Developing your company’s competitive edge starts with creating a company culture which encourages customer service and allows it to flourish, says Christine McMahon, a Milwaukee consultant who does performance training for companies. The other critical component of honing your competitive edge is having the right employees to carry out your company mission, McMahon says.
“If you go to Disney, typically, you are wowed,” McMahon says. “Your visit is flawless, it is nothing less than an absolute delight. Their whole focus is: ‘How do we deliver absolutely beyond what people expect?’ They are a big company, but they think small when it comes to delivering.”
At Disney, every single employee is hired and profiled to ensure that he or she is able to deliver the Disney experience, says McMahon, who recently studied Disney’s methods firsthand. Disney only hires happy people, because unhappy people do not deliver outstanding customer satisfaction, she says.
Based on the Disney model, McMahon says, here’s how to go about sharpening your competitive edge:
Hiring – You have to hire right. Within your organization, the people doing the interviewing are often not skilled at determining whether the candidate is right for the company. Determine the skills a prospective employee needs to make an outstanding contribution to your organization. Are you hiring for the future, or are you hiring for today? Hire for the future, as you can outgrow certain employees.
Setting the expectation – Once hired, employees need to know what they are going to be measured on, in terms of making a contribution to the organization. One of the things that Disney does when it hire s is give its employees a full set of criteria for making a decision. That allows it to handle virtually any situation. Employees are told that public safety is paramount with Disney, as is demonstrating courtesy, being an integral part of the show – they have to be “on” – and operating in an efficient manner.
Training – “Often, when we hire people, we are not really sure that they know how to do the job,” McMahon says. “Give them the skills and the know-how, the tools, so they can be effective. Training allows employees to practice, to make sure that they are doing it right.”
Feedback – Let your employees know what things they are doing well, and let them know what they are doing poorly. That lets employees know where they need to focus. What do they need to learn? Remember, most employees want to be successful, and they want to make a difference.
Accountability and Ownership – They understand the expectations, they have been given the tools, and they have to want to be successful. You want to hire people who are happy, who are passionate, who want to make a difference, and who have the potential capability for doing the job.
The Consequences – If an employee is not performing based upon expectations, what are the consequences? Companies sometimes don’t know how to terminate employee relationships. They also don’t know how to provide feedback for good performances. Often, people want additional responsibilities. They want to grow, they want to spread their wings. Don’t overlook good performances.

– John Rondy

Internet marketing offers big opportunity for small firms
Internet marketing can present new business opportunities for small firms; a Website can turn your firm into a business that never closes.
But there are some guidelines to follow if you want to realize the opportunities, says John Audette, founder and president of Multimedia Marketing Group, an internationally recognized expert on Internet marketing.
Audette, who was in Wauwatosa for a multi-media seminar in June, had the following advice.
Find a niche and serve that niche well. “That’s going to be an opportunity for a long time because the larger companies usually can’t pay attention to specialized markets.”
An online company brochure. “This is an excellent place to get more information about your company to potential customers. You don’t have to have a highly technical Website to be effective.”
Customer service can be greater. Because of the 24-hour, seven-days-a-week nature of the Internet, customers can reach a company at all hours of the day. The site can list FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) or have an automated e-mail system which acknowledges the fact the company has received e-mail from a customer and someone will be in contact with him or her shortly to resolve problems or answer questions.
Content is king. “Make sure the site is interesting to the visitor. Take advantage of the interactivity of the medium – update it frequently, use monthly newsletters through e-mail. Make it proactive, instead of waiting for someone to contact you.”
Use your site to establish credibility. Put your picture and pictures of your employees on the site. List clients and have client referrals posted. Make sure the company’s contact numbers, address and e-mail address are listed.
Have a professional design the original site, but update it internally. Updating Websites is not that technical anymore; almost anyone can maintain them.
Finally, Audette stated that there is no real size limitation for companies thinking about using the Internet. “We’re almost re-defining size now,” Audette said. “Size used to be how many employees you had and how big your buildings were. Now it’s how many people are visiting your Website. You can have three employees, but if you have a million hits to your Website you can be a big player.”
Audette can be reached via e-mail at ja@mmgco.com. Multimedia Marketing Group’s Website is at http://www.mmgco.com.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Systems give small firms new edge on their competition
Six years ago, Therm-Tech of Waukesha introduced a DOS-based FoxPro software program for order entry and invoicing. Implementation of the software, which was designed by Heartland Software Development, Inc., in Wauwatosa, cut the number of people needed to do the work roughly in half but doubled productivity.
It’s amazing what a little software can do.
About a year ago, Heartland Software wrote a new program for Therm-Tech, a metal heat-treating firm, using Microsoft Visual Basic and a Microsoft SQL Server. This program allows Therm-Tech to, among other things, cut orders 24 hours a day rather than 10 hours a day, perform a complete customer search simply by typing the customer’s name, search old work orders up to years ago and apply process information from old work orders to new orders for the same product.
Software systems intended to improve office efficiency, whether custom-designed or mass-produced, are not just for the large corporations and big businesses which must keep track of thousands of invoices and communicate with employees across the country. Small and mid-sized businesses have found that new software can improve their office efficiency, and some programs now on the market are designed specifically for small businesses.
“We saw a three-fold increase in productivity with the DOS program,” says Patrick Burdick, Therm-Tech metallurgist. “Now with the SQL server programing it’s very easy to train people so that our office staff can be cross-trained to help in all areas. The system really did a tremendous job for us.”
Burdick notes that the system is designed with the capability to be built upon as Therm-Tech’s needs grow.
“We have a vision of where we’re headed which has not yet been realized but we already know of some of the things Heartland will be able to help us do with this system,” Burdick says. “We’ve got a quality product that we can continue to build.”
Although the nature of his business is software development, Gary Edgar, president of Heartland Software Development, warns small businesses of a potential danger in purchasing customized software. Apparently 50-80% of custom software fails and this, Edgar says, is due to the presence of poor to mediocre programers who are soliciting and getting business.
“Purchasing custom software can be a big risk because if you don’t know who you’re dealing with, it is very possible that someone will design a program for you that doesn’t work,” Edgar says. “Be careful, do your homework on several programers, and see some of the work the programer has done before working with him.”
Edgar recommends a program called Act!, which is designed by Symantec for use with Windows systems. Act! can organize databases of customers, clients and contacts into various groupings and can search the databases in a variety of ways. For instance, if you have a group of new customers and you want to send a letter to all of them, you would type the name of the group in the “Group” field and your database of new customers would appear. Then, because Act! can work with Microsoft Word and tie into e-mail, you need only type one letter and let Act! do the rest. If it’s a printed letter in MS Word, Act! automatically enters the name and address of each new customer into the letter and prints all the letters and envelopes (if your printer has that capability). If you’re sending an e-mail, Act! sends the message to all members of the group you searched. Act! costs about $100 per workstation.
Another commercial product designed to help improve office efficiency and productivity is the Microsoft Small Business Server. The product is a bundled software program, meaning that it includes Microsoft NT, Exchange, Proxy Server, SQL and Internet software, and is geared to small businesses with two to 25 employees. When a business gains more than 25 employees it upgrades to a full Windows NT and Microsoft Exchange program, says Brian Weis of Core Computer Systems, LLC, in Milwaukee. The list price of the program, which is designed for Windows 95 or Windows NT systems, is $1,500 for a five-user license. Additional licenses can be purchased in increments of five.
With the Small Business Server, users can fax and receive faxes from the desktop, which not only saves paper but also increases efficiency because faxes are automatically routed to the person they are for; utilize the Internet to document inventory and take customer orders, which reduces the time it would normally take to receive orders over the phone; and send billing notices via e-mail rather than regular mail, Weis says.
“The Small Business Server can be a great asset to businesses that want to make the move toward electronic business,” Weis says. “It’s not for a business that has only one computer or a couple computers that don’t share information or printers. Business owners have to evaluate their needs before making the decision to purchase any kind of system.”
Additionally, Weis adds that the Small Business Server is Year 2000 compliant.
Kenrich Development, Inc. (KDI) in Milwaukee has designed what it considers a solution to the problem of trying to update customer records for remote or field sales representatives in a timely manner. The Team-In-Touch system automatically exchanges, or “synchronizes” data among all outside offices and remote sales reps every 15 minutes through secure data lines to a server hosted by KDI.
“Team-In-Touch allows businesses to improve communication with their field offices without having to invest in additional infrastructure, personnel, or training,” says Rick Chamberlain of KDI. “To hire an IT person to run a system in-house could cost upwards of $50,000 per year for his salary, not to mention the cost of adding to your infrastructure. Since KDI hosts Team-In-Touch, the business owner doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of it.”
Team-In-Touch costs $45-60 per user per month, depending on the length of the contract. It is run on Gold Mine software, which KDI can also provide. Team-In-Touch has been available since January.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

These local companies have committed employees who know their roles and perform their jobs with the customer in mind. Your company can reach this higher plane, but it’s not an easy journey.
When Randy Wojcik first went to work as a shipping manager for Woodlore in Port Washington five years ago, relations between managers and line-level employees were poor, and production lagged.
That was before Woodlore President Jay Wilcox took steps to create an organization of self-managers, one in which employees are entrusted to make their own decisions and mistakes, and one where everything the company does is with the customer in mind. Now Woodlore employees think of each other as customers. Departments within the organization view each other as their customers so that they develop a keener understanding of the inter-relationships and are better able to respond to their needs, Wojcik says.
“Each department knows what the bottom line is, and in what time frame and shape they need to get it to us,” says Steve Rammes, a production manager.
Now in its 11th year, the 90-employee division of Allen-Edmonds Shoe Corp. is setting records for production of cedar shoe trees and cedar accessories, all without the benefit of mechanized improvements. The difference is in the attitude of the people, and the way they interact with each other. People know their roles.
Employees are involved, committed. No task is considered too great. The prevailing attitude is “can-do,” such as the time last December when production employees worked overlapping shifts to crank out 45,000 pairs of shoe trees in short order for Amway of Japan, the company’s largest-ever order. The job was achieved by letting employees come up with their own solution, Wilcox says.
“We simply asked the people in the factory how they were going to accomplish this, and they came up with the solution,” Wilcox says. “What we try to do as managers is set out the goals and the expectations, and then let the employees execute.”
The process of engaging your employees does not happen overnight. At Woodlore, it took a change in company culture that Wilcox says was years in the making.
But once it happens – when people stop pointing fingers at one other and take personal responsibility as if they had an ownership stake in the company – the results can be dramatic, says Michael E. Gerber, author of “The E Myth Manager,” a best-selling book that debunks the idea that most management theory works.
Rather, Gerber believes the truly successful companies are those that encourage an entrepreneurial mind-set within their own employees, one in which a division views itself as a company within a company. This state of mind begins and ends with the personal commitment that employees bring to their jobs, Gerber says. It is a conviction that once a decision is made it is deemed a commitment, and that employees will move mountains to keep that commitment.
“It’s a matter of doing whatever it takes to satisfy our customer,” Wilcox says. “It’s a willingness to act and take action. A lot of companies have the words, but it takes actions for it to become part of the culture.”
Take a step back
But before you reach that almost magical state where employees are committed and the organization generates a forward momentum all its own, you have to step back and analyze your internal structure.
Gerber says the problem in most organizations is that employees fail to understand their roles, which leads to a dysfunctional workplace in which days are spent flailing about solving immediate problems and putting out fires instead of operating in an organized, systematic fashion.
At his E-Myth Academy in Santa Rosa, Calif., Gerber starts with the premise that there are essentially three roles, or three forms of work: that of the entrepreneur, who is typically someone who is good at making something, that of a technician, who thinks that gives him the ability to run a company – It doesn’t. Then there is the role of the manager, who formerly was a technician, and who may know very little about managing/organizing an enterprise.
The entrepreneur’s role, Gerber says, is to impart the vision and create a system whereby that vision is manifested at the practical/technical level of the organization. The manager’s role is to impart that system for accomplishing the task to the technicians, who carry out the task. What commonly happens is that everyone in the organization ends up doing the work of a technician, and the larger structure evaporates, which leads to chaos.
Understanding of the relationship between those three levels is critical before you can move toward becoming a vital, customer-driven organization, Gerber says.
“Because most people don’t understand what they are truly accountable for, they become confused by the notion of work, and end up doing the wrong work for the wrong reason,” Gerber says.
This fundamental organizing principle helps people understand their roles. In the 20-year history of the E Myth Academy, Gerber says it has not been uncommon to hear owners and managers who go through the course say, “Oh, so that’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” That’s when Gerber knows that he got through to them.
It’s all about the ability to transcend the day-to-day trivia and implement a system that creates momentum and eliminates confusion, Gerber says. But first, the head of the company must have the right vision and clarity of purpose.
“Until I can rise above the tyranny of daily routine and see it as it is, then I can’t transform it,” Gerber says. “Without this system for doing what you do, you end up making it up as you go along,” Gerber says, adding that this is what the majority of companies do every day, whether they realize it or not.
“If you do that, there is no way you can become a brand like a Federal Express, or McDonald’s,” he adds. “The branding of any company resides in its ability to do what it does in its own proprietary and identifiable way, so that each time customers go there, they have the experience of the brand. Until everyone [in the organization] understands that, there is no way of going to work on what we do to create the brand.”
Remember that it is not enough to simply empower your employees and to trust them and allow them to learn from their mistakes. Without first putting the organizing principle in place, leaving it up to your employees will ultimately result in chaos, Gerber says.
Think small
As companies start to grow larger, they start to think big. And that’s suicide, according to Harry V. Quadracci, founder of Quad/Graphics, an 11,000-employee commercial printing giant with operations spread out across Southeast Wisconsin.
Quadracci has built Quad into what it is today by engendering an atmosphere that relies on close personal relationships to get the job done. The 100 Best Companies to Work For in America gives Quad five stars for camaraderie and four stars in both opportunity and fairness. Author and consultant Tom Peters has praised Quad as a learning institution.
Quad got to where it is by thinking small, by continually cultivating relationships between employees, Quadracci says.
“Where companies go wrong is, they become too professional, too impersonal,” Quadracci says. “They forget that the basics of a successful business are close personal relationships – employee to employee and employee to customer.
“These relationships aren’t legislated, they are established over a period of time,” Quadracci says. “It becomes a matter of getting to know each other, which leads to establishing a bond of trust. And, you only trust people if you know them.”
And trust, says Quadracci, is the basis of all teamwork, which is at the core of all successful business practices.
And how does Quad build trust? By throwing elaborate parties for its employees. And by having everyone wear the same dark blue uniform, from Quadracci, himself on down to the janitor. Quadracci’s egalitarian vision manifested itself in the early stages of the company back in 1973 when he refused to appoint a head of the pressroom. Instead, he let the pressmen be in charge of their own presses.
Then there is the oft-repeated story about the time Quadracci left it up to drivers to make Quad delivery trucks more profitable by hauling cargo on return trips. According to a published account, Quadracci handed each driver a set of keys to the trucks, instructing them that they were all owner/operators in a new division called Duplainville Transport. When a driver asked what kind of loads they should haul , Quadracci shrugged, saying he knew nothing about driving an 18-wheeler. This principle has been referred to as “management by walking away.”
That fragmented, non-traditional approach to management is behind the theme that has everyone marching in lock-step at Quad. As the company grows larger, Quadracci encourages his employees to think small. At twice-a-year “think small” meetings, a dozen people who work on the same press get together to discuss problems and build teamwork.
“In order to get your job done here at Quad, you’ve got to know a lot of people,” Quadracci says. “And, we make it that way. It’s also a lot more fun.”
Helping foster that trusting, team-centered approach is an absence of rules, or the fear that one will be punished for making a mistake. And, it works. Not only has Quad/Graphics experienced phenomenal growth, doubling in size in the last six years, but pressmen, many of whom begin with no previous experience, advance faster than the industry average.
Quadracci estimates that 95 percent of his time is spent with employees and clients. While Quadracci can no longer personally communicate with everyone in the company the way he could in the days when the company numbered 60 or even 150 employees, he spends up to four hours a day personally responding to 170 to 180 e-mail messages he receives daily from Quad/Graphics associates. That is his way of continuing to “think small,” and, also, to impart his vision to the troops.
Terry Anderson is the CEO of Omni Tech Corp. in Pewaukee, a fast-growth company with 175 employees that expects to do $100 million in sales this year. Anderson is exploiting the gap between his personal computer assembly company and his mega-size competitors, IBM, Compaq and Dell Computer, by being more responsive to his customers’ needs.
Omni Tech takes advantage of its relative smallness by doing things the big computer makers can’t because of their lumbering size. Anderson does that by constantly staying in touch with his customers and providing a level of personal service the big boys can’t match.
“Our top 50 customers get a lot of attention from us,” Anderson says. “We do a lot of customization of our product. We solve problems for our customers – things like network and software problems – and we create machines that will work under their unique environments.
“The big guys always leave crumbs, and we go around gobbling up those crumbs,” Anderson says. “There are not many who can match what we do. We are not bottom feeders, we just do those things they can’t do as well.”
Unleash your employees
Once upon a time, having a unique product or service was all the competitive edge a business needed, observes Christine McMahon, a business performance trainer on Milwaukee’s East Side. The lead time a business had over its competition was significant, as it was years before a competitor could duplicate products or services.
But now, because of technology, people can duplicate your products and services within a short period of time, McMahon says. Technology makes the playing field more level. It means others can often deliver your product faster, better and at a lower price.
“When you think about developing that competitive edge, it’s company culture, and its your employees,” McMahon says.
The new term being bandied about called “the capital intellect” is the information, the know-how, and the passion that exists within the collective mind of your employees, she says.
“It is their ability to be creative, not only to delight the customer, but to wow them,” McMahon says.
By listening to a suggestion from one of its employees, Midwest Express came up with the idea for its signature in-flight baked chocolate chip cookies.
The idea came about as the result of a quandary the Milwaukee-based airline had during its early years. The problem was on a flight that Midwest Express CEO Tim Hoeksema frequently took out of Milwaukee at 4:15 p.m. to the former parent of Midwest Express, Kimberly-Clark Corp., which is headquartered in Dallas. It was an odd time to serve a full meal, and Hoeksema would arrive there feeling sleepy and anything but ready to hit the ground running.
An employee in the dining services area came up with the idea of substituting chocolate chip cookies which were baked in-flight and served warm. After six weeks of testing, Midwest Express introduced the cookie and went to a smaller dinner tray. Not only was the cookie a hit with passengers, but no one ever complained about smaller dinners, and the airline saved $85,000 a year in the process.
Hoeksema likes to repeat a comment an employee made four years ago on Midwest Express’ 10th anniversary: “One of our employees said that he doesn’t think of himself as an employee of Midwest Express, that the employees are Midwest Express,” Hoeksema recalls. “That, to me, is really the ultimate mind-set that you can hope to achieve with your workforce.”
Although it now numbers 2,400 employees, Hoeksema says Midwest Express tries to encourage decision-making at the level closest to the customer. As an example, he tells of the letter he received from a woman who flew out of Milwaukee on Midwest Express with her mother, who was denied a 10% senior citizen discount at check-in because she couldn’t produce valid identification. As part of her letter, the woman included a photocopy of her mother’s driver’s license, which showed she was 95 years old.
In the case, the elderly woman received her senior citizen discount sometime after the fact. But when an employee takes care of a problem on the spot, you can make the customer happy and create goodwill for the company, Hoeksema says.
“We talk about this a lot with our employees, but it is not an easy thing to do,” he adds. “You have to encourage it by highlighting examples of where people have gone above and beyond the normal call of duty to serve the customer. This way, they know they will be supported for using their best judgment at the time.”
Treating everyone, especially fellow employees with respect is at the core of Midwest Express’ team-centered approach. It’s also a bedrock principle at Woodlore in Port Washington.
“We really treat our people well,” says Woodlore’s Wilcox, who is a believer in the management philosophy of Edward Deming. “It starts with respect, and the way we interact with one another. One of Deming’s key points is to drive out fear in an organization and create an atmosphere of trust.”
Part of this employee-centered approach is the willingness to allow people to make mistakes, Woodlore’s Wojcik says.
“You give them tasks to perform and let them go with it, let them make mistakes,” Wojcik says. “You can fix the mistake. People remember more if they made a mistake. You don’t have to be a friend to everyone, but, you build trust by getting to know them and giving people freedom to do the job.”
At Medical Advances in Wauwatosa – a maker of coils used in magnetic resonance imaging machines – global sales manager Steve Pareja does not set individual quotas, preferring instead to set out a team goal for his sales force to reach. This helps take the pressure off by not forcing salespeople to meet individual quotas. Pareja also performs his role of manager by focusing on internal issues such as manufacturing, customer support and product launch.
“I like to be the buffer zone for them,” Pareja says. “I act as the liaison, which allows our salespeople to focus on the outside, which is selling our products.”
One of Pareja’s salesman, Lee Taylor, appreciates the ability to act as his own boss.
“I make my own appointments, manage my own time and make my own decisions,” Taylor says. “I don’t need to be held by the hand. My manager is understanding enough to realize that we know what we have to do to get the job done.”
Taylor also has a keen understanding of his role. He realizes that his customer does not see the rest of Medical Advances such as engineering, manufacturing or quality control.
“All they see is the sales person,” Taylor says. “I am Medical Advances to these people.”
Pareja’s hands-off management style and the clear understanding of roles has led to sales figures that Pareja claims he could have only hoped for when he started with the company one year ago.
It starts with hiring
Creating the right internal bullseye within your organization has everything to do with hiring the right people to carry out the job, McMahon says.
Jewish Family Services is a Milwaukee non-profit organization that does more than most with precious few resources. Operating within a $2.2 million budget, the 70-employee organization (40 are full-time) does whatever it takes to get the job done. The East Side non-profit has resettled 1,500 refugees from the former Soviet Union since 1990. It also provides family counseling and other services to the elderly and children and the developmentally disabled.
When Jewish Family Services hires someone, it looks for more than just skill and qualifications. Executive V.P. Elliott Lubar asks prospective employees why they want to work there. He wants to know if they have the passion for the job, and if they can work as part of a team.
“People are here because they say they believe in the what our organization does for people,” Lubar says. “I think when people have a commitment to what they do, it becomes a culture. It becomes very strong and almost has a life of its own. The people that come in here almost have to have that culture, or they are not successful.
“When we hire, we look for more than qualifications and passion for the job,” Lubar adds. “We try to determine if they are going to be team players. We can’t work in isolation. We have to be dependent on each other. If someone in accounting or clerical isn’t going to be supportive, it’s going to have a ripple effect within the organization.”
At Medical Advances, one of the first traits Pareja looks at is personality when he hires someone for his sales team. Rather than apply a cookie-cutter approach to filling a sales territory, what he looks for is someone who will mesh with both the sales team and the culture at Medical Advances.
When Steve Rammes first went to work for Woodlore six years ago, “We used to hire anybody and everybody as long as they would work.” But now, the company is more selective. Team leaders are involved in the process. Undesirables are weeded out.
“We are very honest with people, Rammes says. “If they are not cutting it, we let them know about it and give them a number of chances to get it going in the right direction.”
This process is what McMahon calls “setting the expectation,” which is establishing the standard employees are expected to meet. Your employees need to have a clear understanding of what they will be measured on in terms of their performance, McMahon says.
Woodlore allows each department to draw up its own expectations, “and then we hold them to it,” Rammes adds.
Recognize achievement
Woodlore’s philosophy of customer service, quality, teamwork and flexibility is constantly reinforced, whether it’s within a sign in the entryway or in the breakroom or on business cards.
“We talk about it in meetings,” Wilcox says. “It’s reinforced all the time. The result is, it becomes part of our culture. It’s part of our daily behavior.”
Another constant within successful organizations such as Quad/Graphics, Woodlore and Medical Advances in Wauwatosa is giving recognition for a job well-done. At Woodlore, spoken praise from management sustains the intrinsic motivation of employees, Wilcox says, adding: “It becomes part of the increased expectations we have of each other.”
Every quarter, Medical Advances brings its 57 employees together for a town hall meeting. Company leaders give presentations on where the company has been, where it stands, and where it is headed. The company’s financial information is shared with every employee. And, as Medical Advances reaches thresholds and breaks records, these are recognized in the form of banners that recognize individual and group contributions, Pareja says.
“We will take luncheons where we can bask in the glow of our success,” Pareja says. “So, that happens at all levels of our business.”
But, before you can transcend the tyranny of routine, you have to rise above it and see it as it is, warns Gerber, the E-Myth man.
Remember that before you as a manager can become connected in a meaningful way to your employees and your customers, you’ve got to step back and think about it, and see the dysfunctional nature of daily life and work. Once you take this step, you can then begin to see the organizing principle behind the work that your organization performs, Gerber says.
“We first have to think differently about who we are and what we do,” Gerber advises. “It starts with thinking first as opposed to feeling or acting first.”sbt
Details about the E Myth Academy, and other E Myth books authored by Gerber can be found at www.EMyth.com.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Old World Third Street, new, converted from office space,

Extent of alcohol, drug use may make testing worthwhile
Question:
We’ve been having problems with some employees who come to work after they’ve consumed alcohol. We suspect that some of our attendance problems are also linked to alcohol use by employees (hangovers, etc.). I know alcohol/drug testing is pretty common these days but I’ve also heard that it can present some legal difficulties. What can you tell me about a good (defensible) alcohol/drug-testing program?
Answer:
According to the U.S. Public Health Service, more than 10 million people in the United States are alcoholic.
The same source tells us that around 10% of the work force may be labeled alcoholic (i.e., unable to control their drinking to the point of intoxication once alcohol consumption has begun).
Additionally, one in ten employees has tried or will try other drugs (e.g., marijuana, amphetamines, PCP, etc.).
The cost to American businesses is huge, in excess of $100 billion every year, so we are talking about a major problem. Costs attached to lost productivity, inefficiency, absenteeism and such can quickly multiply.
As you relate in your question, you are seeing some of these signs which tells me now is a good time to further investigate the situation.
Interestingly, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, excessive alcohol use is most common among professional, semi-professional, and managerial employees while drug use is lowest among this group. Keep that in mind as you research your drug-testing program.
Nationally, the frequency of drug testing is increasing. However, as with any test, issues surrounding the reliability (such as consistency) and validity (i.e. accuracy) of the specific drug test which is used are primary. Drug tests typically are chemical in nature with examination of a urine sample being the most common type. When we look at the reliability of chemical tests, their reliability actually exceeds that of many traditional written tests.
Conversely, assessing the validity of chemical tests is another matter. Basically, what we are talking about here is accurately differentiating between those who are using drugs (i.e., “positives”) from those who are not (i.e., “negatives”).
We probably have all heard stories about someone who ate a poppy seed muffin and then tested positive for heroin use. I think Seinfeld may have even had an episode on the topic. In any event, when it comes to a “false positive” of this kind, it is no laughing matter. That is especially true in light of the fact that the Centers for Disease Control report that mass drug screening can incorrectly identify the presence of drugs in up to two-thirds of the cases.
Critics of drug testing focus on those findings and contend that drug testing is an unacceptable invasion of a person’s privacy. Drug testing has also been criticized for being too expensive (tests can range in price from $10 to $100 per specimen). Questions also surround the types of positions for which drug testing is appropriate (e.g., “dangerous” jobs, professional jobs, managerial jobs, jobs which require machine/equipment operation, etc.).
What then should be your approach to implementing a reasonable drug-testing program? Research by Murphy, Barlow, & Hatch, industrial/organizational (I/O) psychologists with expertise in this area, may be instructive. They suggest that the following guidelines be considered when implementing a drug-testing program:
1) The organization should issue a statement to employees describing its policy on drug abuse and testing.
2) If employees belong to a union, the company’s drug policies and testing program must be submitted to collective bargaining before being put into effect. Employers who refuse to bargain with the union are subject to charges of unfair labor practices.
3) Drug-testing procedures should apply to all employees. No specific group should be singled out for testing.
4) Current employees should be tested only in documented cases of job impairment or because of other valid indications of probable cause.
5) Employees should be informed in advance of drug-testing procedures including the drugs being screened for, the type of tests, and the consequences of refusing to be tested.
6) All positive tests should be confirmed by a second test.
7) All results of drug tests should be kept confidential.
As these guidelines indicate, the emphasis should be on fairness and objectivity. The idea is not to single people out or make examples out of those who are using, but rather to set a high standard of conduct and professionalism which is expected of everyone who works for the organization. A sound drug-testing program is not used selectively. It is used in accordance with accepted employment practices (e.g., the EEOC guidelines).
As a final note, you may want to investigate the use of an employee assistance program (EAP) while you do research into drug testing. If you do not already have one, an EAP may be a nice adjunct to a drug-testing program.
EAPs are used to offer counseling services for employees who are having various problems, including alcohol and/or drug misuse/abuse. Typically, an EAP provides a multi-service approach with some combination of education, early detection, and referral.
My consulting experience tells me that drug testing is becoming more common among southeastern Wisconsin business organizations. It certainly is more common than it was a mere decade ago. And, I have every reason to believe that it will increase in use over the next few years.
In the final analysis, drug testing is not cheap. But as I have pointed out in this article, the costs associated with alcohol/drug testing are far outweighed by the costs of not testing for alcohol and other drugs.
HR Connection is provided by Daniel Schroeder, Ph.D., of Organization Development Consultants in Brookfield. He can be reached via e-mail at odc@execpc.com, or at 827-8383.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Like many cities in Walworth county, Elkhorn occupies a mid-point location between Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago. One of the bonuses of building next to I-43 is that Elkhorn’s industrial park may generate interest from passing motorists from one of the metropolitan areas.
One such motorist, John Reese, a plant manager for Greenfield-based Everbrite Indoor Signs, was driving past Elkhorn’s industrial park when he noticed a Snap-On Tools’ building. Reese was in the midst of looking for a site for a new Everbrite plant when the Elkhorn industrial park caught his eye and sparked his curiosity.
Reese contacted George Martin, Elkhorn’s economic development consultant, to find out the availability of a site for Everbrite. After taking a tour of the park and talking with Martin, Reese was convinced that Elkhorn was the place for Everbrite’s new plant.
Operations in the 66,000-square-foot facility began in January 1997. The company has room to add another 40,000 square feet and the right of first refusal on the lot next to its plant which could bring the square footage up to 200,000, if needed.
In addition to a location convenient to Everbrite’s four other southeastern Wisconsin facilities, Reese liked the fact that Gateway Technical College is within walking distance of the plant. Everbrite sends its employees there for management and technical training on a regular basis, according to Reese.
Elkhorn is a transportation hub with its proximity to I-43, and Highways 67, 12 and 11.
The labor situation is a plus, too, despite record low unemployment rates throughout Wisconsin. “There was very low unemployment when we came here,” Reese says. “But there was a tremendous amount of underemployment in this area.”
Elkhorn has a history of economic development that dates back to the end of World War II, according to Martin. That’s when the Elkhorn Development Co. was formed to attract businesses to bring jobs to town for returning servicemen.
Steady development followed until the early 1980s when the city decided to develop a 120-acre business park. The land was fully developed with sewer, water, paved streets, street lighting and utilities already in place.
The fully developed site-strategy worked as the EDC found the park at near capacity by 1988. It then purchased an adjacent 183-square-foot farm to begin Phase II.
When so many other cities in Walworth County are just as centrally located, why do businesses choose to locate in Elkhorn, a city of approximately 6,000?
“I can’t say enough about the people in the Elkhorn Development Co.,” says Carl A. Mancini, CEO of Arrow Products, Inc., a manufacturer of sewing machine cabinets and provider of electronic billing services.
Four years ago, Arrow had outgrown its facility in Lake Geneva when Mancini started to look for sites in both Lake Geneva and nearby Elkhorn. What sold Mancini on Elkhorn was the efforts made by the EDC and Martin.
“They really bent over backwards to help us out,” Mancini says. “It costs money when certain paperwork gets stuck on someone’s desk (in Madison). The Elkhorn people, from the mayor to George Martin, knew whom to call to get things done.”
Mancini also thought there were several disadvantages in remaining in Lake Geneva. He felt Lake Geneva’s primary economic focus was on its tourist industry. And because the city draws so many summer tourists, traffic congestion was also a problem at that time of year.
“It seemed like the Lake Geneva [economic development] people were self-serving,” Mancini says. “Elkhorn doesn’t have as much [as Lake Geneva] to attract people so they really treat business owners well.”
Mancini liked the Elkhorn park so much that Arrow now has three facilities operating there. The plant in Lake Geneva is being shut down.
For his part, Martin fields inquiries from an average of five businesses a week.
“We don’t recruit from neighboring communities,” Martin says. “We aren’t raiding. It’s sort of an understanding. Of course, we’re not going to kick someone out if they want to move here.”
— Susan Nord
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

When Janet Sperstad was planning an invitation-only event in Milwaukee for Paul Mitchell hair products, she knew she needed a special place to play host. That special place ended up being the 1451 Renaissance Place, a landmark East Side Milwaukee facility that was originally built as a church just after the turn of the century.
Renaissance Place, at 1451 N. Farwell Ave., is one of the more unique alternative meeting sites in the area. While it was built as a church, the Christian Scientists who worshipped in it refrained from emblazing religious icons in its architecture.
The congregation remains next door, in an adjacent facility built for church school purposes.
Twelve years ago, the main church structure, which held 1,100 people in its seats, was sold to the Taxman family of Milwaukee who now operates it as a meeting and events business. It’s been restored to highlight its classic architecture, including an impressive arched ceiling which gives a sense of spaciousness even when the ballroom is full.
“Its sets the tone for a special meeting or event,” says Andrea Taxman, executive director of the facility.
Today, Renaissance Place can accommodate up to 500 people for sit-down events or up to 600 for cocktail parties. The events it hosts run the gamut – from fancy dinners and cocktail parties to trade shows to professional certification testing.
The elegance is what attracted Sperstad, a certified meeting planner who works for the Monsanto company at its Madison offices. “It was an exclusive event. So the Renaissance Place is exactly what I was looking for,” she says.
While facilities such as Renaissance Place may have an elegance to them, meetings and events as such places don’t necessarily have to cost more than activities held at more traditional facilities, such as hotel halls, Taxman says. “You can work with your own caterer and other service providers to make it affordable. We offer the flexibility to do that.”
In contrast, for a hotel to host an event, for example, it would retain rights to provide food and might also be interested in having a certain number of rooms rented by event attendees.
Not every event needs to be held at an alternative facility such as Renaissance Place. But there are definite benefits to such places for certain events, Sperstad says.
“The benefits if looking at alternative meeting sites is that they can create a different atmosphere, a different energy for your event,” she says. “It tells the attendees that ‘this is something special’ and that they are, too. It can thus get people more excited about the event, make it more fun, and thus make it more memorable.”
Public parks and museums, facilities such as the Zoofari Conference Center at the Milwaukee County Zoo, and bed-and-breakfasts all offer meeting-place alternatives.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The year 2000 bug could take you down
Much has been written relative to the Year 2000 issues or “The Millennium Bug.” Is this a real problem for businesses or is it just hype?
The answer is an unqualified yes; it is a very real problem.
Opinions about the severity of the “bug” vary. Some refer to the millennium bug as a potential doomsday for modern civilization. Others say that it will be no more than an inconvenience. I believe that the risk to your business falls somewhere between these two.
While 81% of small business owners say they knew about the year 2000 problem, only 6% perceive it as “very serious.” And 37% of the businesses aware of the Y2K problem told Gallup Organization pollsters they had no plans to do anything about it before the turn of the century.
The survey commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Business and Wells Fargo Bank suggested that more than 330,000 small firms risk closure until the problem is fixed, and another 370,000 could be “temporarily crippled,” unable to pay bills, meet payroll, fill orders or do just about anything else touched by a computer.
Just what is the problem?
The problem has to do with dates. Many of us reference dates utilizing eight characters. Most of us, including many computer programers, would refer to June 9, 1998 as 06/09/98. We would refer to June 9, 2000 as 06/09/00.
At first glance, simple math tells us that there are two years between those two dates. However, when a computer calculates the difference between these dates it will calculate 00-98 = -98. In a best-case scenario, the computer program would think that June 9, 2000 is 98 years earlier than June 9, 1998. The more probable scenario is that the program will fail.
Many programs are just not prepared to handle negative numbers when date comparisons are made.
Another error has to do with sorting by dates. Typically, we store dates in a computer in year/month/day format. Thus, June 9, 1998 would be stored as 980609. When dates are stored that way, they can easily be sorted by date. Older dates have lower values. Thus the computer can tell that 980609 is earlier or less that 980709.
However, under that scenario, Jan. 1, 2000 is now older than Dec. 31, 1999. The value 000101 is less that 991231.
Any report you use which is sequenced by date will provide unpredictable results.
Those are just two examples of the many kinds of errors your computers could encounter with the millennium bug. How many of you have an aged receivable report or an open order listing by customer ship date?
How extensive is the problem?
Any device which contains a microchip could contain software which has the millennium bug. That means every computer your business uses could be affected. In addition to your core business systems (accounting, order management, inventory manufacturing, payroll, etc.), you must consider your telephone systems, alarm systems, programable logic controllers, network control equipment, cash registers, credit card authorization devices, even your elevators and heating systems might be affected.
What are my options?
Every business has several options available. The first and most obvious option is to do nothing. For those of you who choose that option, it important to note that the National Association of Manufacturers is warning businesses that “failure to bring computer systems into year 2000 compliance is tantamount to inviting lawsuits.”
In an article in the June 8 issue of the Chicago Tribune, Jan Amundsen, the manufacturing group’s legal consultant on the computer issue, says, “One of the fallout’s of the year 2000 problem is going to be a litigation explosion of immense proportion – a trillion dollars to $1.5 trillion.”
The best option available to you is to immediately start gaining an understanding of just how big the problem is in your organization. Form a task force, consisting of your key managers, to investigate the problem. Develop a detailed inventory of all computers.
For each computer, identify the compliance of the software it uses. Check your warranties, both the manufacturer’s and distributor’s, for guarantees of year 2000 compliance – just buying a new PC might not cover you.
Make another inventory of all of the computer applications in use by your organization. That inventory should include all application software including PC operating systems and e-mail systems. They are not all year 2000 compliant. As with your hardware, check your warranties and guarantees. If they do not say they are compliant, they probably are not. When in doubt, check with your vendor and test the application with various dates beyond the year 2000.
Once you know how large your problem is, put together a plan to address it. You may not have time to address all of the issues within your business. Start with your mission-critical systems first.
Most importantly, stay focused on the problem until you are comfortable that your business, your key suppliers, and your key customers are all ready for the new millennium. You must remember that even if you have corrected the year 2000 bug in your business, you are still reliant on the compliance of your vendors, your customers, and in some cases even your employees.
Where can I get more information?
The Internet provides a wealth of information on this subject. Start with www.year2000.com.
That site is a clearinghouse for articles from major publications on this subject. There are literally hundreds of sites on the Web which can be used to answer specific questions about this issue.
The key point is to start now.
Bob Landgren is a partner and the Milwaukee branch manager for Whittman-Hart, Inc.. He can be reached via e-mail at bob.landgren@whittman-hart.com.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Telephony is extending the reach – and profit – of small firms
by HEATHER STUR, SBT REPORTER
At United Cerebral Palsy of southeastern Wisconsin, one of the receptionists has limited speech ability, and only the mobility of her left arm. Yet she manages a nine-line telephone system for a staff of 35 people and handles an average of 200 phone calls per day.
Through the use of computer telephony software and an infrared laser beam attached to her glasses to serve as a mouse, the receptionist answers the telephone and transfers calls on her computer screen the way another receptionist would answer a switchboard. When a call comes in, she clicks on a pre-recorded message, listens to the caller, and transfers the call accordingly.
In the most basic of terms, computer telephony involves using your telephone and computer in conjunction, through a software program and an Internet connection, to perform a wide variety of office functions, many of which seem unrelated to typical telephone uses.
For example, if you’re a salesperson and you dial a client’s phone number, with telephony software all of that client’s data will appear on your computer screen when you dial the phone number, saving you from having to search your database for that information.
Or if you’re in the database and want to call a client, simply click on the client’s name and your telephone will dial the client’s telephone number.
You don’t have to change long-distance or local carriers, and with some programs you don’t even have to buy new phones.
Heartland Software Development, Inc., on Mayfair Road in Wauwatosa, uses computer telephony software which allows new telephone users to be added to the company director and voice-mail system within seconds, calls employees at up to four different telephone numbers to alert them to a voice-mail message and immediately puts them into the voice-mail system, lets users return a voice mail message without leaving the voice mail system and opens a customer database whenever a customer calls.
Developed by AltiGen Communications, Inc., for use on Windows NT systems and any telephone system, and targeted to small businesses of five to 120 employees, the AltiGen system is efficient and cost-effective, says Gary Edgar, president of Heartland.
“This does anything you can do with a normal phone system plus a lot more,” Edgar says. “You don’t need to buy special phones or install a new phone system to use it. If you’ve got the software, your Sports Illustrated Packers football phone will work just fine with it.”
With a traditional phone system, adding a new employee to the system might involve calling an electrician or the phone company to rewire the system and add another extension with voice mail, taking a few hours or perhaps even a day or two.
With an AltiGen system, you simply type the name of the new employee into the designated field, hit the return key and that extension and voice-mail box are automatically added to the company directory.
The AltiGen “Follow-Me-Roaming” feature allows employees to program up to four phone numbers at which they can be reached so when a call comes in to voice mail, the system calls those numbers, any of which can be out of the country, and immediately puts the employee into the voice-mail system when he answers the call.
With the system’s “Boomerang” function, employees can immediately return a call by pressing a button, and then return to voice mail at the spot where they left off. Additionally, the system causes a customer information window to appear on your computer screen whenever that customer calls.
The AltiGen system costs a one-time fee of $500 for the software and about $3,500 for the necessary hardware, says Todd Wenzel, vice president of operations at Heartland Software.
Ultimate! Communicator, the telephony software used by United Cerebral Palsy, also is designed for Windows NT systems, but unlike the AltiGen system it must be used with Toshiba phones. Ultimate! Communicator allows users to run traffic reports to determine the peak times for incoming and outgoing calls and make sure employees are being utilized efficiently, and to record conversations, dial a client’s phone number from the computer screen, and have a client database appear on the computer screen when a client calls.
“The Communicator can be customized to meet the needs of your business and absolutely improves office efficiency,” says Tom Sodemann, vice president and general manager of Phones Plus Telephone Systems in New Berlin. “For instance, by running traffic reports on calls you can determine at what times of the day employees have downtime and can be given other duties.”
And for all the call-tracking, speed-dialing, and client-identifying functions Ultimate! Communicator performs, it can also be customized to perform some quite unique tasks. For example, Sodemann suggests that the Communicator can pair your phone and computer systems to act as an office alarm team. The program can be set up so that if, after a certain time (usually at night after business hours), someone logs on to or somehow uses a computer in the office, the phone immediately dials the office manager’s or building security’s phone number and states a message that someone is in the office.
It can perform other “timed events,” such as blocking the ability to make long-distance calls from office phones after a certain hour. Also, beginning this month, a local restaurant will use the Ultimate! Communicator to start a preferred customer club. Once the system is in place, when a club member calls the restaurant, a computer at the hostess station will identify the caller and immediately print the customer’s “biography,” which will list such things as the customer’s birthday, anniversary, favorite place to sit, favorite entree, favorite wine and the last time the customer visited the restaurant. That way, special arrangements can be made for the customer quickly and easily.
“This is an excellent example of how the Communicator not only improves efficiency, but also enhances customer service,” Sodemann says.
Ultimate! Communicator costs $500 per phone (as long as you have a Toshiba phone system), and Sodemann notes that not every phone in an office needs the software. Only the work stations which will utilize its functions need to have the program installed.
Despite the impressive features of telephony software, the natural concern may be one of, “What happens to my phone system if the software malfunctions or my computer system goes down?” Heartland runs the AltiGen system on a separate computer, and Sodemann assures that your phones will continue to operate like normal phones if your computers crash; you just won’t be able to dial from your computer or have the computer-driven functions available.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The Bentley Co., of Milwaukee, has been awarded the general construction contract for the new Jewel/Osco to be located at 123 W. Oklahoma Ave. in South Milwaukee. Work is under way on the 62,000-square-foot facility with completion planned for Oct. 19.
McCloud Construction of Brookfield is constructing a 23,500-square-foot building for Dial/Galbaldon Realty of Milwaukee at the corner of Appleton Avenue and Rivercrest Drive in Menomonee Falls. The building will be occupied by Office Max.
Schmitz Ready Mix of Milwaukee has opened its fifth Ready Mix plant in the area, this one at 3131 W. Elm Rd. in Franklin. The 4,800-square-foot concrete plant and 6,030-square-foot recycling building are on 11.4 acres. The facility will serve the area from southern metropolitan Milwaukee to the Illinois border. Founded in 1949, the company also has plants in Port Washington, Mequon, Richfield and Milwaukee.
Beyer Construction of New Berlin has reconstructed and expanded Manpower’s data center at 5301 Ironwood in Glendale. The project involved installation of new access flooring, interior finishes and new mechanical systems. Architectural design was by Eppstein Uhen Architects of Milwaukee.
– Beyer has been selected as construction manager for a $1 million renovation of an historic two-level stone and stucco-face building that houses the Chenequa Village Hall and the village’s fire and police departments. Architectural work is by Aldrian Guszkowski of Elm Grove.
– Beyer is also working on a new training center for the Cutler-Hammer Products division of the Eaton Corp. at 4201 N. 27th St. in Milwaukee. The facility will accommodate groups from six to 100 persons with the main training room designed to accommodate 100 people theater-style or 60 classroom-style. The center also has an executive presentation room, a computer training room, a break area and a product demonstration and display area. Quorom Architects of Milwaukee handled design.
– Beyer is handling a major construction project at The Grand Milwaukee Hotel at 4747 S. Howell Ave. in Milwaukee. Shady Grove Road Associates of San Francisco owns the facility. The $7.5 million project involves complete renovation of all guest rooms, upgrades to life safety and electrical systems, heating and cooling system upgrades and replacements, reroofing, and a new fire protection system. The project is expected to be completed by next April.
G&V Machine Co. Inc., Hartland, has entered into a long-term lease agreement whereby MSI General Corp. of Oconomowoc designed and constructed a 68,400-square-foot manufacturing and office facility on Industrial Drive in the Ixonia Industrial Park, Ixonia.
G&V Machine Co., Inc. is a CNC production machine shop with a national and international clientele. It has produced parts for the construction, agriculture and trucking industries for more than 50 years. The move to the new facility began in June.
G&V Machine Co., Inc. was founded in 1946 by Willard Griswold Sr. in Pewaukee. In 1979, the company expanded to a new 29,000-square-foot facility in Hartland when Willard Griswold Sr. retired and Willard Griswold Jr. and Dennis Griswold assumed ownership. That facility was also constructed by MSI General.
The new 68,400-square-foot plant is expandable to 200,000 square feet, depending on business growth in the next few years. The opening of the new building will result in a number of additional job openings as well as current opportunities. Present employment of 50 full-time personnel could expand to 100 within two years based on business activity.
– MSI General is also designing and building a 32,280-square-foot office and manufacturing facility on Woolsey Street in the Delavan Business Park for Mode Industries of Delavan. Mode is approaching 30 years in the metal-fabricating field with customers in both Wisconsin and Illinois. Its present manufacturing facility, built in 1989 on Industrial Court in Delavan, has 10,000 square feet. The expansion is expected to accommodate business growth and allow for the installation of state-of-the-art equipment.
– MSI is also designing and building a multi-tenant retail center at Sunset Drive and Tenny Avenue in Waukesha. The center, approximately 16,775 square feet in area, will be just west of the Walgreens store. Leases have been secured for Blockbuster Video and Payless Shoe Source. Completion is expected at the end of October. Frisch, Shay & Taylor will manage and lease the center.
– MSI is designing and building a 12,000-square-foot retail building for Continental Properties of Menomonee Falls. The building will be in the West Bend Corporate Center at 1201-1259 Paradise Dr. in West Bend.
Anderson-Ashton of New Berlin is designing and building a new facility for Welders Supply Co. The 10,500-square-foot retail and wholesale facility will be at W230 S7720 Hwy. 164 in Big Bend. Occupancy is expected this summer.
Two projects within the Sussex/Hamilton School District have broken ground. The first of the two took place on May 27 for the Maple Avenue Elementary School. Plunkett Raysich Architects of Milwaukee designed the renovation and expansion of the existing elementary school after a referendum was passed last November. The $4.4 million project will include 20,000 square feet of expansion space.
A second groundbreaking occurred on June 2 for Templeton Middle School. This $4.2 million dollar project will include 34,483 square feet of addition and renovation space. Major features of this project include the addition of three art rooms, a new administration office, and additional classrooms.
Participating in the engineering work are Arnold & O’Sheridan, Inc. (structural), Lubenow Gobster Dominiak & Associates, Inc. (plumbing), Ring & DuChateau, Inc. (HVAC), Dolan & Dustin, Inc. (electrical).
Voss-Jorgensen-Schueler Co., Inc., Waukesha, is the construction manager.
Merchants & Manufacturers Bancorp has broken ground for a new Franklin State Bank branch in the Franklin Business Park. The branch is expected to open in September and will be the first branch for Franklin State.
The branch will also house the Franklin State Bank Conference Center, said Donna Kleinschmidt, president of the bank.
Redmond Construction Co., of Waukesha, has broken ground for a 25,000-square-foot, two-story office facility at W228 N745 Westmound Dr. in Waukesha.
The facility, designed by Redmond architect Adrian Langhus, will house the corporate offices of The Redmond Group, which includes the construction company and its divisions.
Those include Redmond Financial Facilities Group and Redmond Commercial Development Corp.
The facility is expected to be ready by the end of November.
The T-3 Group of Milwaukee has been selected to build a Shell Mart/Burger King with a car wash at 2040 W. Ryan Rd. in Oak Creek. The 5,400-square-foot building is under construction and is expected to be completed in September. T-3 is also designing and building an office expansion for Ideal Financial at 17035 W. Wisconsin Ave. in Brookfield.
July 1998 Small Business Times

New owners of Wachtel Tree Science rebuild firm’s stature
Back in the 1940s and 1950s, having a Wachtel Tree Science and Service truck in your driveway was seen as a status symbol.
The firm’s neatly uniformed arborists took a scientific approach to their work – an approach that garnered them respect in the industry. At a time when their competitors were just topping trees, Larry Wachtel was more interested in what was going on inside the tree. Wachtel was more interested in establishing a business based on tree maintenance rather than simply reacting to tree damage.
But it often seemed that clients were just as happy to pay to have a Wachtel truck parked on their lots as they were to pay for tree care.
While the business founded in 1935 lived on, some of the luster wore off through the years. After Larry Wachtel’s departure many lucrative accounts were lost.
Today, two new owners are working hard to rebuild the firm’s reputation and client base.
“We bought a challenge,” admits Paul Markworth, president and co-owner of the Menomonee Falls firm.
Markworth and Dave Scharfenberger, his business partner, had worked together at Associated American Landscape Services and witnessed the situation at Wachtel.
Wachtel had gone through some ownership changes; the most recent owner was working to rebuild the firm. But Markworth and Scharfenberger saw greater opportunity.
“I told them that if they ever wanted to sell, come talk to me,” Markworth recalls. Six months later, in March of 1994, the duo bought the firm.
“We knew it still had good name recognition,” Scharfenberger says. By applying some business practices and improving marketing, the new owners felt they could build on that recognition to restore Wachtel’s position.
“A large part of the turnaround would be business organization and the focusing of employees,” Scharfenberger added, noting that not long after they had purchased the firm, they learned that a number of ex-employees came back upon learning of the business sale.
Their five-year plan for the business included goals of increased sales and replacement of all equipment. “We weren’t used to hearing comments such as ‘I just broke the last rake,'” Markworth added.
The employees wouldn’t have to worry about such situations for long. Markworth and Scharfenberger hit their five-year goal in 3-1/2 years.
The firm’s 1997 revenues were twice what they were when Markworth and Scharfenberger bought Wachtel – even though the staff size is virtually the same. And the company is on track for this year’s revenues to be 65% greater than 1993’s.
How’d they do it? Using the experience they gained at previous jobs, the duo engaged in a multi-front approach.
They garnered respect and enthusiasm from employees by giving them the tools they needed to do their jobs.
They instituted more organized and computerized business practices.
They committed the firm to a regular marketing campaign that would keep its name in front of regular clients and put it in front of potential clients.
And they personally visited clients.
But Scharfenberger believes empowering the staff has been the primary key to success. “We knew there was a capable staff, they just needed to be given the tools to allow them to do their jobs,” he says. “It’s really about working with and for your people.”
Along with the focus on the staff, the firm computerized its operations, including records of past and present clients. It is now easily able to regularly mail out marketing pieces, including its newsletter: “The Plant Doctor’s Seasonal Report.” That four-page newsletter goes to about 5,000 people three times a year, offering advice on seasonal tree care.
“It’s obviously a marketing tool, but it’s also an educational tool,” Scharfenberger says. “We knew if we had a clientele educated about trees, they’d be more apt to use our services.”
The firm’s staff of 13 includes 10 arborists – eight of whom are certified and seven of whom have degrees. No other firm in the state has as many certified arborists on staff, Scharfenberger says – a position that speaks to the company’s scientific focus on tree care. Along with its residential client base, which is concentrated in the Milwaukee suburbs of Wauwatosa and Whitefish Bay, Wachtel has business and municipal clients.
While the Yellow Pages listing for “tree service” is rather extensive, Markworth and Scharfenberger see their main competitor as Buckley Tree Service, a Waukesha-based firm which they admit lured away a number of Wachtel clients prior to the Markworth/Scharfenberger ownership.
Wachtel sets itself apart from its competitors on its approach to its work, just like the golden days of yesteryear.
“We’re more interested in finding out what the problem might be with a tree rather than just going ahead and spraying trees on a property four to five times a year,” Scharfenberger says. “It’s a little more work, but it’s worth it to work with nature in dealing with tree problems.”
C.L. “Larry” Wachtel died in 1996. But he left a legacy that Markworth and Scharfenberger hope to carry on. The company has an extensive history collection, consisting of stacks of articles written by Larry Wachtel, insect samples, slide/talk shows, and photographs. “What becomes overwhelmingly obvious in reviewing these is Mr. Wachtel’s attention to detail, desire to educate, and his love of trees,” Scharfenberger wrote in the company newsletter after Wachtel’s death. “Larry Wachtel set the standard in the tree-care industry as a gentleman and a professional that we are all still working hard to sustain.”
July 1998 Small Business Times Milwaukee