building was owned by Felix Birr Engraving Co. and will be the future home of Exel Communications, Inc. corporate office.
Wangard Partners
6,252 square feet of office/industrial space at 13040 W. Lisbon Rd. (Eastgate Business Center) in Brookfield, leased to R&M Distributing, LLC;
10,535 square feet of office/industrial space at 13040 W. Lisbon Rd. (Eastgate Business Center) in Brookfield, leased to Team Howmedica Osteonics;
34,848 square feet of land at 2714 N. Grandview Blvd.. Waukesha, sold to Silvernail Restaurants Partners, LLP;
17,095 square feet of office/warehouse space at 6510 W. Layton Ave., Greenfield, sold to Midwest Property Management, LLC.
2,009 square feet of office space at 8401 W. 102nd St. Ste 100, Pleasant Prairie, leased to Ecolab;
20,000 square feet of industrial space at 5515 D. Westridge Dr., New Berlin, sold to D&S Development Group, LLC.
Leases
Apex Commercial
4,800 square feet of office and warehouse space at 440 S. Curtis Rd., West Allis, by Great Lakes Concrete Pumping;
3,077 square feet of office space at 13105 W. Bluemound Rd., Brookfield, by Pathways Counseling Center;
2,994 square feet of office space at 15800 W. Bluemound Rd., Brookfield, by Career Management of Wisconsin;
1,818 square feet of office space at 2401 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa, by Nelson Irvings & Waeffler.
Boerke Co.
1,238 square feet of retail space in the Washington Square Mall at N112 W15800 Mequon Rd., Germantown, by H&R Block, from General Capital Management;
3,333 square feet of retail space in the Cornerstone Centre at W182 N9606 Appleton Ave., Germantown, by Kinko’s, from JBJ Companies.
Inland Companies
Club Assist Road Service U.S., Inc. leased 2,555 square feet of warehouse space at Mill Run Business Center, Milwaukee
Kristen Hartman, DDS, leased 2,920 square feet of office space at Airport Atrium.
Aventis Bio-Services leased 8,922 square feet of office space at West Allis Commercial Center.
Hamilton Box Co. leased 12,000 square feet of warehouse space at 3700 N. Fratney St., Milwaukee.
Physical Therapy Center of Germantown leased 1,370 square feet of office space at Stonewood Corporate Center.
Siegel-Gallagher
Metropolitan Police Services of America, a provider of security services, has leased an office at 6682 W. Greenfield Ave. in West Allis.
Delta Dental Plan of Wisconsin has entered into a new lease agreement at Mayfair Crossing.
OCE Printing Systems has leased 1,274 square feet of space at 325 N. Corporate Dr., Brookfield.

Why you need a plan for replacing yourself at your business

By Jo Hawkins Donovan, for SBT

When I was on the faculty of Marshall University in Huntington, W.V., the entire town was stopped in its tracks one November night. A chartered plane carrying Marshall’s football team, coaches and 75 fans crashed in the trees just short of the airport in Huntington. There were no survivors, and there were no families in that town who were not touched somehow by the tragedy.
I knew nearly everyone involved and would have been on the plane myself except that my husband planned a surprise trip for us to go to Cincinnati to see the Bengals play that weekend. I was touched deeply by any number of stories cascading from that accident.
The one thing that stands out as I thought about this column was the plan that the parents of my godchildren had put in place. My beloved friends had done that hard thing, faced that difficult question, "Who do we want to raise our children in the case that we can’t?"
For these sweet toddlers, the plan was on paper. Their dad’s brother and his wife would be their guardians in case the parents both died prematurely. So for this one family, there was no legal tussle, no corruption of family relationships. The parents had put a plan in place. There were many other families that struggled for years with the issue.
When I coach business owners, the results they want to achieve usually relate to their organization’s strategic plan; they nearly all have that in place. Some haven’t incorporated the marketing goals and strategies into the plan, and we may do some coaching around that. Even more business owners, or heads of non-profit organizations, "put off" creating a strategy for succession planning.
Succession planning must be part of the ongoing, dynamic process that helps a business align its goals and all the talent within the organization. In fact, many studies are now calling it "talent management."
Whatever you call it, I think it is as necessary and as difficult as choosing a guardian for your children in case you disappear from the planet. Parents do this tough thing because of how much they care for their children. Business owners do this tough thing because of how much they care for the sustainability of their business.
The plan first addresses the changing needs of the organization as senior management ages and retires. Large corporations and government typically have systems in place for succession.
Small businesses are more at risk and may collapse after the CEO leaves – or does not leave. The founder of the business may no longer be keeping up with changes in the overall marketplace, but he may be unaware of that and stubborn about keeping his position. How do you oust the founder! A solid plan can include mandatory retirement ages and steps to ensure that someone is prepared to assume the top post.
Second, strong succession planning can help you make sure there is an adequate talent pool for the future. Open communication about the commitment to development of all employees can prevent "talent blocking."
Employees can be groomed to step into leadership roles. The plan can define policies for recruiting external talent, and include strategies for integrating new talent with internal talent. New executives can be given the opportunity to learn the culture and be coached by the leadership in place, before stepping into their shoes.
Of course, succession planning helps you prepare for an unexpected event. We’ve all been through enough in the past years to know that the loss of one or more key executives can occur suddenly. With no map to follow, an organization can be thrown into chaos or paralysis. The succession plan can help everyone know who will assume command in a crisis or sudden loss of leadership. The shared vision and values, sometimes sculpted with a lot of sweat and soul-searching during the planning process, can be sustained.
If your organization lacks this essential piece, you might do some thinking about why that’s the case.
We’re all seduced by magical thinking now and then, and can tell ourselves we have lots and lots of time to tend to succession planning. It might be difficult to imagine anyone else running your business, your "baby" that you conceived and raised up from your own inspired determination.
You may just fear losing control, or be unable to imagine another life for yourself outside of your president’s office.
If you want a sustainable business — and who doesn’t — it’s essential that you make talent management an ongoing part of how you operate. The plan must be clear and embraced by everyone in the management team. Like strategic planning in it’s entirety, the plan must be kept fresh and in tune with internal and external changes.
It’s one of the best ways I know of, to ensure that all your hard work and sacrifice will result in the legacy you want.

Jo Hawkins Donovan has a coaching and psychotherapy firm in Whitefish Bay, and can be reached at 414-332-0300, or jo@hawkinsdonovan.com. The firm’s Web site is www.hawkinsdonovan.com. Hawkins Donovan will respond to your questions in this column. Her column appears in every other issue of SBT.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Waukesha County manufacturers say WMEP is making them stronger

John Bostrom and his staff at H.O. Bostrom Co. in Waukesha do a lot of things to improve the company’s manufacturing process. But as competition intensifies, he knows the company needs to keep getting stronger and more efficient.
The Wisconsin Manufacturing Extension Partnership (WMEP) is helping him do just that.
"We’ve been around for 56 years, and we’re a survivor," Bostrom says. "But at the same time, we need their help to continue surviving."
Those survival efforts are even more critical in the face of increased competition from China and other nations with low-cost labor. "You often hear people ask what can be done about competition from China; well, here is something you can do."
H.O. Bostrom Co., which operates in a 50,000-square-foot manufacturing and product development facility at 818 Progress Ave. in Waukesha, makes seats and seating components for off-highway and specialty on-highway vehicles, such as Oshkosh Trucks, and office chairs.
The company is about two-thirds of the way through a value stream manufacturing program of WMEP, which will help H.O. Bostrom Co. establish more efficient processes. "For example, they are teaching 10-person teams here how to look at things with a wider vision," Bostrom said. "We’re looking at all our processes to see whether we can do them better."
Once the training is completed this month, WMEP will provide a report on its work with H.O. Bostrom Co. and then return to the company to help it implement changes.
Beyond that, H.O. Bostrom Co. will work with WMEP toward ISO certification, which Bostrom says will make the company even more efficient.
His company is not alone in gaining operating efficiencies through WMEP. The organization says Wisconsin manufacturers reported a $133 million economic impact as a result of assistance its consultants provided to companies like H.O. Bostrom during the past fiscal year.
Wisconsin manufacturers reported $90 million in increased and retained sales; $19 million in investment in new plant and equipment; and $23 million in cost savings and expense avoidance.
WMEP (www.wmep.org) says it helped to create 503 jobs while providing services to 471 Wisconsin manufacturers.
WMEP, a non-profit consulting organization, helps small and mid-size manufacturers become more competitive. The impact data is based on customer surveys compiled by the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership.
"The need to modernize and improve Wisconsin’s manufacturers is more important now than ever," says Michael Klonsinski, WMEP’s executive director. "Global competition and a sluggish economy have made this one of the toughest years in recent memory," he said. "But despite all that, these numbers reflect the fact that many manufacturers are benefiting from lean and other strategies designed to help them attract new business, cut costs and improve quality."
Among that new business is a $750,000 contract that Heale Manufacturing landed with the U.S. Army, says Elliott Erickson, president of the 40-person company at 1231 The Strand in Waukesha.
The company manufactures electrical wire harnesses and cable assemblies for commercial and military customers. The Army contract is for harnesses for armored personnel carriers.
WMEP helped Heale Manufacturing gain ISO certification which the company needed to retain government business when the government ended its previous quality-control program.
Since then, WMEP has continued to work with Heale Manufacturing on continuous improvement processes and lean manufacturing.
"They helped our people identify what waste is," Erickson said. "For example, if you move something without a purpose, that’s waste."
Identifying and eliminating that waste "gave me the confidence to bid more aggressively; I knew I could find savings and take costs out of the system."
The company started delivery on the new Army contract in May.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Corn power – Coming soon to a pump near you

By Steve Jagler, SBT Executive Editor

You pull into a gas station and begin refueling your vehicle. However, you’re not pumping regular gasoline into your tank. Instead, you’re pumping in a new kind of fuel, 85% of which was produced from Wisconsin corn, and only 15% of which is actual gasoline. Furthermore, the corn-based fuel is much cheaper than regular gasoline.
What would be the aftermath of your decision? For starters, aside from paying less at the pump, your vehicle would emit less pollution, resulting in cleaner air. America’s reliance on foreign oil would be reduced. And Wisconsin’s corn growers would benefit economically from a new use for their renewable product, while green space would suddenly become more valuable real estate.
In a limited way, all of that is happening right now, although a cynical American public remains either unaware or skeptical about the feasibility of E85, the new alternative fuel that is 85% ethanol.
However, if you haven’t heard of E85, you will soon. That’s because some big players are stepping up to support the new fuel that will burn cleaner and reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.
Those players include President George W. Bush, the Big Three automobile manufacturers, the governors of several states and a wide coalition of advocacy groups, ranging from farmers to universities.
Much to the surprise of many environmentalists, Bush, whose family made fortunes in the oil industry, is actually leading the way in this corn evolution.
"I think what President Bush is doing is reflecting the nation now. We need to be more energy conscious now," said Robert Oleson, executive director of the Wisconsin Corn Growers Association in Palmyra. "I really think everyone is starting to sing out of the same hymnal now."
Bush’s 2003 Energy Bill includes the Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit (VEETC) Act of 2003.
If approved by Congress, the Energy Bill would create incentives for gas station owners to sell E85. The owners would receive a tax break of 30 cents per gallon of E85 sold in 2004, 40 cents in 2005 and 50 cents in 2006.
Further, gas station owners would receive tax breaks of about $30,000 to help defray the costs of installing E85 pumps, said Maria Boardman, program coordinator of the Alternative Fuels Task Force, a partnership of the state, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Center for Alternative Fuels and Bulk Petroleum Corp. of Milwaukee.
The Senate passed its version of Bush’s Energy Bill July 31. The House previously passed a different version. The two branches are debating their respective versions in a conference committee.
The tax incentives to retailers would be critical to the growth of E85, according to Michelle Saab, spokeswoman for the National Ethanol Vehicle Coalition, a Jefferson City, Mo.-based advocacy organization.
"If somebody sees a price of fuel at $1.15 per gallon, as opposed to $1.85, he or she is going to want to use that fuel," Saab said.
Since the alternative fuel campaign began in earnest last year, nine gas stations in Wisconsin have installed E85 pumps, including five in the city of Milwaukee, one in Janesville, one in Tomah and two in Madison.
By the end of the year, four additional E85 pump locations will be opened in the state, including three in southeastern Wisconsin.
The Alternative Fuels Task Force will apply in 2004 for federal grants to help develop more E85 stations in Eau Claire, Monroe, Appleton and Oshkosh, Boardman said.
"They’re progressing rapidly. We’ve opened about 40 stations in the last year. More and more stations are opening every day, as people understand," Saab said.
The Citgo station at 2426 N. Farwell Ave. in Milwaukee sells about 200 gallons of E85 fuel per week, according to station manager Balvinder Singh.
That sales volume is on the verge of increasing significantly, he said, because owners of the General Motors flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) that can run on E85 recently received $40 debit cards from the automaker as incentives to try the new fuel, Singh said.
The debit cards are part of GM’s "I Fuel Good" campaign to promote the use of E85.
"It’s starting to pick up, now that those $40 cards went out," said Singh, a native of India. "People are bringing those cards in and filling up. They’re giving it a try."
Since 1996, GM, Ford and Chrysler have manufactured more than 1.6 million FFVs that can burn either regular gasoline or E85. About 15,000 of those vehicles are in Wisconsin.
Unfortunately, many of the owners of the FFVs aren’t aware that their vehicles even have the capability to run on E85, Saab said.
Saab admits that the buying public may be initially cynical about an alternative fuel.
"Those type of people are probably the ones that have those vehicles and don’t even know about it," Saab said. "But especially since 9-11, people are becoming interested."
GM is hopeful the debit cards will increase awareness among motorists who aren’t even aware their vehicles can be powered by E85, according to Rebecca Harris, spokeswoman for the automaker.
"All of the trucks and sports utility vehicles are basically capable (of running on E85)," Harris said.
Gas station owners such as Singh are interested because the price of E85 is cheaper than regular gas and would continue to drop if Congress approves the Bush Energy Bill.
Singh recently was selling his E85 for $1.64.9 per gallon, while his regular gasoline was selling for $1.79.9.
The E85 movement is picking up steam in Wisconsin. Gov. Jim Doyle attended a July 16 ceremony in Janesville to kick off a six-state joint initiative to promote greater use of the fuel.
Doyle was joined by officials from the NEVC and General Motors.
"Wisconsin is honored to be the site for the kickoff of this regional campaign to encourage consumers to use renewable fuel," Doyle said. "It helps farmers, cleans up the air and is good for economic development. It also reduces our state and national dependence on imported oil."
The one historical argument against the mass-use of ethanol was that the energy consumed to generate a gallon of ethanol exceeded the energy generated by the fuel.
That argument is flawed and outdated, according to Boardman.
"That was based on a study done in the 1970s. The technology has advanced since the ’70s," Boardman said.
"The (federal government) has put out a study that debunks that theory," said David Crass, coordinator of Michael Best & Friedrich’s agribusiness special practice group in Madison.
The US Department of Agriculture recently issued "Estimating the Net Energy Balance of Corn Ethanol," a special report, which hailed the energy production ratio of ethanol.
"We conclude that the net energy value of corn ethanol has become positive in recent years due to technological advances in ethanol conversion and increased efficiency in farm production. We show that corn ethanol is energy efficient …," the report stated.
Ethanol production plants have been built in Monroe, Stanley and Algoma, and at least five more production sites are in various stages of development in Wisconsin, Crass said.
Aside from the environmental benefits, other economic and social factors are converging to fuel the growth of the E85 market, according to proponents.
"The last time I looked at our state budget situation, we could use some economic activity and jobs and revenue," Crass said.
"With this GM (discount) card and the war in Iraq and all our worldly concerns – they’re causing people to look around and say, ‘What can I do?’" Boardman said.
"You can make $3 of ethanol out of a bushel of corn. It’s a win-win for everybody. I know that’s a cliché, but it really is," Oleson said.
"It’s not just for the clean air. It’s for reducing America’s dependence on foreign oil," Saab said.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times,Milwaukee

They shoot salespeople, don’t they?

By Harry S. Dennis III, for SBT

September is the time of year to give your sales force one last shot in the arm. Soon the fall breezes will be blowing and not long after that the winter doldrums. Thanks to TEC speaker Gerry Layo for helping me offer a little test for your salespeople. It’s a tough test. You’ve got to get all 10 questions right to pass! Read the statements below and decide if you think they are right or wrong.

Question 1: It’s better to sell features before selling benefits.
Wrong! As one wise sales manager once said, this is called "showing up and throwing up." Customers don’t buy features. They buy the benefits that features provide. Here is a simple check to make sure the benefit portion of the sales equation is being communicated.
As you identify a feature such as "computer processing speed," always follow it with "what this means to you is more work accomplished in far less time" – the benefit to the customer.

Question 2: In the beginning, it’s better to let customers talk about what they want to talk about.
Right! Small talk doesn’t get it done these days. Customer time and relevance issues dictate that discussion centers on the customer’s wants and needs. Let them do the talking while you do the listening! The ratio for this? About 90/10.

Question 3: A good salesperson knows how to set the customer’s buying time frame.
Wrong! It is virtually impossible to set a buying time frame, since the customer always knows whether it will be sooner or later. There is nothing wrong with asking good probing questions to find out, however, where you are in the sales cycle.

Question 4: You can never afford to stop working on improving customer relationships.
Right! The moment you think you have a satisfied customer for life, your competitor comes along and proves otherwise. Capturing market share is still "Business 101" and you must continually seek ways to add value, over-deliver and strengthen your customer relationships.

Question 5: I can count on satisfied customers to refer me to other prospective customers.
Wrong! Referrals are never automatic. To get them, follow these tips. Ask for referrals every time you have ANY form of customer contact. Earn the right to ask for them by giving more than what your customer expects. Make it easy to refer. Follow up on each referral. Find different ways to say "thank you."

Question 6: Impressing my
customers with product knowledge is less important than being able to identify and meet their needs.
Right! How impressed are you with the "techo-babble" that some salespeople throw at you? Better to get customer trust first through a complete understanding of their needs. Then it is appropriate to let your knowledge work to meet their needs.

Question 7: I am capable of meeting all of my sales prospects’ needs.
Wrong! A common mistake made with new prospects is to oversell product or service capabilities by making promises that simply cannot be met. It’s better to be honest up front and say that you will determine whether the fit is mutually beneficial. On the rare occasion when it isn’t, you’ll be able to disengage diplomatically and in good faith.

Question 8: An eventuality in every customer relationship is that the customer contact will change.
Right! And this is why it is so important to cultivate other relationships or centers of buying influence in the company. It really pays if you are perceived by others to be not just in the selling cycle but a valuable resource who can help them understand the condition of the industry in general, new product initiatives, trade show happenings and so on.

Question 9: Customers have a genuine interest and concern about problems beyond your control that affect your business with them.
Wrong! Unfortunately, once you are hired to get the job done, the expectations for you are no different than they are for any other employee. Good performance is rewarded and poor performance is punished (as in lost business to a competitor). Your task is to be the problem-solver and give them a little more in the process.

Question 10: Doing customer research before a sales call, coupled with a thorough needs analysis during the call, leads to the most productive sales results.
Right! Don’t make the tragic mistake a salesman for a steel roll forming company made. The engineering sales department provided him with a list of product specs for a prospective customer he was calling on. He didn’t read the specs until he was in the lobby of the prospective client’s firm. Guess what? They were the specs for a competitor of this client!

In conclusion, don’t assume a darn thing. Go into every sales encounter prepared to make the right moves, and always leave a little bit more than what was expected. Until next month, "good sales hunting."

Harry S. Dennis III is the president of TEC (The Executive Committee) in Wisconsin and Michigan. TEC is a professional development group for CEOs, presidents and business owners. He can be reached at 262-831-3340.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

It’s time to grow in Waukesha County

Commentary
By State Sen. Ted Kanavas, for SBT

Republican legislators are working on an ambitious initiative to grow and transform Wisconsin’s economy. Our plan is called GROW (Growing and Reforming Our Wisconsin) and focuses on ways to provide regulatory relief, strengthen Wisconsin’s infrastructure, increase our venture capital investment and create more higher-paying jobs for Wisconsin residents.
Before the summer legislative recess, we passed the single-sales factor bill, which eliminates the unfair jobs tax. This bill will encourage multi-state companies to expand or locate operations in Wisconsin because they no longer have to pay an unfair tax on the number of jobs created – a tax that many other states do not have.
Many organizations are pointing to this bill when trying to attract business to Wisconsin. In Waukesha County, I have been working with the Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) to encourage the Graphic Arts Technical Foundation-Printing Industries of America to locate its applied technology center in Waukesha County.
The repeal of the jobs tax, along with other incentives we are pushing in the GROW initiative, could make the difference between whether the technology center locates in Waukesha County or in another state.
If we are successful in bringing the technology center to Waukesha County, it will provide hundreds of jobs and additional revenue to the local hotels, restaurants and other businesses, as thousands of people a year would come to Waukesha for printing industry training.
Another bill that will help local businesses in Waukesha County and throughout the state is the utility siting bill we passed earlier this year. The bill will help shore up energy resources and bring down the costs of energy for homeowners and businesses.
This fall, we also plan to pass the financial modernization bill, which brings banking rules and codes up to date and puts credit unions on the same footing as banks.
Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer also announced the formation of the Senate Select Committee on Job Creation in June, deeming Wisconsin "open for business."
As a co-chair of that committee, along with Sen. Cathy Stepp (R-Yorkville), we are hosting informational hearings to gather testimony from business leaders, venture capital firms, intellectual property experts and university officials. Based on their testimonies, we plan to draft legislation that will be ready for the fall floor period.
The goal of our committee is to reduce regulation, lower the tax burden and create incentives to help bring more higher-paying jobs to Wisconsin. Our efforts at a statewide level will also have a great impact in Waukesha County.
With a close proximity to the downtown Milwaukee area and the available office space and land in the Waukesha area, I hope we are able to create a high-tech corridor along I-94 in Waukesha County.
We already have the headquarters for GE Medical Systems in this area, and bringing additional technology companies to the area will bring more business to Waukesha County, which in turn will mean better schools, lower taxes and better neighborhoods.
On Aug. 5, we held the first hearing of our Senate Select Committee on Job Creation, which focused on Wisconsin’s regulatory climate. For several hours, we heard from speakers about the need for state agencies and businesses to work together to streamline Wisconsin’s regulatory climate.
Our second hearing focused on promoting greater venture capital investment and intellectual property utilization. We heard loud and clear that Wisconsin lags behind in venture capital and that strong ideas – borne of research at our universities – don’t get out of the incubator stage because of the lack of venture capital.
According to the National Venture Capital Association, Wisconsin ranks 36th nationally in venture capital investments. Even our neighbors are doing better, with Minnesota investing $637.79 per capita in venture capital and Illinois investing $330.19. Wisconsin invests $18 per capita in venture capital, and we rank well below the national average for personal income. We must do a better job in this area.
At our next informational hearing, we will hear from speakers on the state’s infrastructure needs, including broadband and the state’s energy reliability issues.
It is my belief that Wisconsin must become a leader in the information age in order to provide better, higher-paying jobs for our citizens. We must create an atmosphere that provides regulatory relief, strengthens our infrastructure and supports capital investment to bring the good jobs to our state.
As our parents had wanted for us, we want our children to have the opportunity to live, work and play in this great state. We are working to make that happen.

I welcome your thoughts on ways to improve Wisconsin’s business climate. Please feel free to contact my office at 800-863-8883, by email at Sen.Kanavas@legis.state.wi.us, or by letter at: P.O. Box 7882, Madison WI 53707-7882.

Ted Kanavas represents the 33rd District in the Wisconsin Senate.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

New Wisconsin Lutheran College president brings mix of business, academic experience

By Jordan Fox, for SBT

Tim Kriewall has packed a lot of living and accomplishments into his 57 years on this planet. After a successful career as a college professor and another one as an electrical and biomedical engineer, he returned to academia as president of Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee July 1.
In his capacity as president, he hopes the college will better prepare its graduates for their business and personal lives and instill excitement in their quest for future successes. He became only the college’s second president, replacing the well-respected Gary Greenfield, Ph.D., who has retired.
Kriewall, a native of Bay City, Mich., graduated from the University of Michigan in 1963 with a B.S. in electrical engineering and went to work for Bell Telephone Laboratories.
"It was a very special place to work," Kriewall says. "Lots of very smart people there." He recalls walking behind two coworkers in the cafeteria and overhearing them playing a game of mental chess – without a chessboard, relying only on their memories and visualizations.
"Bell Labs was where the technology for minicomputers was developed," he says. "I worked there in engineering and power systems and spent a good portion of my time writing software programs."
While there, Kriewall and an associate, using interactive computer graphics, developed a printed circuit board layout program that would allow board designers to lay out cards in a day, a process that previously would take six to eight weeks. "It was advanced enough that we earned an audience for our work."
He earned an M.S.E.E. degree in 1968 from Stanford University on a fellowship from Bell Labs, and a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in 1974 at the University of Michigan. Kriewall spent several years as an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the medical schools of both the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota.
"I first became interested in biomedical engineering, which was then in its infancy, because my wife Sally was an RN, working in a hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit. I would pick her up at work and thought that I could apply my electrical engineering knowledge to help improve medical care."
When the Kriewalls had their first child, he was surprised "at how little the doctors were able to monitor labor in the delivery room." Once they knew that labor had begun, they were uncertain as to how long it would last, what the outcome would be, and if the baby might suffer from the trauma of labor, he says. "We were sending astronauts up and knew everything about their physiology but didn’t know enough about the physiology of infants during birth."
Returning to the University of Michigan for his Ph.D., he studied the field of perinatalogy, researching the dynamics of the birth process and applying engineering principles to measure labor. He developed technology that allowed obstetricians to look inside the uterus without the ionizing radiation that could affect the fetus. He stayed there another eight years as a professor.
He devoted most of his professional life to developing medical products ranging from cochlear implants to heart/lung machines and is named as one of the inventors on patents for three such products.
Prior to joining Wisconsin Lutheran College, Kriewall had spent the last six years of his career at Medtronic, XOMED, in Jacksonville, Fla., as vice president of research and development. While there he focused on the development of surgical, diagnostic and therapeutic products for ear, nose and throat surgeons.
He had worked for 3M Co. in Ann Arbor, Mich., as well as Minneapolis/St. Paul, for 15 years, where he directed the development of powered surgical instruments.
"While I was at 3M I learned what it meant to work in cross-functional units and to depend on people who had different abilities and different responsibilities. This was such a contrast to academia, which is very political. I thought if I could go back to a campus, I’d be a much better teacher than I was early in my career because of my business experience."
It was never Kriewall’s plan, however, to become a college president, he admits. But one day he read about the impending job opening caused by the retirement of Gary Greenfield and decided to go for it.
"I didn’t know if I was qualified to be a president of a college but thought it would a privilege to be in a position where I could help students anticipate what life has in store for them. To help them choose a career for the right reasons. To have them look forward to going to work each morning. To use their talents so they can enjoy their careers. To recognize that liberal arts majors have many more career opportunities than do engineers or chemists."
When Greenfield announced that he would be retiring, a search committee was created and conducted a nationwide search. Kriewall, the committee’s recommendation, was approved by the college’s board and accepted the position.
Now located at 8800 W. Blue Mound Rd., Wisconsin Lutheran College opened its classroom doors in 1973 as a junior college with approximately 10 students. Today it’s a four-year liberal arts college with approximately 700 students. The college has a two-semester academic year and awards bachelor of arts and bachelor of sciences degrees with liberal arts and professional majors and several pre-professional programs.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Busines Times, Milwaukee

The real cost of sales

By Jerry Stapleton and Nancy McKeon, for SBT

When we think of "cost of sales" what usually comes to mind is the direct expenses associated with acquiring customers: salespeople’s salaries, benefits, travel and entertainment and the like.
A popular business magazine conducts a study every year to calculate the latest "cost per face-to-face sales call" (The latest number, incidentally, is around $700). But that way of thinking about cost of sales is incomplete, understating-often by orders of magnitude-the real cost of sales.
In most companies, salespeople have a certain power to color the bottom line in shades of red or black that goes far beyond what we often think about.
In a recent column, I defined the four ways salespeople can do this. One of the four is that they commit their company’s resources according to potential return. Let’s drill down on this one because there’s some serious money at stake.
Here’s an example. Gary is sitting at his desk working and probably wishing that things were a little better than they are. Times just aren’t what they used to be at Gary’s company. Business is slow. Suddenly, a request for proposal shows up in his inbox. He prints it out and peruses it. Looks like a beauty. Being in sales, he takes the lead on coordinating the response. Like most RFPs, this one will require input from numerous people throughout Gary’s company: the techies, the bean counters, production staff, etc.
He pulls the team together. They look over the RFP, agree to their respective duties and go to work on the response. About twelve man-days later, the proposal is off to the prospect, ahead of the deadline. Gary starts the follow-up process, "How are we looking?" "When will the decision be made?" he inquires. After a few weeks of this, things go quiet. Well, you know how the story ends.
Now we’re talking cost of sales! If Gary had asked the tough questions before deciding to respond to this RFP, he would have learned that this "opportunity" was really just so much tire kicking.
For years we have been saying that in this new era of selling, one of the greatest contributions salespeople can make to their companies is to size up opportunities and then make judgments on what resources to put into winning those opportunities.
Well folks, it ain’t gettin’ done. And it’s costing your company a fortune. Let’s remedy that. If this is a problem in your company, here are three things — ordered from hard to hardest — that you can do to fix it.

Hard: Give them permission to say "No"
Everyone knows that salespeople hate to say "No." They also hate to ask tough questions. So you have to give them the approval, indeed the exhortation, to do so.
It’s up to you to create an environment where salespeople feel a sense of accountability for your company’s money to the point where they are not afraid to ask customers the direct questions that need to be asked about how real an opportunity is and how likely your company is to win the deal.
Don’t think you can say it just once, though. This is a cultural thing. You will need to reinforce it at every turn.

Harder: Give them the criteria to decide
It’s one thing to tell your sales team that it’s OK to ask customers direct questions and to say "No." It’s quite another to give them the rules and guidelines for doing so.
Sizing up an opportunity’s winnability — and its "reality" for that matter — is not an easy task. It requires far more than just looking at the technical specs to see how well they match your company’s expertise. It requires understanding the business drivers behind the project, the real decision process, the political agendas, and the competitive landscape to name just a few. It’s your job to give your salespeople the questions to ask.

Hardest: Give them the words to use
Maybe you think you should be off the hook here. "I pay salespeople for this skill, don’t I?" You might think that’s the case. But we’ve yet to meet a sales team that understands its role in this way.
Either because of formal definition or by inference, virtually all salespeople put "responsiveness" at or near the top of the list of their job descriptions.
Because of that orientation toward responsiveness, a mutual value discussion of this type falls outside of the range of even the best sales professionals. But be careful here.
If a salesperson says he or she does this, be sure to listen to the exact words. Most likely, the language sounds something like, "We have a few questions we’d like to ask you before we get started on your proposal." It should sound more like, "We’re trying to make some decisions about resources. So before we roll up our sleeves and start dedicating time to your proposal, there are some things we need to better understand."
The difference is subtle but powerful.
Elevate the accountability bar for your sales team. Elevate their proficiency to ask the tough questions and to say "No." And, in the process, elevate your company’s profitability.

Jerry Stapleton and Nancy McKeon are with Stapleton Resources LLC, a Waukesha-based sales force effectiveness practice. They can be reached at 262-524-8099 or on the Web at www.stapletonresources.com.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Gender language differences can create confusion in the office

By Katherine Michalets, for SBT

How many times have you heard something that someone says, and you interpreted it the wrong way? How many times was that other person someone of the opposite sex?
Tracey Weigel believes those communication misinterpretations happen too frequently and consequently cause friction in the workplace.
As a result, Weigel started her own Milwaukee consulting business, United Communication Experts LLC (UCE), dedicated to "connecting language, gender and power."
Weigel gives seminars on how to overcome communication differences between people. Since UCE was created two years ago, Weigel has created three seminar programs: business-to-business, provider-to-patient and teacher-to-student.
The focus of the seminars is to educate the audience on the connection between language, gender and power.
"I don’t advocate people changing. I advocate them developing a deeper understanding of where they are and where others are," Weigel says.
She believes that men and women generally speak differently, and that is where the misunderstandings occur. The differences are a result of culture, upbringing and social conditions, she says.
Understanding these differences is important for everyone involved in business, according to Weigel.
"It’s important for everyone at all levels and for internal communication. It’s so people don’t have back-fighting or issues at work. They can go to work and be comfortable knowing that they can express themselves and know what other people are saying," Weigel says.
For the best results, Weigel tailors her seminars to the client’s needs. She has spoken to audiences ranging in size from 30 to 500 people.
"I want them to know how they can improve their communication skills and to take away a great understanding of how others speak and to appreciate genderlect differences," Weigel says. "Genderlect differences are how a person speaks, based on one’s gender identity."
Genderlects are one of Weigel’s main focuses when giving seminars.
One example of a genderlect misunderstanding, according to Weigel, is when a woman wants to discuss an issue with a man, and he thinks she wants his advice, when she doesn’t.
"Women need to say ahead of time that they don’t want advice," Weigel says.
Although Weigel’s conferences address males and females, she has five suggestions for women in business:
1) Be more direct. "It’s OK to ask for what you need and want in the workforce," Weigel says. Women tend to use rapport and solidarity talk, which can come across as inefficiency and the inability to make decisions. "Be assertive, not aggressive," she says.
2) Don’t hesitate to ask for clarification. Weigel recommends women rephrase their questions so the other person can understand. The result will be a better answer, she says.
3) Speak up. "Don’t be afraid to get your ideas and your opinions out there," Weigel says. "Women tend to see this as being aggressive."
4) Adapt to your client’s language, especially if you’re in sales. "Clients trust and like you the more you converge with their speech patterns," says Weigel.
5) Be more supportive when dealing with conflict in the workplace. "Describe the behaviors that you are having difficulties with, don’t evaluate them," advised Weigel.
Five common mistakes
According to Weigel, women can also learn from five common mistakes they tend to make in business:
1) They often are too self-effacing and compliant. "This comes across as being hyper-polite." Another example of being self-effacing is "pleasing others by minimizing their own skills," Weigel says.
2) They tend to be too compliant and allow themselves to be interrupted. Weigel suggests women "work at holding the floor. Present your case and be confident. Also, have your arguments ready."
3) They often apologize for things that are not their fault. "They think they are being polite, but it comes across as being weak," she says.
4) They tend to avert eye contact in business meetings. "Maintain eye contact," Weigel says.
5) They tend to take verbal aggressiveness personally. An example of verbal aggressiveness is when a man tells his two female coworkers, who are talking, to stop and get to work. The women may take it as a personal attack, when that wasn’t what the man meant. "Viewing verbal aggressiveness as personal, negative or destructive" is a common mistake women make, Weigel says.
To help more women in business overcome those mistakes and learn these skills, Weigel is writing
a book that she plans to be published in spring 2004. The subject of the book is language, gender and power in the workforce.

Sept. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Generac Power Systems will open new training center in Eagle

By Katherine Michalets,of SBT

Generac Power Systems Inc. will soon open a new 6,000-square-foot training center for its employees and its dealers in Eagle. The Waukesha-based manufacturer of power generation equipment plans to begin classes in the training center Sept. 8.
"We wanted the image of the training facility to be the same quality as the product that we put out there. And we have the highest-quality generator," said Michael Grady, corporate trainer of the firm.
Generac celebrated the opening of its new training center, which is adjacent to its Eagle plant, Aug. 21.
The center includes one large classroom that can be divided into two smaller rooms, a hands-on work area and a kitchen that will allow for catered meals to be served for corporate functions.
"The facility was meant to be adaptable for many different purposes," said Mike Carr, manager of marketing communications.
Students in the training center will include Generac sales and service employees, as well as Generac generator dealers from across the country.
Classes will run 40 or more weeks a year and will last four and a half days. About 10 instructors will eventually work at the training center.
Another educational program that is housed by Generac Power Systems is its Second Chance program, which provides high school students an opportunity to receive their diplomas while learning the skills of the trade.
Generac Power Systems partnered with the Mukwonago Area School District to create the 21-week program. Students spend two hours in the classroom, two hours as an apprentice and another four hours working to earn money.
For Mukwonago student Ryan Poetzel, the opportunity to learn and work at Generac was life-changing.
"I am definitely thankful for it. Where would I be otherwise?" Poetzel said.
Marty Gholston, youth apprenticeship facilitator at Generac, observes the difference the Second Chance program has made in the students’ lives.
"They knew they were floundering, and they did not know if they were going to get their diploma," Gholston said. "Now it’s, what do I do after I get my diploma?"
The Second Chance program, which was founded in 1996, also offers encouragement to parents, according to Carr.
"This is more than a ray of hope," Carr said. "It helps to get their children on the right track."

Serpt. 5, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Sun may be setting on traditional vision insurance
Insurers offer discount plans linking vision to dental coverage

By Charles Rathmann, of SBT

As general health insurance costs continue to skyrocket, fewer employers are providing traditional vision insurance policies, according to industry insiders say.
Instead, vision discount cards that cost the insured as little as $1 a month are becoming more pevalent, according to Lynn Steinle of Strategic Employee Benefits Services.
"Most of the plans we have input over the last few years have been terminating the vision plan for a discount card," Steinle said. "You would get contacts, frames, lenses and an exam within 12- or 24-month periods. Then you have maximum amounts of a very narrow network within which you can seek services.
"But people would still complain that it is more expensive than going to Lenscrafters or Target or Walmart. The discount card is really giving people what they want. They can go to the lower-cost vision providers," Steinle said.
Some insurers are beginning to package discount cards for optometry services as add-ons or automatic pieces of a dental benefit.
"We are adding a vision discount program to our voluntary plans," said Jackie Bloomer of Delta Dental. "That is going to be effective right now. What that program is going to give their patients is a 20% discount on eyeglasses, contacts and other services — automatically included in their voluntary dental benefit."
The efficiencies that discount cards offer over traditional insurance policies have to do with the lack of red tape, according to Bloomer.
"Because it is a discount program, there are no claims filed," Bloomer said. "There is not really a claims processing function."
Humana Dental is also offering a vision card on a post-sale basis to its dental insurance clients, according to Humana spokesman Mark Mathis.
"Humana is barred by law from promoting vision coverage prior to the sale, but
offers it on a post-sale basis," Mathis said. "Currently, Humana Dental offers vision discount programs from Cole Managed Vision and TruVision to our dental members."
According to Mathis, changes in the company’s vision discount offerings may be pending.
However, Tom Witter, president of Milwaukee-based Vision Insurance Plan of America, says benefits including vision insurance still play a significant role in employee retention.
"Attracting and retaining employees is important," Witter said. "In this business climate, it might not be quite as important as it was a year ago, with more people out there looking for work than there were a year ago. But I think these types of programs help employers to improve employee relations across the board – by and large at no cost to the employer."
The fact that ancillary benefits including vision insurance need to come at no cost to the employer can either help or hurt employer-funded vision insurance, according to Witter.
"The fact that everyone is focusing on reducing medical costs makes vision insurance appear very affordable," Witter said. "Even if they do sponsor a plan, the voluntary benefits are reasonably low cost, compared to the medical plans."
In fact, according to Witter, some employers may be beefing up ancillary benefits including vision to compensate for higher employee contributions for health insurance.
"The ancillary benefits are becoming more popular right now," Witter said. "We are experiencing strong growth. It is an attempt to keep the overall benefits package attractive in the face of rising medical costs."
Traditional vision insurance has become the vanguard of large union employers, according to Chris Lenchzner, chief financial officer for Wisconsin Vision, which operates 18 retail optometry locations in Wisconsin and four in Indiana.
"We have four and a half positions devoted to processing claims," Lenchzner said. "Over the last few years, it has remained fairly constant, but we have improved our efficiency. About 70% to 80% of our business comes from unions. But it seems like more people are getting out of self-funded vision plans."
What that means to Lenchzner is her claims processors are dealing more with large insurers such as Cole Vision Insurance and Eye Med, and those insurers appear to Lenchzner to be deliberately obstructing the claim-filing process.
"People are still using their benefits and still have their vision benefits," Lenchzner said. "The insurance companies are coming up with these crazy rules in order to get them processed. … Insurance companies do everything they can to not pay. A lot of times, they say they don’t receive a claim. But how can they have some and not others that were sent at the same time?"

June 13, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Alexian Village workers become homeowners

Alexian Village of Milwaukee is providing perhaps the ultimate perk among southeastern Wisconsin employers — home ownership.
Employees at the continuing care retirement community on the city’s northwest side can join a program in which they receive counseling to clean up their credit history and become eligible for financing to buy three- or four-bedroom condominiums at reduced prices near their work site.
The employees are buying the condos in The Woodlands Condominiums. So far, 12 have Alexian Village employees have acquired condos, and about 10 others are in the process, according to Gary Mohn, chief executive officer of Alexian Village.
"The majority are not homeowners. We’re looking at a lot of single moms," Mohn said. "A lot of the employees haven’t dreamed of owning a home. There’s a sense that they have bad credit. The intent of the program is to say, ‘Yes, you can!’"
After receiving credit counseling, the Alexian workers receive $2,000 to $4,000 in loans that are forgiven when the employees continue to work at the complex for two years.
The financing is available through a federal pilot program, the first of its kind in the nation, in which a $1 million loan was obtained from the Fannie Mae program, in partnership with the Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corp. (MGIC), Select Milwaukee Inc., the City of Milwaukee and St. Francis Bank.
Employers within the neighborhood of the former Northridge Mall, now known as Historic Granville, are encouraged to join the program and offer the benefit of first-time home ownership to their employees, Mohn said. The program is open to anyone as a catalyst to revive the former Northridge neighborhood.
Jawana Henry, 48, an activity specialist at Alexian, is a living testament to the impact of the program. She and her husband of 26 years had long ago dismissed the notion of ever buying a home.
Today, Henry, her husband and their 21-year-old son reside in a three-bedroom, 1-1/2-bath tri-level condo near 98th Street and Fond du Lac Avenue.
"My husband and I rented all of our lives. We just gave up on the idea of owning a home until they came along with this program," Henry said. "I have a back yard! It’s fenced in."
Tameka Davis, 23, a cook at Alexian, is receiving help to clean up her credit record and hopes to move into a condo with her 5-year-old son in the Woodlands development this summer.
"I didn’t think I made enough money to own a home," Davis said.
The Woodlands Condominiums are former apartment rental units. In the program, when the owners of apartments want to sell the units, they must sell them to participants in the program.
The units are then "gutted," with new carpeting and new appliances installed, said Michelle Washington, home sale facilitator for the Woodlands.
Finally, the completely refurbished condominiums are sold to participants in the program for $34,000 to $40,000, which covers the costs of converting the apartments into condos.
The mortgages are paid back over 15 years. Instead of paying $600 to $700 per month in apartment rental fees, the participants are paying less than $500 in mortgages and are building equity in a condominium.
"They are going to pay more in rent somewhere else," Mohn said. "It promotes the wellbeing of the community."

June 13, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee