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

Keep Milwaukee, just give me that countryside
Alpine Valley, Lake Geneva, Lake Delavan, and severe weather. Walworth County is Southeast Wisconsin’s tourism mecca, even if it does seem to receive more than its share of nature’s fury. But, from an economic standpoint, there are no storm clouds on the horizon.
The overall economic picture of Walworth County is sunny indeed, and one that is underscored by ongoing development of its population centers, says George Kovacs, the director of planning, zoning and sanitation in Walworth County.
The region’s natural resources, such as lakes Delavan and Geneva, have historically drawn visitors from Milwaukee and Chicago. Kovacs predicts that the preserved beauty of the area will become more attractive to residents of larger metropolitan areas, as urban and suburban development increases and drives people in search of open spaces.
Another factor drawing people to put down stakes in Walworth County is its improved road system. Kovacs theorizes that with more convenient travel routes, more people are willing to commute further distances to Milwaukee and northern Chicago-area businesses than they were in the past.
East Troy, for example, is seeing significant residential and commercial growth, thanks, in large part, to the development of I-43 alongside those towns, which at one point were simply served by two-lane state highways, rail lines and the old interurban.
East Troy, by the way, continues to get mileage off the old interurban, using seven miles of the line to serve industrial customers with the East Troy Electric Railroad, and using another part of it as a tourist attraction complete with electric trolley rides.
The biggest challenge for the county in the upcoming years will be to study and develop a land-use plan to control the growth and development of the area. So far, the urban development has been slowly increasing from 7.5% of total Walworth County land in 1963, to 10.6% in 1990.
According to a report by the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission (SEWRPC), Walworth County’s population could increase from 75,000 in 1990 to either 85,000 (low-growth), 98,000 (medium-growth) or 115,000 (high-growth) by the year 2020. Housing would increase, respectively, from 27,600 in 1990 to 34,500 (low), 38,100 (medium) or 43,000 (high) by 2020.
Kovacs says Walworth County is likely to adopt SEWRPC’s recommendation of land uses, but it will involve the local cities and townships to get feedback on quality of life issues and their appetite for growth in order to develop the most palatable plan for as many residents and businesses as possible.
Kovacs’ office functions as a “clearinghouse” for economic development within the county, as opposed to a direct advocate. If a business is looking for a site, the Walworth County Park and Planning Commission’s (WCPPC) job is to pass it along to the chambers of commerce or economic development offices located within the county. The chambers of commerce are then responsible for their own business recruitment.
The biggest pressure on the WCPPC will be finalizing the land-use plan for the next 20 years, a process which will include trying to synthesize each community’s own land-use ideas into a county-wide approach. This will be a matter of balancing preservation of farmland and natural resources with the quest for expanded commercial development and tax base.
“Sometimes you have to make tough choices,” says Kovacs. “We need to direct and manage growth, keep population density low in some areas and direct the growth to the established communities that can expand for sewer and water. We want to maintain open spaces and provide balance. The key is to have a plan in place for the development of this region.”
Directing the growth toward established communities is fine if your community is one of the infrastructure “haves” – with sewer, water and electric utilities that can be offered to prospective developers and businesses. But what if your community is a “have not?” Should all development be funneled into a few larger communities, thus giving the benefits of a larger tax base and more jobs to those communities alone?
While Whitewater and Elkhorn, through their business parks, have seen a surge in economic development, some smaller communities have been growing at a snail’s pace, seemingly unaffected by the economic boom.
The Village of Sharon is one such community. Nestled in the southwestern portion of Walworth County, close to the border of Illinois, Sharon is self-described as “the town that time forgot.” The chamber of commerce reports that only two businesses have moved to Sharon in the last four years. But according to Frances Williams, of the Sharon Chamber of Commerce, there are no real plans or strategies in place to attract more businesses.
“We’d like to attract more businesses to expand our tax base,” Williams states, “but we haven’t really been active [in recruiting].”
Another problem: the industrial park is full and the village doesn’t even own it. “We’d have to buy another tract of land,” Williams says.
According to Jim Caldwell, president of First Citizens State Bank of Whitewater and a founding director and original chairman of the Whitewater Community Development Authority: “No community stays the same. It either moves forward, or falls behind.” Caldwell and the WCDA believed that if Whitewater didn’t become proactive in its economic development approach, it could fall hopelessly behind.
Sharon, on the surface, is facing many of the same issues that Whitewater and Elkhorn had 10-20 years ago.
One problem with many smaller communities is that everyone is caught up in trying to run his or her own business, much less organizing and attracting new ones to the area.
“We’re wandering sheep,” says Mark Rousch, former VP of the Sharon Chamber of Commerce.
Sharon, and other small communities sprinkled within Walworth County, could benefit from county-provided development guidance, Rousch says.
On the other hand, a do-nothing stance could actually help a small town like Sharon remain attractive. As Kovacs points out, smaller, rural communities may become even more desirable as other counties and cities become over-developed.
Kovacs doesn’t rule out a larger, more proactive role for the county in helping smaller communities. But first things first. The land-use plan must be developed and adhered to in order to achieve the urban and rural balance that has attracted people to the county for decades.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Gregg Tushaus’s enterprises are on the fast track
In 1979, at the of age 15, Gregg Tushaus wrote a computer program to keep track of bowling league scores and standings. The teenager made a few dollars with it, but never tried to develop the program into a serious business.
But, the entrepreneurial seed had been planted.
Today, at age 34, Tushaus owns two successful Wauwatosa-based computer services businesses with 88 employees and combined yearly revenues of $12 million.
Before going into business for himself, Tushaus worked for M&I Data Services in software development and programing. Five years ago, he developed an idea for his own business.
“I always wanted to start my own company, and I felt the need for another computer services business in this market,” Tushaus says. “I’d been thinking about owning my own computer business since I was 15.”
Thanks, in part, to the fact that his wife Laura had a good job and was supportive of his ideas, Tushaus Computer Services officially opened its doors on Dec. 6, 1993, with Tushaus serving as the business’s founder, owner, and only staffer. Two months later, Tushaus hired his first employee. The business has grown steadily ever since, and currently has approximately 55 employees.
“We’ve been very fortunate to hire good people,” Tushaus says. “We have no bad eggs as far as I’m concerned.”
Laura Tushaus formally joined the company 2-1/2 years ago and is now its general manager. Tushaus credits her with being an instrumental part of the company’s success, describing their working relationship almost in terms of a yin and yang coexistence.
“We complement each other with our different skills,” Tushaus says. “We each bring something different, yet equally necessary, to the business. She has strong management abilities while I’m strong in the technical areas. You can’t have one and not the other and still expect your business to be successful.”
Tushaus Computer Services claimed $300,000 in revenue at the end of its first full year. Five years after its inception, Tushaus Computer Services is at about $10 million in annual revenue.
Not long after the company was founded, another opportunity arose when a cabling firm Tushaus had been working with closed its Milwaukee office. Working with a few people who had lost their jobs when the office closed, Tushaus formed Advance Cabling Solutions in April of 1995. The business handles data and voice cabling for networking.
That business, which started out with four employees and reached $200,000 in revenue in 1995, now employees 33 people and will surpass last year’s earnings of $2 million, Tushaus says.
Tushaus Computer Services was selected as a “Future 50” company by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce in 1996, ’97 and ’98 – an award which recognizes fast-growth, up-and-coming companies in the area. Advance Cabling is a first-time winner of the honor this year.
So it isn’t all that surprising that Tushaus, who also is the membership chair for the Milwaukee chapter of Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, was selected to participate in the Birthing of Giants program. The Birthing of Giants program is sponsored by the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Inc. magazine, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Enterprise Forum.
Tushaus was one of only 60 people selected to participate in the program from around the world and the only person from Wisconsin chosen.
According to Richard Bright, marketing and communications director for the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Tushaus fit the Birthing of Giants profile well.
“Gregg owns businesses of substantial size, and there seems to be a great possibility that those businesses will continue to grow at a continued quick pace,” Bright says.
Tushaus is flattered by the selection, but retains the down-to-business attitude that got him where he is today.
“Some people might look at a guy like me and say I’ve had it easy or been lucky,” Tushaus says, “but it takes hard work, commitment, and persistence to make it as an entrepreneur.”
Having experienced the first session of Birthing of Giants, which seemed a cross between a college course and a grueling business seminar – the days on the MIT campus in Boston lasted from 7:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. with breaks only for lunch and dinner – Tushaus found it an effective learning experience.
Entrepreneurs in attendance ranged from a printing company owner to the head of a supermarket chain to a coffee bean distributor from Guatemala. The list of speakers included George Naddaff, the founder of Boston Chicken (now Boston Market); Audrey Daniels, author of Bringing Out the Best in People; and Jim Wood of Inc. magazine, and an in-depth case study on Kevin Harrington, a.k.a. the Ginsu Knife man.
Tushaus says he gained some valuable knowledge that he hopes to apply to his business.
“This year’s focus was on leadership, and as our company grows I have to move myself to the next level as a leader,” Tushaus says. “I have to start acting more as a CEO and less as just an owner. As your business moves to each new level, a whole new set of problems appear and the business dynamics change. Leadership skills also need to change. That’s what I hope to apply from the program.”
Tushaus wants to grow both companies and open other branches throughout Wisconsin. He won’t say whether national or even international expansion is on the horizon for Tushaus Computer Services and Advance Cabling Solutions, but he will say that the future looks bright.
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

To succeed today, find out what your firm really sells
Business, historically, has competed on price, quality and service. But there’s a practical limit to those attributes – a limit reached when you realize that your firm’s product is just a commodity.
When you allow your firm to remain commodity-focused, cost becomes the overriding principle which controls your business; you, in turn, lose control.
You can regain control by getting a better picture of what your business really does, and what its niche is.
The charm of niches is that they offer the potential of margin, quality requirements and service obligations – which you control and profit from.
The value of a niche, in economic terms, is that demand exceeds supply.
The ideal niche market is one where you are the only provider of a service or product. The trick to getting there is to adjust your thinking and redefine your firm – what your service or product does – such that you also redefine, or create the niche you exclusively supply. Whenever competition sticks its ugly head in, you redefine yourself again. You always stay the leader.
A case example of that type of redefinition is the transformation of an $8 million producer of labels. Label production, as with most printing, is a commodity business, competing on low price, high quality and competitive service.
In working with the firm’s owners, I learned they wanted to take the business to “the next level.” That’s a common desire of business owners. But what I believe they really wanted was a way out of the commodity-driven business environment.
The cost of sales, the cost of ever-lower price quotations, and the cost of competitive quality and service have so eroded margins that simple survival of the label producer was in question.
The above-mentioned company, like so many other small companies, was full of bright, able and willing people. The only problem is that they all share a view of what they do based on work effort and experience. They shun change with the powerful attitude of “we’ve always done it this way.”
Over the course of 45 days, I was able to facilitate leadership and the marketing/sales groups to rethink and redefine their organization.
Forget the commodity game
The first requirement was to help them realize that playing the commodity game was not a success strategy. Once they got past that barrier, they quickly recognized a world of opportunity. That awareness started the real process of rethinking and redefining the firm.
We facilitated a process of self-analysis, including a critical look at what they thought about themselves, what they said about themselves -including their company name and their past sales efforts and initiatives. Additionally, we undertook an analysis of what their customer was actually buying, and what the products and services actually did – as opposed to what they physically represented.
They came to realize that, even though they produced labels, that’s not what their company actually was in business for.
What they discovered was their role in the communications business, but not just any communication – they were in the identification business. And, even more, they came to the conclusion that they were experts in tangibles identification.
Since part of their service included distribution of hardware and software providing bar-code reading and data acquisition, the further refinement to “tangibles identification and management” emerged as their true specialty.
The result of that new framework was astounding.
Within days they discovered opportunities for their new business framework that, prior to that time, were not even imaginable. One opportunity announced itself when they were asked to help a very large industrial customer solve a high-overhead maintenance cost problem. The client’s extensive physical campus had more than 500,000 locks of all sorts. Whenever someone couldn’t get through a lock, that person would call maintenance. Maintenance would pull an associate off important work and send that person to help open the lock. As was most often the case, maintenance did not know the combination or have the key. Hence, the maintenance person would go back to the department and spend valuable time researching how to get through the lock.
The cost burden of that problem was enormous.
Because of the new business framework, the label company – now an identification company – was able to propose a better approach to its problem.
The outcome for my client was the realization of margins that exceeded all expectations. More importantly, the firm discovered and created a market niche that never before existed.
New markets opened
That redefining of what the firm did opened entirely new niches and development opportunities in other areas as well. For instance, instead of making $6,000 for producing 500,000 labels for a client, the organization received a $125,000 identification and database management contract to manage a specialty tangible for the customer.
As Gary Hamel in Sloan Management reports, “I believe that only those companies which are capable of reinventing themselves and their industry in a profound way will be around a decade hence.
The question today is not whether you can re-engineer your processes; the question is whether you can reinvent the entire industry model.”
It’s only a beginning. Wal-Mart, Intel, Microsoft and The Home Depot did not become what they are by playing the game by the rules. They rewrote the rules. And so can you.
In the coming months in this series, we’ll discuss other barriers to business success and we’ll offer suggestions to overcoming them.
William Kraemer, Ph.D., is president of The Total Source, with offices in Mequon, Chicago, San Francisco and Knoxville, Tenn. He can be reached via e-mail at kraemer315@aol.com.
July 1998 Small Business Times

The following firms have been named the “Future 50” by the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce. The firms are recognized as the area’s fastest-growing companies.
AmeriVoice Telecommunications*, Milwaukee; Louis Miller, CEO/president; founded 1992; Voi ce messaging & telecommunication services.
Building Innovative Designs*, Nashotah; Thomas Luck, CEO/president; founded 1992; general construction.
Celtic Advertising*, Brookfield; Martha Smith, CEO/president; founded 1992; advertising.
Charleston/Orwig Inc.*, Hartland; Lyle E. Orwig, CEO/president; founded 1992; marketing communications.
Creative Business Interiors*, West Allis; Gary Zimmerman Jr., CEO/president; founded 1991; interior design and construction.
Eagle Technology Group*, West Allis; Raymond Holden, CEO/president; founded 1993; permanent or contract employees in technical fields.
Ecker Envelope*, Mequon; Scott Ecker, CEO/president; founded 1989; envelope printing.
Enders Development Corp.*, Slinger; James Blise, CEO/president; founded 1991; construction/design and management services.
FlexBen Corp.*, Mequon; Kent Smith, CEO/president; founded 1989; employee benefits consulting and administration.
McCloud Construction*, Brookfield; Robert McCloud, CEO/president; founded 1993; general contractor/construction management.
Quad Tool & Design*, Kewaskum; Vernon Jung Jr., CEO/president; founded 1993; aluminum diecast and plastic injection molding.
Southwest Metal Fabricators*, Milwaukee; John Morin, CEO/president; founded 1993; prototype and production of truck frame components.
Stark Images*, Milwaukee; Kenneth Stark, CEO/president; founded 1992; lithographic film negatives and Internet services.
Sycamore Group*, Milwaukee; Bruce Barchus, CEO/president; founded 1994; information technology consulting.
Tri-Phase Automation*, Pewaukee; Matt Miller, CEO/president; founded 1992; distributor/automation and industrial control products.
Tushaus Computer Services*, Wauwatosa; Gregg Tushaus, CEO/president; founded 1993; computer services.
Wild Promotions Inc.*, New Berlin; Jim Budzinski, CEO/president; founded 1991; promotional merchandise and offset printing.
American Disc Corp., New Berlin; Geoffrey Fox, CEO/president; founded 1992; software production, duplication and packaging.
Choice Construction Companies, Menomonee Falls; Dominic Stroik, CEO/president; founded 1994; general construction.
Converted Products, West Allis; Christopher Gorenc, CEO/president; founded 1993; contract conversion of paper/film/tape/plastic materials.
Doral USA, LLC, Mequon; Gregory Borca, CEO/president; founded 1994; managed dental-care services.
HealthReach Rehabilitation Services, Brookfield; William Born, CEO/president; founded 1994; physical rehabilitation consultation and services.
Fred Kinateder Masonry, Inc., Waukesha; Fred Kinateder, CEO/president; founded 1990; brick, block and glass block installation.
Pattern Technologies, Waukesha; Timothy Jason, CEO/president; founded 1994; tooling for foundry die/cast/plastic injection molding.
Performance Freight Systems, Milwaukee; Gregory Fox, CEO/president; founded 1990; transport of less-than-truckload commodities.
Postal Products Unlimited, Milwaukee; Brian Nelson, CEO/president; founded 1989; mailing services and equipment.
Quality Air Forwarding, Cudahy; James Cyganiak, CEO/president; founded 1992; air freight forwarding services.
Quality Color Graphics, Pewaukee; Patrick Bodus, CEO/president; founded 1989; commercial printing and color separations.
Sonag Company, Menomonee Falls; Brian Ganos, CEO/president; founded 1987; general contracting, asbestos abatement.
Techna Tool & Machine Co., Hartland; Bruce Wm. Behling, CEO/president; founded 1990; design/distribution of machine tool components.
United Mailing Services, Brookfield; James KoIb, CEO/president; founded 1990; mail barcoding/pre sorting/fulfillment.
Advance Cabling Solutions**, Wauwatosa; Gregg Tushaus, CEO/president; founded 1995; cabling services.
Anthony Construction**, Pewaukee; Joseph Wendelberger, CEO/president; founded 1992; construction of custom homes.
Capital Data**, Milwaukee; Paul Eberle, CEO/president; founded 1989; computer services.
Central File**, Brown Deer; Dan Chaudoir, CEO/president; founded 1991; direct mail marketing services.
Damage Control & Restoration**, Milwaukee; Phillip Isenhour, CEO/president; founded 1994; general contracting specializing in insurance restoration.
Electronic Printing Systems**, Milwaukee; Robert Kraft, CEO/president; founded 1996; direct mail print production and database management.
Graphic Solutions**, Milwaukee; Marc Tebon, CEO/president; founded 1989; graphic design services.
Great Lakes Cable Communications**, Waukesha; Paul Braam, CEO/president; founded 1991; cable TV installation.
Ideal Financial Services Corp.**, Brookfield; Ronald Walters, CEO/president; founded 1993; mortgages and home equity/construction financing.
Internet Connect**, Wauwatosa; Alec Ellsworth, CEO/president; founded 1994; dedicated Internet access.
Preferred System**, Hartford; Jeff Otto, CEO/president; founded 1995; coating and laminating equipment for printing industry.
Professional Account Management**, Mequon; Robert A. Szymczak, CEO/president; founded 1988; receivables management/medical billing/cash processing.
S.J. Mechanical**, Milwaukee; Richard J. Fisher, CEO/president; founded 1989; heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
Taylor Made Express**, Cudahy; Timothy McDonald, CEO/president; founded 1994; transportation/expedited freight.
TKO Doors**, Sussex; Kurt Kellogg, CEO/president; founded 1993; overhead sectional loading dock doors.
Tracer Corp.**, Milwaukee; William Morales, CEO/president; founded 1993; aircraft parts.
Wakeman Equipment**, Brown Deer; Donald Wakeman, CEO/president; founded 1992; auto collision repair equipment.
Wisconsin Machine Tool Corp.**, West Allis; Patrick F. Cherone, CEO/president; founded 1993; custom-engineered machine tools and related products.
World Class Wire & Cable**, West Allis; James Lindenberg, CEO/president; founded 1994; electrical/electronic wire and cable.
* Three-time Future 50 or Master Mettle Award winner
* * First time on Future 50 list
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Answering the following questions should help disclose whether you really want to host a meeting or event:
1) What’s the purpose? Why are you hosting this meeting or event? Is there another way to accomplish this objective? Do key players in your organization understand and support this activity?
2) Who is the audience for this event? How many people do you expect to attend? If the targeted audience includes non-staff people, who are they? Developing categories of participants allows you to decipher who your guests should be.
3) What does your audience want or expect? Addressing this issue assists in defining content based on needs and expectations. How do you identify audience expectations? Ask. Identify key prospects in each category, then talk to them.
4) What resources – staff and budget – are you willing to pledge to this project? Remember, you get what you pay for. Are you willing to spend the money necessary to effectively host this event?
5) Location. Location. Location. Are you looking for Flagstaff event venues with access to public transportation? Do you need a distraction-free environment? Are children welcome at your chosen venue? Will the event be casual or elegant. Formal or informal?
Source: Linda Jackson Cocroft, I Am Events Planning, Shorewood
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Cultivating convention business pays off for area firms
In making plans for President Bill Clinton’s appearance in Milwaukee two years ago, the White House florist had available to her any national floral company as well as several larger floral chains in the Milwaukee area.
But she commissioned a small downtown Milwaukee business to do the job. Private Gardener had made its presence known to the Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau and to its peers, and therefore when the need arose, its name came up in several circles.
Private Gardner owner Victoria Vonier knew that convention and meeting planners come into a city and look for referrals, and she made sure that her business stuck in the minds of anyone doing any referring.
Conventions bring more to the greater Milwaukee area than people. Conventions bring business, and not just business for hotels and restaurants. From florists to group transportation services to printing companies, local businesses have found a niche in convention trade.
Brian Dunn of Limousine Services, an airport transportation business on South Third Street, knows that conventioners often fly to Milwaukee, and therefore he determined that a need existed in the convention sector for airport transportation. His business often supplies conventioners with discounted prices, and transportation to events around the city in addition to airport transportation.
CVB is a crucial link
By making his business known to the Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), Dunn gets the word out about his business to conventioners and meeting planners.
“It’s a very helpful organization,” Dunn says of the GMVCB. “They want to get convention trade into Milwaukee and they’re very supportive of the businesses that make the effort to get involved with the bureau.”
Making the effort is the key phrase here. It’s no good simply to join GMCVB, pay your membership dues and disappear. In order for GMCVB to let conventioners and meeting planners know what your business has to offer, you must first market your business to GMCVB.
“Convention and meeting planners come to the city not knowing much about the city or the available businesses and depend on us to make referrals,” says Gloria Gappa-Grundman, GMCVB membership manager. “Stay in touch with the bureau and be aggressive in letting us know that you want convention business.”
Membership dues for GMCVB start at $310 per year and average about $500 per year, says Gappa-Grundman. The dues depend on several factors such as the size of the business, type of services offered and proximity to the convention center. For that fee, however, GMCVB members receive the Master Convention Calendar which contains a two-year listing of all the conventions coming to Milwaukee, the services they require, and contact people. The calendar is otherwise confidential, so the only way to get one is to join GMCVB.
Additionally, GMCVB members are listed in the GMCVB Official Visitors Guide, Membership Directory, which is distributed to convention planners, Group Tour Planner and Meeting Planners Guide, as well as on the Destination Milwaukee Website.
Furthermore, the GMCVB Convention Services Department receives leads from meeting planners listing what types of services are needed for various meetings and conventions and forwards those leads to GMCVB members, who then are responsible for marketing themselves to the planners.
“We call people listed on the convention calendar and send them letters of information about the services we offer,” says Mark Powell of Audio Visual of Milwaukee, a business which has provided all the audio-visual equipment and personnel for such conventions as the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Sports Show and the Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreigners. “I would recommend that all businesses interested in convention trade take advantage of [GMCVB]. They turn a lot of leads over to us directly.”
A to Z Printing got the business of the Christian Missionary Convention through contacts at GMCVB. The company, a full-service printer, produced the convention’s newsletter for all seven days it was in Milwaukee. Says A to Z’s Greg Christensen, the company’s flexibility helped get it the convention’s business.
“We only had about six hours turnaround time to get the newsletter out every day, but since our plant has overnight capabilities, we did the job overnight for the conventioners,” Christensen says. “We wouldn’t do that on a daily basis, but we did it for the conventioners because it was a need they had.”
Word of mouth
Sometimes, word of mouth referrals are still the best way to get business. That’s how Private Gardener on North Broadway in Milwaukee’s Third Ward got the White House’s business. Private Gardener provided all the floral arrangements when President Clinton came to Milwaukee.
“It wasn’t because we called the White House and asked for their business,” says Vonier, whose business also is doing the floral arrangements for the Midwest Express Center’s opening gala. “The White House florist called a restaurant and a hotel in Milwaukee and both recommended me. When you want to get convention business, not only do you have to get involved with the Convention and Visitors Bureau, you also have to make your business known to other businesses so that when conventioners scout the city and look for business, your company’s name comes up. Anyone can be a reference for you.”
For instance, in addition to working with GMCVB to get convention business, Dunn also communicates with hotels to find convention information.
“Sometimes the smaller conventions are held in hotels and are set up through the hotels rather than through the [GMCVB],” Dunn says.
Although it may be tempting for a small business to assume that convention and meeting planners only want to give their business to the big corporate names, Gappa-Grundman suggests that small businesses which play aggressively might have an advantage when it comes to getting convention business.
“Small businesses often are more likely to take advantage of our leads than the big companies who think convention business will just come knocking at their door,” Gappa-Grundman says. “We do the referring, so if we know your business, we’ll tell the meeting planners about it. Be aggressive. It’s what the meeting planners want.”
July 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee