Going from DOS to Windows-based accounting system
You’ve had the kickoff meeting with staff and consultants. The initial schedule that covers every moment of time involved in the conversion is in place. All accounting coding schemes from your new chart of accounts to vendor, customer, inventory and employee IDs have been redesigned. The server, workstations and software has just been installed. What could go wrong?
Sunstone Financial Group, Inc., a company that provides fund accounting and administration along with shareholder servicing, distribution, marketing and advertising support to investment companies, mutual funds and their advisers, recently made the switch to Solomon IV for Windows and is currently in the process of running parallel. The company is dealing with some typical situations that commonly occur during a transition to a new financial software application.
Sunstone controller Christine Mortensen had the following experience after returning from vacation:
“I waited until late Friday to call in and get my messages. One after another was about the problems they had with one of the servers going down and the domino effect it had on the Solomon IV users. Keep backups. Keep daily backups. The data was all there. It really wasn’t so much of a problem. But you don’t know that at the time it is happening.
“Time constraints are placed on everyone. No matter how realistic you think you are, you aren’t. That is stressful and draining on you and your staff. It’s also a shock to know that other system errors – like the server crashing, totally unrelated to your financial software application – still interferes with your processing time. Teach as many users as you can similar functions. And do what I did – take a vacation in the middle of it all. It puts everything in the proper perspective.”
Truthfully, you should expect nothing less then a ride on a bucking bronco.
System, software
& staff troubles
Training begins and instantly, as anticipated, some staff members are reluctant at the extra work hours needed in running parallel. Performing some job functions is bad enough one time through, but having to do it twice is a nightmare. There’s operating system trouble. Workstations or servers crash, and no one seems to know why. That may cause software trouble. You and your staff are bothered by the unexpected errors that never occurred during the smoothly executed demos.
Some users are slower than others. Or, it seems they missed everything covered in the training sessions, causing additional software problems and incorrect data entry. This takes additional staff time to correct. Consider using a Buddy System. If you pair employees together, slower with faster learners, you will increase the learning curve for all and come up to speed quicker.
Communication through formal and informal meetings will also improve workflow. Consider purchasing customized procedure manuals to reinforce training. Manuals also ensure quality retraining if turnover occurs.
Software support & documentation
Know where your software support is coming from – directly from the vendor or from your consultant – and who specifically has been assigned to handle your account. Designate the most knowledgeable employees as system record keepers. You should keep a detailed log of software arrors, documenting how they occurred and at what moment in processing. It’s helpful to paste error screens into Word documents so that you can print and fax them, if requested, to your support person. When resolutions are delivered, log them as well. Share these problems and resolutions with all involved in similar job functions. What one employee learns through trial and error can be an important lesson for all.
Data pumping &
report generating
The initial focus in bringing your system to life will be data entry, pumping information into each of the financial modules, and matching account information against your old system during the parallel run. Beyond matching the general ledger, you’ll want to see the reports which display the information completed in data entry. Bring sample reports to the training sessions. Analyze those reports at the front-end to determine the exact information you are looking for. Your consultant will be able to demonstrate where those reports reside in the new system and can walk you through how to customize existing reports if they need to be modified to meet your specific requirements.
Positive attitude
The most important area that can make or break the use of the new system is holding onto a positive attitude during initial training and solo runs. Understand that the problems you encounter weigh heavily on your employees who may be easily influenced and in a vulnerable frame of mind at this early stage of using the system. You cannot gain total functionality within a week or two; the struggle typically ranges from three to six months. It takes a number of cycles of using the system before you and your staff know the best way to maximize its potential.
Going live
Determine the appropriate moment in time to run live. Clearly, you’ll want to be positive that the parallel systems are balancing, that checks and invoices are printing correctly, that the financial statements are complete and accurate. Once the decision’s been made, ask your consultants to be on site to address any problems quickly. I recommend that, shortly after going live, you retrain your users again. Training after going live pulls everything together.
Over time, each user will gain a broader-based background of the available functionality of this software. Financial application software built to run in Windows brings a new world of possibilities if you are up to the challenge. Stay educated, keep informed and congratulate yourself and your staff for a job well done.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Milwaukee’s Cybertoons is on the digital edge
Milwaukee will never be confused with traditional high-tech hotbeds such as Seattle, Boston, or California’s Silicon Valley.
But a small, relatively unknown software development company may be on the verge of putting Milwaukee on the digital map.
Cybertoons Digital makes software that enables people to build Websites without having to learn complicated Web publishing procedures. Forget about FTP’ing to your remote file server. With Cybertoons’ MyCyberWeb software, all you do is point and click. The process literally takes only minutes, and presto! You’ve got an instant Website.
Cybertoons’ proprietary software made its debut in February when it was licensed by M&I Bank. Bank customers who sign up for Internet banking automatically receive the ability to develop their own Website free of charge – sort of the digital equivalent of the free toaster.
“It is going over very well with our customers,” says Paul Steger, M&I vice president of corporate marketing. “The ease of use with their system is readily apparent, and right now, is out-front compared to anything else on the market.”
Cybertoons’ former stock-in-trade – creating impressive three-dimensional video animation for clients like ESPN – today represents only 15% of the company’s business, says Andy Flessas, the 28-year-old whiz who is the creative brains behind the company, and who, with his horn-rimmed glasses, appears to be a cross of Buddy Holly and a not-so-mad scientist.
The shift from 3-D animation to software development was a natural because the MyCyberWeb software offers so much more promise, and the 3-D animation field is saturated, Flessas explains.
As sometimes happens, Flessas and Cybertoons arrived at the concept of the MyCyberWeb quite by accident.
Three years ago, customers started to ask if Cybertoons could build Websites for them to enable the 3-D images to be delivered in dedicated fashion. Flessas and a small team of software developers built Websites for Appleton Papers, Navistar International and Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance. Then, some of its customers started to ask if Cybertoons could develop a means so that they could change their Web pages on their own.
“So, we developed software with back ends on it that would allow non-technical people to make changes to their own Websites without having to come to a technical person to do it,” says Cybertoons president Steve Sinicropi, who left the general manager’s position at Milwaukee radio station WLUM-FM one year ago to join this promising medium.
A shift in strategy
The next logical step for Cybertoons was to develop software with a specific design that would allow any non-technical person to build and maintain a Website. And thus, the MyCyberWeb software was born. The proprietary design is built on a platform developed by Oracle Corp.
“So now with this software, any individual or business can build and maintain a corporate quality Website with point and click ease,” Sinicropi says. “All it takes is a simple Web browser and an Internet connection, without having to download any software.”
The software is designed primarily for banks and other financial institutions who want to create “communities” consisting of their customers. By offering the free Websites, banks such as M&I are free to offer their customers other products through the Internet.
Based on a prediction by The Gartner Group that 50% of all banking will be done online by the year 2003, it would appear as if Cybertoons is on to a good thing.
“This is where banking is headed,” adds Steger.
What differentiates Cybertoons from the competition is that it gives people more tools than they can figure out. Flessas’ strategy is to always give consumers a little more than they can use, so it buys time until he can develop something new. The strategy is akin to keeping a small child happy with a toy.
“We are the only one doing this on the planet,” Sinicropi says. “We developed this software using Oracle technology. It’s powerful, it’s scalable, and it does all the things that a business wants it to do. We own this software, and it’s very powerful.”
Another advantage is that all of the Websites are hosted by Cybertoons, which means that you are not tied to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who hosts the site. If you are an M&I customer, you can access your Website even if you’ve just switched your ISP from America Online to Exec PC, for example.
The software allows the user to import visual images and add additional Web pages in a way that competing offerings cannot match.
“I think the way they have done it is more robust,” Steger says. “There are other site developers like Geocities. But, when you look at what they give you, versus what MIWeb gives you, they are out ahead.”
Cybertoons has also developed an electronic commerce module which allows businesses to set up Websites in which customers can buy products from them online. This is an ideal arrangement for retailers who want to minimize overhead, Sinicropi says.
“If you are going to open a store, you’re going to have to get a lease or build a building,” he says. “Then, you
“If I can do what I do now with 14 guys, imagine what I can do with 400. The IPO will give us the kind of brute force we need.”
– Andy Flessas, Cybertoons Digital
have to stock it with inventory and you have to hire employees. So, you’ve got all of this capital tied up in infrastructure.
“But, if you build one Internet store, it is open 24 hours a day and you don’t have to have any people and you don’t have to stock inventory,” Sinicropi says. “People can buy whatever they want at times that are convenient for them from the privacy of their own homes. It’s always open and it’s always easy.”
To support his contention, Sinicropi points to Egghead Software, which recently closed all of its retail outlets. Amazon, which is the world’s biggest bookstore, does business solely over the Internet.
Store owners using the Cybertoons e-commerce module can alter product offerings with the same point and click ease. Current users of the e-commerce module include Hal’s Harley-Davidson and Car Phones Plus.
Small business can buy into the software for as little as $2,500 without the commerce module included, and $7,500 with it. The ability to offer a community of Websites starts at $50,000 and up, depending on the particular needs of the business, Sinicropi says.
The next big thing
Since last year, Cybertoons has grown from six employees to 22, with the majority coming in the form of computer programers. So, how does Milwaukee stack up to the big boys when it comes to attracting top-notch software developers?
“As far as being competitive, our guys stack up,” Flessas says. “They are as good or better than what is out there. They (the traditional hotbeds) certainly beat us in sheer numbers. But, you can put us up against any team anywhere, and we’ll kick their butts. We can move quicker than larger corporations. We can engage faster because we are not bound by linear corporate structure.”
If Flessas has his way, the company will grow exponentially. An initial public offering is planned within the next three years, he says.
“The IPO will give us access to massive amounts of R&D money, and give us the kind of brute force we need,” Flessas says, adding that he would like to have a team of 400 software engineers at his disposal. “With that kind of crew, I can make the kind of strike that I need to make. If I can do what I do now with 14 guys, imagine what I can do with 400.”
In the digital arena, what was a hot new technical advance can become obsolete virtually overnight. There is pressure to come up with the next big thing.
For Cybertoons, that means intelligent digital agents. Programers are currently working on Internet software that will act as an intelligent digital assistant. This is considered the next step in tapping the vast potential of the Internet and making it easier to use.
“It says ‘Hello Andy, what are you interested in?'” explains Flessas. “The software talks to me in text. I can respond to it and tell it what my intentions are. It is an expert system that is hung off the Web with an inference engine. The users interact with this almost like they would with a search engine.”
The intelligent agent is the equivalent of walking into a library and asking the librarian for help instead of blindly searching the volumes.
“This is really cool, because it works 24 hours a day, there is zero variance,” Flessas says. “Through interaction with this thing, it will log what it doesn’t know. This allows us to make this thing smarter.”
Expect to see an intelligent agent software product coming out of Cybertoons sometime this fall.
What kind of face will Flessas & Co. put on the intelligent agent?
“The philosophy here is, instead of putting a character’s face on the agent, we want to the user to perceive the agent like you would a character in a book,” Flessas says. “You visualize that character. This way, the user will tend to perceive the agent something more toward themselves. That will make it more successful.”
Flessas and several Cybertoons engineers were recently invited to Oracle’s R&D testing facility in New Hampshire. While Flessas can’t discuss what he saw and toyed with, it’s safe to say he has seen the future of Internet technology two years out, and it’s impressive.
What Flessas fails to mention is that not just anyone gets invited to gain a glimpse of the technofuture according to Oracle. You have to be an innovator.
It is safe to say that Flessas and Cybertoons have earned a place among the software innovation elite, as they seek new ways to open up the Internet to the masses.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Managed care has controlled costs, but at what price?
In a recent airing of the television drama ER, emergency room physician Carrie Weaver took up the case of a patient who required an experimental drug to cure his malady.
Weaver argued vehemently with a managed-care benefits approval supervisor that administering the drug would cost only $400. Without the drug, the man would require hospitalization to the tune of $10,000, she pleaded.
Weaver lost the telephone argument on the grounds that the man’s managed-care plan did not allow unapproved drug treatments.
While that example is fictitious, it is being played out daily in hospitals and medical clinics across the country as managed care gains a stranglehold over modern-day medicine.
Nobody can dispute the claim that managed care has brought spiraling health-care costs under control. But sometimes, critics contend, necessary medical treatment is delayed or denied by managed-care cost-control protocols. When that happens, things can get ugly.
Milwaukee internist James Buck had a patient hospitalized with pneumonia. When the patient’s allotted days of treatment were up, her HMO refused to allow her to stay in the hospital.
But she had chronic arthritis. After days in a hospital bed, she couldn’t walk. She didn’t have anyone at home to care for her.
“She would have been in horrible straits if she were sent home,” Buck recalls.
Buck had to prove medical need. Fortunately, the HMO “used common sense in this case,” he says.
Milwaukee dermatologist Kathleen Stokes’ patient was not so lucky. A 40-year-old woman came into her office with a lesion on her nose. Her referral instructed: “Diagnosis only, no treatment.”
Knowing it could potentially develop into cancer, Stokes called the HMO to get the referral changed. It denied the request.
“It took persistent effort before finally getting approval two months later,” Stokes recalls.
By then, the lesion had developed into cancer and had to be cut out. Today, the woman lives with a visible scar, serving as a visual reminder of the rigidity of today’s health-care environment.
Bottom-line financial issues overriding medical concerns is becoming an increasing strain on doctors who are charged with providing the best possible medical outcomes to their patients.
This inherent conflict led members of the Medical Society of Milwaukee County to issue guidelines last year to help physicians sort through ethical challenges raised by managed-care plans.
The guidelines reiterate physicians’ duty to inform patients of the most beneficial method of treatment and to serve as an advocate for patients to ensure they get it.
For doctors, that’s a tough order. Physicians often deal with multiple managed-care organizations that have radically different methods of contracting. Milwaukee oncologist Kurt Oesterling is not alone in contracting with 426 separate managed-care and insurance organizations.
“All have different requirements,” Oesterling says. “Some need pre-authorization for treatments; others require co-payments. The main issue for me as a physician is the increased time involved in administration,” he said. “It takes away from time I could spend with patients.”
It has also pushed solo practitioners into physicians’ associations, observes Robert Straub, president of the Columbia-St. Mary’s Physician Association.
“One needs to be affiliated with an organization to feel support negotiating contracts and surviving in the managed -care environment,” Straub says.
Management strategies
Strategies like pre-authorization requirements, case management practices, approved pathways or guidelines, formularies, and electronic reminders give physicians specific instructions on
“The pressure in a capitated system is enormous. If, as a physician, you go over your budget, you eat it.”
Kathleen Stokes,
Milwaukee dermatologist
what a physician should do in a given situation. They make doctors work within the limits of the system.
As a family practitioner, Straub gets approvals to refer patients to specialists, but “it requires a little extra effort. Managed care requires more work and pays less,” he notes.
“Being a gatekeeper is a mixed blessing,” Straub says. “It gives family physicians and pediatricians the ability to get their patients to the right place for appropriate care.”
On the other hand, it can drive a wedge between patients and doctors if patients think their doctors’ bonuses depend on limiting referrals.
“Some ethical doctors find themselves squeezed – having to petition health-care plans every step of the way,” Buck notes. “The people we deal with initially are often non-physician administrators, using cookbook guidelines for each diagnosis.”
Oesterling, president of the St. Joseph’s Physician Association, considers the red-tape of managed care “a necessary evil.”
Sometimes, doctors learn how to work the system. “Unfortunately, there are some physicians who will take advantage of the situation,” Oesterling notes.
“If one has an unlimited budget, there is an incentive to do more,” agrees Buck. “Just as a minority of physicians padded their bills in the old days, these days, greedy doctors can do better by limiting care.”
For Buck, the most difficult aspect of practicing under managed care is having to make compromises.
“Trying to give the best care I can give within the limitations of the system,” Buck says. “The tremendous improvements in available health care run head-long into capitation.”
The strongest pressures to limit treatments are felt in capitated systems, in which doctors’ compensation is based on numbers of patients rather than services provided.
“The pressure in a capitated system is enormous,” Stokes says. “If, as a physician, you go over your budget, you eat it,” she says.
On the other hand, full capitation give physician organizations the flexibility to experiment with innovative care delivery systems that might incorporate different resources such as nurse practitioners and outreach services that were not always reimbursed under the fee-for-service system.
“We still haven’t found the ideal reimbursement system,” adds Milwaukee allergist Toby Enright. “The payment system of the future must reward outcomes. Is the patient better? The best medicine is the least expensive in the long run.”
The difficulty of devising an outcome-based compensation system comes from the nature of medicine.
“In cases like cancer, regardless of how heroic the doctor has been, the patient still dies,” Enright says. “It’s the natural course of the disease.”
The results
Contrary to the ER physician’s complaint that bureaucrats are creating arbitrary rules that determine who gets a certain level of care and who does not, there is solid evidence to suggest that health care is better with managed care than without it.
Managed care seems to do a better job of finding some cancers – such as breast, cervical, colon, and melanoma – sooner than traditional indemnity plans, according to a study in the American Journal of Public Health.
The biggest impact of managed health plans have had on the practice of medicine is the introduction of
“We still haven’t found
the ideal reimbursement system. The payment system of the future must reward outcomes.”
Toby Enright,
Milwaukee allergist
accountability, says Nancy Wenzel, executive director of the Association of Wisconsin HMOs.
“In the past, doctors treated patients in isolation,” Wenzel says. “Now they have to provide data that shows they are delivering quality care.”
It also give patients somebody to hear their complaints, says Lorena Chicoye, medical director of PrimeCare.
“Before managed care, short of litigation, who could you complain to? Nobody,” Chicoye says.
Some of managed care’s best impacts are preventative.
“The resources of managed care can be used to provide education, to teach patients to maintain their health and reduce their risks,” says James Ketterhagen, senior vice president and medical director of Fortis Health.
Disease management programs offered by managed health organizations for patients with chronic illness have proven effective. Also, educational services like 24-hour nurse lines help patients take care of themselves.
“These direct approaches to customers are the way of the future,” Ketterhagen predicts.
Doctors and other health-care providers say managed care has forced them to focus more on the outcomes of treatment, and that’s good.
“Managed care has helped make mental health treatment much more solution-focused, time-limited, and efficient,” says Milwaukee psychotherapist Poul Sandersen. “We can focus on getting clients through a problem rather than encouraging them to develop a long-term dependency on their therapists.”
On the other hand, managed care emphasizes a focus on the bottom line that can test the moral fiber of physicians and medical care providers.
Psychotherapist Marilyn La Court quit accepting managed care patients last year, in spite of the financial repercussions, because of new requirements to limit service to those of “medical necessity only.”
That would have required her to diagnose clients as mentally ill if their therapy was to be covered. La Court says such a diagnosis would limit their employment options, life and health insurance benefits, and their ability to adopt a child or maintain custody of their own children.
“Insurance companies have the right to limit their coverage,” La Court says. “But the result is a segment of the population can’t get counseling unless they are given a diagnosis that will follow them for the rest of their lives.”
Fortis Health’s Ketterhagen often speaks to physicians about working in the managed-care environment. If he could give physicians only one piece of advice, Ketterhagen would urge them to maintain a focus on the patient.
“If we managed health-care organizations, and physicians realize that serving the patient as efficiently as possible is our common goal, it will be easier to work together,” Ketterhagen says.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Dudley Johnson does it his way
Sitting on a desk in the south side Milwaukee office of Dr. W. Dudley Johnson is a dollar-bill-sized clear piece of plastic encapsulating what looks like a small branch of a plant.
But the five-inch-long, yellow substance isn’t from Johnson’s vast gardens at his Germantown farm.
It’s plaque from a patient’s coronary artery, painstakingly removed in a lengthy procedure that Johnson, 68, and his colleagues at the W. Dudley Johnson Heart Care Center perform.
In a technique called endarterectomy, Johnson cuts a diseased artery lengthwise and very carefully removes the buildup, and then uses a leg vein to stitch over the now-clear artery.
The momento on Johnson’s desk is a stark reminder to those who would eat to much of food high in saturated fats.
But to Johnson, it’s a reminder of what he’s been able to do with high-risk patients who might otherwise face death from their cardiovascular disease.
Early in 1968, Johnson made medical history by pioneering the coronary bypass technique of removing a vein from a patient’s leg and revascularizing the heart by implanting the vein into the blocked right artery.
Later that year he performed the world’s first double bypass, and was part of the surgical team that performed a heart transplant on West Allis resident Betty Anick, who, until her death in 1977, was the world’s longest surviving heart transplant patient.
His list of “firsts” in the field of heart disease treatment has since expanded, making him internationally renowned – Johnson and his associates have had patients from almost every state and from 35 foreign countries.
Now, he’s adding two more innovative procedures to his arsenal against cardiovascular disease, lending support to those who call him “Dr. Hope” – the specialist they turn to when all other medical options have run out.
One of the new procedures will treat persons with chronic atrial fibrillation which is the second leading cause of cardiac death and the single leading reason for hospitalization.
“About 15% of our nation’s health bills are because of strokes,” Johnson says. “Atrial fibrillation is the second-leading cardiac cause of death, and causes 25% of the strokes.”
Stroke patients often spend more days in the hospital than the population without atrial fibrillation, he adds. And people with atrial fibrillation have a stroke rate five times higher than the general population.
When the atrium quivers, a lack of contractions can cause blood to stagnate and clot. Drugs and blood thinners can be used as treatment in some cases.
But Johnson’s new approach will be very different. He’ll staple off the appendage, preventing the clot from traveling and thus from becoming lethal. And Johnson expects to see dramatic results on patients who get the patented treatment.
Getting to the point where he can do the procedure hasn’t been an easy road to travel. “The politics of getting a new operation off the ground are phenomonal,” he observes.
Johnson tracks patients over the long haul in a rather detailed way to prove the value of the procedures he undertakes, even if those procedures may be more time-consuming and more costly than those proscribed by others in the field, or more costly than managed-care organizations would like to pay for.
Johnson is a maverick. He is affiliated with no managed-care plan.
“I’m far more concerned about how many of my patients are going to be around in 15 years than about how long they’re going to be in surgery or whether they’ll be in the hospital an extra day or two,” says Johnson, a Madison native who now lives on a farm in Germantown.
Johnson’s character and aggressive approach to his work have won him some detractors, and he’s not shy in his criticism of other health-care practices in Milwaukee, nor of managed care, which, he says “has no concern for quality.”
He earlier passed up an opportunity to move his practice to California – a decision he now regrets.
No matter what others say about him, Johnson retorts that he has the evidence to prove that what he does works and that because of that work, his patients – people who suffer from chronic, complicated and diffuse heart disease and who are in high-risk categories – live better and longer lives.
That’s why he’s in business.
He and his colleagues at the W. Dudley Johnson Heart Care Center have been tracking patients since 1968. (The center is kitty-corner from St. Francis Hospital on South 16th Street in Milwaukee). Based on a national scoring form, the center’s patients are exceeding their long-term outcomes of pain-relief, re-operation rate and survival rate.
The second new procedure which Johnson is perfecting will aim to revitalize tissue through use of growth stimulants. The treatment will be an expansion on the Vineberg mammary artery graft procedure he’s long used to revive arteries.
With the mammary artery implanted into a long tunnel in the heart muscle, genetic material will be injected to, hopefully, stimulate growth of new blood-carrying vessels.
For diversion, Johnson turns to his farm where he’s organically growing apples, asparagus and other plants. He takes pride in pointing out that a Chicago market which buys his asparagus “can’t get enough of it.”
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

People from around the country tend to think of Milwaukee in terms of beer and brats, if they think of us at all. But once they come here, they don’t want to leave. What should be done to overcome our national perception problem?
When Ray Long agreed to come to Milwaukee for a job interview last December, he knew little about the city.
The little he thought he knew, however, wasn’t flattering.
The lifelong East Coast resident had never been to Milwaukee before and was expecting to find himself in a dingy rustbelt town. But what Long found here surprised him.
“I had never heard anything about Milwaukee other than the beer and the Brewers,” says Long, a printing industry executive who made the trip up from Charlotte, N.C. “My initial thought was that I was going to see something like Detroit. But it is one of the cleanest cities I’ve ever been in. People here are extremely friendly and accommodating.”
No surprise, then, that Long ended up taking the job as president of Alphagraphics, a downtown print shop. His experience is fairly typical of the transformation many people go through when they relocate to Milwaukee, says Jude Werra, a Brookfield executive recruiter.
“I remember talking to a guy in the search field from Atlanta, and he called Milwaukee ‘a black hole,'” Werra says. “What he meant by that is, it takes all sorts of energy to get people to relocate here, but, once they come, they don’t want to leave.”
Milwaukee has plenty going for it. The cost of living ranks 22% less than San Jose, 11% less than Boston, and 5% less than Chicago. The average commute here is only 22 minutes. The metro area has the fourth lowest crime rate, based on 1995 FBI statistics. Only one other city, Los Angeles, raises more money for the arts. And, for those fed up with the transient nature of Sunbelt cities, Milwaukee is rock-solid in that three-fourths of its adult residents were born here, while 90% have lived here for more than 10 years.
The perception problem
While some of those who have moved here from other parts of the country are well aware of Milwaukee’s high quality of life, the majority are not. This national perception problem makes it difficult at times to recruit executive talent, and can have a detrimental effect on business expansion and relocation decisions, says Tim Sheehy, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce.
Almost universally, unless they have lived here or visited, people on both coasts often have little or no idea where Milwaukee is located. Kate Krill, a 34-year-old Milwaukee native, ran into that repeatedly when she lived in Boston.
“The people there kept confusing Milwaukee with Michigan,” says Krill, a technical writer with M&I Data Services who just moved back to the city after several years on the East Coast. “They have no idea that Milwaukee is on a body of water, or how close it is to Chicago.”
Tim Hoeksema, the CEO of Midwest Express Holdings, Inc., has discovered in his travels that the image most people around the country have of Milwaukee is really no image at all. Others concur with that assessment.
“Nationally, I don’t think there is a definitive impression,” adds William Hanbury, president of the Greater Milwaukee Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB). “I don’t think people have high negatives or positives about Milwaukee.”
If people from around the country have a mental image of Milwaukee at all, it was shaped by the LaVerne & Shirley/Happy Days television sitcoms from the early 1970s: That we are a simple folk who are content to live lives centered around beer, brats and bowling, says Milwaukee public relations executive Mike Mervis.
That, suggests Mervis, is reason enough that Milwaukee is overdue for an image overhaul.
“We’ve got to get rid of our loser image,” Mervis contends. “We don’t have a cockiness, or even a polite arrogance. We lack a certain civic pride that we are entitled to. We’ve got a halfway decent offense, but we’ve got no defense. We need to crank it up a notch and take our show on the road.”
Our own worst critics
While there are many views as to what should be done to shore up the city’s image, Mervis says that without a clear, consistent message, Milwaukee will continue to suffer in comparison with other cities such as Cleveland, Baltimore and Indianapolis, all of which have succeeded in reinventing formerly negative images within the last 10 years.
“Milwaukee has to define itself,” says Mervis, who moved here 30 years ago. “The mayor, to some degree, needs to be our head rah-rah person. I think he is capable, but I don’t think he is comfortable with it.”
For his own part, Mayor John Norquist believes Milwaukee’s understated image is a reflection of the city’s central European heritage. Norquist himself is a good representation of the modest, self-effacing nature of his constituents.
“I advocate for Milwaukee, but I don’t want to be like a carnival barker,” Norquist says. “Besides, I would rather be in a position where you are better than your image, than the reverse of that, where the reality does not match the hype.”
While there are plenty of efforts dedicated to elevating Milwaukee’s national image, Mervis and others such as CVB’s Hanbury contend that Milwaukeeans tend to be some of their own worst critics.
“I moved here four years ago, and I never had a bad impression of Milwaukee, but I found out that some local residents do,” Hanbury says.
Owen May is a former WTMJ-TV reporter who moved here from the East Coast in 1988. May is incensed by the “poor me” attitude that many Milwaukeeans seem to have about themselves in comparison to the rest of the country.
“I am so tired of hearing people here in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee media especially, in subtle ways putting down their own city, suggesting the rest of the world thinks we’re a bunch of cheeseheads,” says May, the general manager of Metro Video Services in Wauwatosa. “And, it’s not true! I think people here should celebrate and be genuinely proud of what they’ve got here.”
Adds Mervis: “I wish there was a community psychiatrist who could put us on the couch. We tend to have this built-in inferiority complex. If you are going to change your image, everybody, and I mean everybody, has to feel good about our city.”
According to CVB public relations director Maggie Jacobus, a critical element of the turnaround in Cleveland, Baltimore and Indianapolis was getting local residents to buy into the idea that their city was special.
“We can sell this city until we are blue in the face, but if we don’t believe it ourselves, there’s a disconnect,” Jacobus says.
Because research indicates that more than half of the five million leisure travelers who visit Milwaukee annually stay with family and friends, “That means we need to get to the locals and make sure that they are showing them the city and conveying this sense of civic pride,” Jacobus says. “It becomes a matter of exciting the resident as to what is going on here to get them to be an active participant.”
And there is plenty going on to get the locals excited, civic leaders say.
There’s the $172 million Midwest Express Convention Center opening this summer, the debut of Miller Park in the year 2000, and the dramatic $50 million addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum at the lakefront designed by internationally recognized architect Santiago Calatrava. Add to that the Department of City Development’s ongoing efforts to foster development of an entertainment district along the Milwaukee River downtown, a host of new and renovated downtown hotels, and unprecedented development of downtown buildings and factory and warehouse lofts into residential units, and it’s clear that Milwaukee has reason to tout itself.
“Now we have a story to tell,” says Hoeksema, who is playing a lead role in a newly formed civic organization called Spirit of Milwaukee, a non-profit dedicated to improving the city’s image as a business and tourism destination. “We’ve got a great story, but now we’ve got to tell it.”
A Great Place
on a Great Lake
Bob Kraft is a Detroit native who moved here to form RWK Enterprises, which includes Alphagraphics and Electronic Printing Systems, a specialty printing operation focusing on the automotive industry. Because he is constantly bringing automotive executives here from around the world, it is important that the city convey a good image.
Kraft says downtown Milwaukee plays to rave reviews from his international clientele.
“People are very surprised when they to come Milwaukee for the first time,” Kraft says. “They are surprised at the cleanliness, the proximity to the lake and the old-world architecture. We have clients from L.A. living downtown at the MAC, and they love it here. They say the people here are friendly, there is no traffic, and the city has a European feel with good restaurants.
“We’ve got another fellow here from London who has never been to the Midwest before, and he can’t get over it,” Kraft continues. “We have had folks here from Germany, Japan – all over the world, and they always end up wanting to come back. And that’s good for me because it means they are going to spend money.”
Kraft lived in Lake County, Illinois, for nine years before moving here, and had a daily 90-minute commute to his former job near O’Hare International Airport. He says he would never go back.
“We are like a smaller version of Chicago, except you can get around,” Kraft says. “I don’t think the people who live here really realize what a great place this is. I have traveled all over the world, and I’ve seen a lot of great places, but I haven’t seen a city I’d rather live in.”
Attracting key employees is the defining factor for success in business today, Hanbury maintains. And quality of life is a trump card Milwaukee area employers can play when they are playing the executive recruiting game.
“When it gets right down to it, what keeps people here is the quality of life and the quality of the community,” says John Howman, CEO of Allied Computer Group in Milwaukee. “A lot of the things that we tend to take for granted, other communities don’t have. We tend to have more [executive recruiting] success when we put emphasis on those areas.”
Ron Roth, a New York-based executive recruiter who has placed numerous executives with G.E. Medical Systems in Waukesha over the last 12 years, says it is harder to sell prospective recruits on Milwaukee than it is some of the more high-profile areas of the country.
“But, once they bring their families there, people like the values and the lifestyle,” Roth says.
Apart from lifestyle considerations, Milwaukee is a substantive kind of place with down-to-earth people, adds Dick Tilmar, CEO of the T.E. Brennan Co., a downtown Milwaukee insurance risk consultant and employee benefits company.
Tilmar moved to Los Angeles from Milwaukee in 1985 to climb the corporate ladder in the insurance business. After switching jobs twice due to downsizing, he decided in 1993 he had had enough of Southern California.
“When my wife asked me after the second downsizing what I wanted to do, I said ‘I want to go home’,” the 54-year-old Tilmar recalls.
“There is an expression about people in Southern California: They either wear it, live in it or drive it,” Tilmar says. “It’s the big-house-with-no-furniture concept. I saw a lot of people out there who only cared about how they looked, or who drove a big expensive car so they could get two front seats – stuff like that.”
Tilmar makes it clear that he didn’t leave California for financial reasons. The truth is, he made substantially more money there. The tradeoff, he says, is lifestyle, familiarity and ease of getting around.
“The depth of character and the basic principles are far more ingrained in the people here in the Midwest,” Tilmar adds. “Out there , you were someone’s friend as long as you could buy their services or contribute to their favorite charity. The attitude was one of, ‘I’ll take anything I can get as long as I am moving forward.’ The difference here is, I think people actually care about people beyond what they can do for them.”
Ease of living is something many Milwaukeeans take for granted. But for those who have lived in another major city, they can appreciate the difference. Until she moved back here recently, Kate Krill essentially had no closets in her Boston apartment. So she stored her coats in U-Haul moving boxes. That’s the sort of inconvenience Bostonians have learned to live with, Krill says.
“I found that intolerable, but people there aren’t fazed by that sort of thing,” Krill says. “You have so many hassles in a city like Boston; just the day-to-day things like going shopping are stressful. By contrast, you can have a sane, manageable life in Milwaukee. You don’t need to earn $70,000 a year before you attain a comfort of life.”
Future looks bright
From where Bill Hanbury sits, the future of Milwaukee looks bright. Even though his job is to project a positive image of the city to conventioners and tourists, the numbers would seem to support his contention.
Back in 1994, the CVB’s consultants said that by 1997, CVB officials should have been able to book seven new national pieces of convention business. By the end of last year, the CVB booked 34 new national conventions that require more than two hotels to house all the guests, Hanbury says.
Another key indicator shows that Milwaukee did 269,000 room nights per year last year, up from 210,000 in 1994.
“For so long, when major national conventions decided that they wanted to go to the Midwest, Milwaukee was seldom on the radar screen,” Hanbury says. “Now, with the new convention center and new hotel developments going on downtown, that has changed. Now we are on the short list.
“There is a whole new energy and sense of rebirth going on in downtown Milwaukee,” Hanbury says. “That is why I get incensed when I hear the talk-radio guys slam what is going on here.
“We know what the future looks like at the CVB, and it is very, very positive,” Hanbury adds. “We look out to the years 2001 and 2002, and we are in an almost sold-out position. We will have a constant flow of convention and event delegates. It creates a whole new economic tool for the community that previously did not exist.”
You gotta believe
Allied Computer’s Howman says new marketing efforts should focus on the “new” Milwaukee – which is one of a manufacturing city in transition to a more technology-based economy – and less on the old Milwaukee.
“Milwaukee is no Chicago, but we have some very high-tech companies here, and some big-time companies in the area,” Howman says. “As business people and government leaders, we have to put more emphasis on the newness of what is going on here rather than what we have been known for historically.”
But old, ingrained attitudes can be hard to break. The beer-and-brats image can be difficult to overcome when one of the only images people from around the country have of Wisconsin is that of the frozen tundra, Werra says. That perception likely stems from nationally televised images of Packer fans wearing cheese wedges on their head, eating sausages and drinking beer in chilly stadium parking lots.
All the same, Todd Robert Murphy believes Milwaukee is the best-kept secret in the Midwest. If anything, the outspoken advertising/marketing executive thinks too many here are predisposed to negativism.
“I don’t think we are doing enough,” Murphy says. “I think there is much more that needs to be done. But before we tell people around the country how great we are, we need to convince our own people how fortunate they are to live here.”

Company needs to regain strategic focus
Roadblock:
A distributor of industrial components faced a rapidly changing marketplace. Competition was becoming more aggressive as small competitors merged and offered advantages the company was unable to match. The firm lost two of its largest accounts, significantly affecting cashflow.
Morale was declining throughout the company. People who left were not replaced, adding additional work and increasing the stress level of those who remained. To provide at least minimum coverage in every area, some employees were moved into positions for which they were not suited and did not like.
The company’s sales representatives were very technically competent and had the knowledge and experience to offer solutions to the customers. Yet the pressures they faced from their buyers convinced them the only way they could compete was by lowering prices. As a result, the company was losing profit margins along with market share.
Problem:
The leaders of company were not perceived as being in control of the company’s future. A second problem was the failure of the veteran sales reps to update their sales approach.
Solution:
The leader’s first actions should be to develop a vision, prepare a strategic plan for the company, and share both with his people. The people must regain their confidence in the future of the company and the security of knowing their jobs are not in jeopardy. Until the employees know that the company is operating by plan rather than reacting in desperation, they will question and resist every move and directive – if not depart for employment elsewhere.
While all areas of the company do affect customer satisfaction, the sales team is the front line and responsible for bringing in business. The ability of those sales reps to build relationships with both existing and prospective buyers is crucial to counteract the barrage of new competitors. Professional selling skills must be honed so the reps become expert at selling the value being added to their product lines.
Each sales rep must have a written plan directing the activities that will bring him or her the desired results. The niche they fill must be identified so they know where to prioritize their time. Every aspect of their sales effort should be sharpened and focused. This requires training. But it requires the ongoing direction and support from the leaders as well.
“Roadblocks” is provided by The Performance Group inc, a Brookfield training and consulting firm. Small Business Times readers who would like to see a “roadblock” address in this column can contact the company at 784-2922, or via e-mail at perfgrp@execpc.com.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Answer of Kathy Kraeblin, Virchow Krause @ Co.:
For some people, yes. Let’s consider the retirement vehicles available and narrow down your choices.
The vehicles individuals can use to invest for retirement include deductible IRAs, Roth IRAs, 401(k) plans, and nondeductible IRAs.
Here is the simple part. If you are eligible to participate in a 401(k) plan through your employer and the company matches contributions, you should make contributions to the 401(k) up to the match and then make IRA contributions if you have additional money available to invest and IRA “phase-out” rules don’t apply.
The ability to make contributions to a deductible IRA is phased out for individuals who are participants in an employer-sponsored plan, such as a 401(k). The phase-out starts at $50,000 for married persons and $30,000 for singles.
For individuals who are not participating in an employer-sponsored plan, there is no phase-out on deductible IRA contributions. For a Roth IRA the phase-out starts at $150,000 for married persons and $95,000 for singles.
If your income level is such that you cannot make a deductible IRA contribution, do a Roth. If you are above the income limits for a Roth do a non-deductible IRA and consider converting to a Roth in a later year if your income level permits. (There is a special set of rules regarding conversion of a regular IRA into a Roth.)
What if you could do either a deductible or a Roth? Is a tax deduction now worth the disadvantage of taxable income in later years? Is the advantage of tax-free distributions in the future worth missing out on a deduction currently?
The answer depends in part on the period of time before you will need to start taking distributions. With a traditional IRA, you must take minimum amounts out each year starting at age 70 , but Roth IRAs are not subject to these rules. Another factor is whether you will be in a different tax bracket when you retire.
If you will need the money within five years, use the deductible IRA. If you can leave the money in the IRA for 15 years or more, the Roth will almost certainly be the better choice. If you won’t need the money at all and intend to leave it for your heirs, definitely put it in the Roth. If you will need the money within five to 15 years, and especially if you expect your income tax bracket to be lower in retirement, the decision is not at all simple.
Answer of Michael Jungen, Jungen & Associates
A qualified “yes”. A Roth IRA is uniquely characterized by the reverse nature of the tax benefits it provides, offering no up-front tax deduction in return for withdrawals that are free from federal income taxes.
Regular IRAs may provide for a tax deduction of the contribution (depending on Modified Adjusted Gross Income – MAGI) and to the extent they do, withdrawals are taxable. Unlike regular IRAs, Roth IRAs are uncomplicated by any participation in an employer retirement plan. Money in a Roth IRA accumulates tax-deferred, so your contributions and earnings grow free of taxes while they remain in the account.
To be eligible for a full $2,000 Roth IRA contribution, MAGI cannot exceed $95,000 for individuals or $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
All Roth IRA contributions may be withdrawn at any time without taxes or penalties. Earnings may be withdrawn from Roth IRA tax-free after five tax years in the account and attainment of age 591/2, disability, or death.
First-time homebuyers can access up to $10,000 penalty-free after five years, regardless of age. Withdrawals are considered to be taken first from contributions, and then from earnings. That means broader access to your money than with a Traditional IRA. If the five-year holding period is met, withdrawals by your beneficiaries are also tax-free.
Withdrawals of earnings under any circumstances are includible in gross income and subject to ordinary income taxes and a 10% penalty tax if taken before age 59-1/2.
Distributions from a Roth IRA don’t have to be taken until you’re ready. Since there are no distributions required, your money continues to accumulate until you need it, or you can pass it along to your heirs. Because of the tax-free treatment, this feature can provide greater opportunity for the funding of a decedent’s Credit Shelter By-Pass Trust when compared to a regular IRA.
Rollovers are allowed from Traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs only for those with MAGI under $100,000 and rollover amounts are included in taxable income. The decision of whether or not to convert is complicated and beyond the scope of this column.
Now let’s compare the two: Assume a 42-year-old is able to make deductible contributions to a regular IRA. He’ll contribute $2,000 annually to age 67 at which time he’ll make withdrawals over the next 20 years. He earns 10% the entire time. If his combined tax bracket while contributing and withdrawing is 35% and he reinvests the tax savings from the deductions from the regular IRA, his total after-tax income from the regular IRA would be $383,171 and the Roth $462,072. If we change the tax brackets to 35% and 20% respectively, the after tax payout of the regular IRA increases to $454,045. If he ends up in a higher tax bracket at retirement, say 45%, the regular IRA payout decreases to $335,487 vs. $462,072 for the Roth IRA.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Proactive stance can cut injuries, reduce costs
About eight years ago, Great Lakes Roofing Corp. in Milwaukee began a comprehensive safety program which involved stressing that the safety of all its employees is the company’s No. 1 priority and pushing safety should be the goal of all workers.
Under the guidance of an insurance firm, Great Lakes went one year with no lost-time accidents.
But when the insurance consultant assigned to Great Lakes attributed that feat to luck, Great Lakes Safety Director Mark Bartolutti dropped the consultant and determined that Great Lakes would go 20 years without any lost-time accidents. With that goal in mind, Great Lakes Roofing Corp., 7360 N. Teutonia Ave., achieved in April its sixth consecutive year with no lost-time accidents and received the Wisconsin Corporate Safety Award for achieving safety and health excellence in 1997.
And in addition to better securing the safety of its employees, Great Lakes’ commitment to safety has paid off financially as well.
According to Bartolutti, before implementation of the current safety program, Great Lakes paid approximately $38 in workers compensation costs per $100 in wages. Now, however, the company pays $27 per $100 in wages.
“We drastically cut worker’s comp costs with this program,” Bartolutti says. “The lowered costs are the black-and-white benefits you can see. But in addition to that, I know we’ve done all we possibly can to keep our workers safe.”
The Great Lakes Roofing Corp. Safety Policy, developed with the help of OSHA and CNA Insurance, addresses the company’s safety goals, responsibilities and guidelines and outlines implementation and reward programs. Monthly foremen’s meetings, Monday morning safety meetings, the formation of two committees on safety and quality issues, and job inspections and reviews serve to embed the notion of safety first in the minds of all Great Lakes employees.
All employees are certified in emergency first aid and CPR. Quarterly $100 bonuses for every member of a crew which achieves three months with no lost-time accidents, dinners and events, and “safety bucks” to be used to purchase tools, apparel, and gift certificates reward employees for doing their part to make Great Lakes a safe place to work.
“Our commitment to safety is based in the belief that our employees are our biggest asset,” Bartolutti says. “The employees must feel safe while taking care of our customers’ needs, or else the quality of our service will be lessened. Also, we hope we never have to go into a home and tell a family that their father, brother, husband or friend is seriously injured.”
In addition to winning the Wisconsin Corporate Safety Award, Great Lakes Roofing qualified at the highest level possible with the Roofing Industry Partnership for Safety and Health and was one of only 15 roofing contractors in a five-state area to qualify at any level.
CleanPower, Inc., 124 N. 121st St. in Wauwatosa, also received a Wisconsin Corporate Safety Award for health and safety excellence in 1997. CleanPower, a commercial cleaning contractor which provides services to offices, medical facilities, and warehouses, uses annual site inspections, workers’ compensation summaries, and reviews of medical accounts to help identify workplace hazards and form proactive accident programs.
According to Jana Rusk, human resources specialist for CleanPower, the award specifically recognized two programs: the return-to-work and bloodborne pathogen training programs.
As part of the return-to-work program, which was selected as a model to be presented at the national Building Service Contractors Association International Convention, when an injured employee is preparing to return to work, the employee’s physician is given a checklist which, when completed, outlines how much bending, lifting, standing, and moving the employee is able to do. This system lessens the risk of reinjury, says Rusk, because employees will only be given those tasks acceptable according to the checklist.
Through the bloodborne pathogen training program, all employees who clean medical facilities are trained in the same way with the same video. That way, all employees receive what CleanPower has determined to be proper training, Rusk says.
“Both Milwaukee County companies have displayed a relentless pursuit of health and safety excellence,” says Bryan Roessler, director of the Wisconsin Council of Safety. “From training programs to recurring site inspections, these companies maintain a high degree of safety awareness throughout their workforces.”
Twelve Wisconsin employers were presented with Wisconsin Corporate Safety Awards on April 27 in an awards program co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Council of Safety, an affiliate of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, and the state Department of Workforce Development. Wisconsin Corporate Safety Award winners are selected through a two-phase process. Incidence rates for the past three years, with emphasis on 1997, were compared, and 48 finalists from this year’s 110 nominees then completed reports outlining their corporate safety programs. An independent panel of health and safety professionals selected the winners.
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Businesses are marketing to their customers in new ways through multimedia
Multi-media marketing has become another buzzword in the business world. But what is it? It’s simply taking advantage of the variety of media – print, sound and visual – to carry a single marketing message.
“Multi-media,” according to Syed Akhter, marketing chair at Marquette University’s College of Business Administration, “basically means that you are able to use all different channels to communicate with your target market.” It can also be the integration of text, sound and visual elements all in one place.
Today’s consumer reads newspapers, watches television, listens to the radio and surfs the Internet. If a business is only targeting one of those mediums, it is missing a large segment of its target audience. “That’s the justification for using multi-media,” Akhter says.
While businesses have long used multiple forms of media for marketing, it’s only recently that the Internet and CD-ROMs have entered the picture as affordable options. Further, creative minds have taken those media and have turned the hard technology into alluring message carriers.
But just because the Internet and CD-ROMs are hot multi-media marketing tools, does that mean they should be used by every company? The answer is based on one simple question: Does the company’s target market use the Internet or CDs? If the answer is yes, then the company should be using those tools.
For many small companies, figuring out who is the target market is the tougher question. “That’s a question every small business should ask before even thinking about the Internet,” Akhter says. “Who is their customer?”
One of the problems with small businesses, some observers say, is that entrepreneurs often fail to look to outside help for advice. “That’s the first mistake they make,” Akhter says. “That’s one reason why the failure rate is so high in a small business. Entrepreneurs are very egocentric by nature, and therefore, they think they understand the market. Most of the time, they are wrong.”
Working with entrepreneurs can be a challenge, say Denice MacDonald, sales and marketing manager, and Matt Retzer, project manager, of Video Wisconsin, Inc., on Bluemound Road near Goerke’s Corners in Brookfield
“Sometimes this is an education in the sales and marketing process,” MacDonald says of setting up a multi-media marketing presentation.
But that’s where a tool like a CD-ROM presentation can be beneficial to the small business person, according to MacDonald. If a business owner has technical expertise, but very few sales skills, a CD-ROM can be created to supplement his or her weaknesses.
“Or maybe he’s really good at schmoozing, but he doesn’t understand the technical (side),” MacDonald says. With a CD-ROM, “you always have everything covered.”
Video Wisconsin emphasizes its integration of all phases of marketing, not just CD-ROMs and websites. Having the same company create a website, CD-ROM and printed material can strengthen corporate identity by presenting a coherent and consistent image throughout, Retzer maintains.
MacDonald stressed that no company is too small to consider multi-media marketing. Video Wisconsin can produce a multi-media campaign to its customer’s exact specifications, or “the company can come in and say, ‘I have $10,000 to spend, what can I get for that?’ MacDonald explains.
Alby Materials, a ready mix concrete producer in Elkhorn, used Video Wisconsin to set up the infrastructure of its website, which Alby maintains internally. The website is mostly informational at this point, according to Phill Domask of Alby. But Domask foresees a time in the not too distant future when clients will be able to order the product, choose the date of delivery and the driver they want over the Internet.
“It doesn’t replace our traditional marketing tools,” Domask says, “but it does complement them quite well.”
As with any emerging technology, business owners considering multi-media marketing should be wary of all-flash-no-substance companies.
“Don’t minimize the importance of a good message before you get too enamored with all the new technology and what you can do with it,” warns Owen May, owner of Metro Video Services on North 63rd Court in Wauwatosa.
May’s company, which operates strictly in the video production market, emphasizes the importance of a good script before taping commences.
“If you don’t really know how to put it all together as basic English communication,” May says, “you can have all the bells and whistles in the world, but it’s not going to have the same impact.”
Even with his initial hesitation of the effectiveness of Websites, May launched a homepage for Metro Video two months ago. What changed his mind?
A client who was referred to May by a colleague with a Website, mentioned that he wouldn’t do business with anyone who wasn’t on the Web because he didn’t consider non-Web businesses as being serious, May recalled. “That opened my eyes,” he said. “If I’m getting business from the Web based on his (colleague’s) Website, and I don’t even have one, I better get with it.”

Straegize, to stand out in the crowd, marketing consultants advise
You think you’re selling widgets to your clients.
But your clients think they’re buying gizmos from you.
It’s the classic marketing versus mission issue: Is what your customers think they’re buying from you the same thing you think you’re selling to them?
Marketing experts in southeastern Wisconsin agree that the ability to answer that question is critical for successful marketing.
“Although it may seem elementary, many organizations have no sense of purpose,” says Alan Gaudynski, who runs Alan Gaudynski & Associates in Brookfield. “In today’s competitive market, it’s imperative to develop a sense of purpose that sets your business apart.”
“Don’t assume they know you,” adds Todd Robert Murphy of Todd Robert Murphy Marketing Communications in downtown Milwaukee. “This holds true even if you’re in business for years.”
Murphy suggests that business owners put together a list of all the products and services they offer, then ask a few existing customers – without aid – to develop the same list. “You’ll be surprised at how little they know,” he says.
The result of such an exercise, Murphy says, is potential new business.
“You could have been selling all kinds of additional products or services to your own customers.”
Christopher “Kit” Vernon, chairman and CEO of Blue Horse, a downtown Milwaukee marketing, advertising and public relations agency, advises business owners to develop a positioning statement. Such a statement, he says, forces your firm to take a stand in its industry.
“Marketing without positioning is like communication in a vacuum,” Vernon says. “Your positioning statement is not a slogan; rather it is the cornerstone on which your company is built – the lens through which all of your marketing materials are focused.”
Adds the staff of Core Creative in downtown Milwaukee: “Ask yourself some tough questions about your company. What makes your product or service special?”
Additionally, the firm advises, “Determine who you are and/or who you’d like to be; then hammer that message home repeatedly.”
A logo can convey a firm’s position, the marketing consultants say.
“Think about it,” says Murphy. “Your logo is the one element of your marketing arsenal that will appear in every form of promotion you use, including letterhead, business cards, signage, display ads, matchbooks, coffee mugs, truck signs, billboards, whatever. Consider your logo an investment in name recognition.”
If you have a logo, be sure to use it consistently, adds Joan Cotter Pike of Zeppos & Associates in downtown Milwaukee. “Treating your logo consistently and using it whenever you can will help people remember your company.”
If you don’t have a logo, Cotter Pike adds, develop one. “A clean, simple, memorable logo can help solidify your corporate identity.”
On a related matter, John Murphy, owner of Murphy Associates, The Shared Marketing Department, in Brookfield, says business owners need to take a good look at their firms’ names. “Your company name should say what you do,” he says. Additionally, business cards should say what you do. “The majority don’t,” he observes.
The consultants are nearly universal in their call for firms to have a marketing plan that involves solid research.
“Do strategic planning yearly, utilizing information gathered from both internal and external surveys,” says Diane Chamness of Chamness Consulting in Milwaukee’s Walker’s Point area. “Involve key staff in this planning and review the plan every three months or so, updating as things change within your organization or the marketplace,” Chamness adds.
McGlinchey & Associates of Brookfield advises firms to set annual or semi-annual marketing goals and then develop a plan to realize those goals. “Define your target audiences and think about the best channels to reach them,” the firm says.
Karen Lindsey-Lloyd of Lindsey-Lloyd Communications in Wauwatosa says that in creating a marketing plan, at least the following should be considered: What do you want to accomplish? Who is your target audience? What contacts do you need to make? How will you get your message out? And what action steps need to be taken?
Look at the implementation of that plan as an ongoing process, says Gail Sideman of CourtSIDE Sports Communications and Write On! Promotions in Bayside. “I equate it to planting a seed an nourishing it through the years,” she adds.
Along with getting clients to speak on your behalf, the consultants also advised firms to gain attention by sponsoring seminars and workshops and by participating in charitable events.
“Testimonials are one of the best and most underused marketing tools available,” says Dana Burke of Mind Your Business in Wauwatosa. “And customers are almost always willing to give them.”
“Happy, satisfied customers can be your best advertising,” adds Cotter Pike of Zeppos Associates. “If you can’t spend much on advertising, be sure to invest in keeping your customers happy.”
Similarly, a business can get marketing mileage out of special events – either its own or those it helps with, the consultants say.
“Partnering with charity groups and sponsoring events such as runs, local sports teams and the like can make your company more visible with your target audience,” says the Core Creative staff. “Aligning yourself with the right organization can get you valuable exposure and create feelings of goodwill toward your company.”
The trick to gaining the right attention from aligning with charities, says Todd Robert Murphy, is to “get caught at it” rather than blowing your horn about it.
“The fact is, your potential customers appreciate the fact that your business tries to make our community better,” Murphy said. “It makes them feel better about doing business with you.”
McGlinchey & Associates suggests that firms host seminars for clients or potential clients. To add value to your product or service, look for opportunities to educate and train your customers, they say. If you can help them to better use your product, you’re doing both the customer and yourself a service. At the same time, you establish your company as a knowledgeable source.
Another essential for garnering attention in the crowded marketplace is to set yourself apart.
“Zig when everyone else is zagging,” says Blue Horse’s Vernon. “The best way to gain attention for your product of service is to be different.”
June 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

The U.S. Small Business Administration approved the following loan guarantees during July: Aliota’s Lake Country Bistro, 143 Main St., Sullivan, $370,000, Waukesha State Bank;
All Pro Transmission, Inc., 7501 W. Villard Ave., Milwaukee, $50,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Andy’s Petrol, 5401 North Lovers Lane, Milwaukee, $527,000, WI Business Development Finance Corp;
Animal Crackers Pet Centers, Inc., 6453 South 76th St., Greendale, $150,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Anthilia, LLC, 1442 Underwood Ave., Milwaukee, $30,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Associated Billing & Management, 2448 S 102nd St., Milwaukee, $35,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Black Bear Grille & Bar, 904 S. Sylvania Ave., Sturtevant, $340,000, Racine County Business Development Corp.
Bluemound Amoco, 8235 W. Bluemound Rd., Milwaukee, $308,000, WI Business Development Finance Corp;
Bourdo Trucking LLC, W786 Harmony Lane, East Troy, $50,000, First Citizens State Bank of Whitewater;
Bourdo Trucking LLC, W786 Harmony Lane, East Troy, $10,000, First Citizens State Bank of Whitewater;
Chris & Company Salon, 2732 Hillside Dr., Delafield, $150,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Cowman Properties LLC And Pit, 1123 8th Street, Sheboygan, $130,000, Community Bank & Trust;
Cranston & Company, 400 North Broadway, Milwaukee, $200,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Cranston & Company, 400 North Broadway, Milwaukee, $275,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Daily Bread LLC, N98 W16699 Concord Rd., Germantown, $50,000, Cornerstone Community Bank;
Paul and Tula Demakopoulos, 3107 E. Layton Ave., Cudahy, $900,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Dorn Family Chiropractic, LLC, 1195 Summit Ave., Suite #500, Oconomowoc, $20,000, First Bank Financial Centre;
D & S Investment Corp, 2029 N. 114th St., Milwaukee, $25,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Enyay Multicultural Learning, 21075 Swenson Dr., Waukesha, $50,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
FIY, Inc., 2425 N. 124th St., Brookfield, $20,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Ginny Enterprises Inc., 1068 W. Washington St., West Bend, $6,000, Innovative Bank;
Grand Slam USA, 4905 S. Howell Ave., Milwaukee, $137,200, US Bank National Association;
Healthy Fundraising LLC, N143 W5775 Pioneer Rd., Cedarburg, $75,000, Community Bank;
Industrial Graphics Corporation, 304 Industrial Dr., Fredonia, Wisconsin Community Bank;
JWR Inc., 322 Watertown St., Johnson Creek, $537,000, WI Business Development Finance Corp;
Lamos, Inc. DBA Moda Bella Hai, 7539 39th Ave., Kenosha, $25,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Lost World of Wonders, 6913 W. Oklahoma Ave., Milwaukee, $50,000, Capital One Federal Savings Bank;
Lotters Car Care Center LLC, N64 W23876 Main St., Sussex, $399,000, Wells Fargo Bank NA;
Mazur/Zachow, Inc., 1025 Moreland Road, Suite 30, Brookfield, $25,000, Bank One National Association;
Meyer Saw & Tool Ltd., 208 Hallberg Unit C, Delavan, $130,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Meyer Saw & Tool Ltd., 208 Hallberg Unit C, Delavan, $50,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Mi Casa Mortgage, 620 Maple Ave., Waukesha, $198,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Minuteman Press, 303 West Milwaukee St., Janesville, $306,000, Johnson Bank NA;
My Gym Children’s Fitness Center, W142 N10646 Magnolia Dr., Germantown, $15,000,
Wells Fargo Bank NA;
Natural Stone Veneers International, 490 West Rolling Meadows Dr., Fond Du Lac, $700,000, Hometown Bank;
Nicolet Shredding LLC, N5851 County Highway M, Plymouth, $150,000, Community Bank & Trust;
Nothing But Noodles, 15455 W. Bluemound Rd., Suite 2, Brookfield, $280,000, Community Bank & Trust;
Oakwood Campsites Bar & Grill, N5428 24th Ave., Wild Rose, $100,000, Associated Bank NA;
Organicville Foods, Inc., 8200 W. Brown Deer Rd., Milwaukee, $150,000, Cornerstone Community Bank;
Panache Entertainment, LLC, 4034 West Good Hope Rd., Milwaukee, $720,000, Legacy Bank;
Pegasus Investments LLC, 6627 Whitewater St., Oak Creek, $130,000, Cornerstone Community Bank;
Phoenix Pool Installation, LLC, N8766 Hillburn Mill Rd., East Troy, $100,000, First Citizens State Bank;
Plymouth Industries, 1919 County Trunk C, Plymouth, $256,000, Community Bank & Trust;
Premier Garage, 5320 Marshview Dr. South, Hartford, $140,000, Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota NA;
The Pricky Pear, 621 Milwaukee St., Delafield, $74,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Prom Transport, Inc., 9918 S. 112th St., Franklin, $405,000, Wells Fargo Bank Minnesota NA;
Quiznos Classic Subs, 7440 W. Greenfield Ave., Milwaukee, $210,000, US Bank National Association;
Scarlet Thread LLC, 2809 River Point Ct., Waukesha, $150,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Servpro of Waukesha Pewaukee, 12505 W. Lancaster, Butler, $24,000, First Banking Center;
Slappers N Sluggers, LLC, 1202 South Wildwood Ave, Sheboygan, $27,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Sports & Family Chiropractic, 6123 Green Bay Rd., Suite 240, Racine, $217,000, Racine County Business Development Corp.
Springbrook Enterprises, Inc., 17125 W. Bluebound Rd., Brookfield, $189,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Springbrook Enterprises, Inc., 17125 W. Bluebound Rd., Brookfield, $30,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Techline Digital Systems, 4117 N. Green Bay Ave., Milwaukee, $100,000, Bank One National Association;
The Waterstreet Group, Inc., 4200 N. Holton St., Milwaukee, $110,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
The Waterstreet Group, Inc., 4200 N. Holton St., Milwaukee, $25,000, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank;
Twin Cities Pack Inc., 2601 Colley Rd., #20, Clintonville, $150,000, Associated Bank National Association;
Jamie Wilke Interiors Ltd., 203 E. Wisconsin Ave., Oconomowoc, $114,500, US Bank National Association;
The Window Box, 2634 N. Downer Ave., Milwaukee, $150,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Zena’s Family Restaurant, 2723 Calumet Dr., Sheboygan, $150,000, Community Bank & Trust;
September 3, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

Development is picking up along the South 27th Street corridor, whether Oak Creek and Franklin governmental officials are ready for it or not.
Developers John Hoppe and Jeff Korpal plan to build a 6,200-square-foot professional office building at 8153 S. 27th St. in Franklin.
Hoppe owns Hoppe Woodworks in Franklin, and Korpal owns Korpal & Associates LLC, a real estate brokerage in Franklin. Korpal said they are still seeking tenants for the building.
"I’m considering being one of the tenants myself," Korpal said. "The rising population of both Franklin and Oak Creek makes that a very good area to do business. It’s got good access to the freeway, which means people can easily get to downtown, Brookfield, Racine or even Chicago if need be."
Franklin and Oak Creek have placed a moratorium on development on South 27th Street until Feb. 1, so officials can have time to create uniform zoning districts for the street, which separates the two cities. The street is now the home of Northwestern Mutual Life’s new office campus, which lights up the sky at night at the former site of the 41 Twin drive-in theater.
The Hoppe and Korpal plan was submitted before the moratorium was created.
Several other projects are on the table for the 27th Street corridor:
— Golden Corral Buffet & Grill plans to build a restaurant at 6805 S. 27th St. in Franklin. The 10,300-square-foot restaurant would be built on a vacant lot. No formal plans for the restaurant have been submitted, but city officials have reviewed a concept plan for the development, said Ashley Booth, planner for the city of Franklin.
— A 5,500-square-foot Famous Dave’s Restaurant is planned for 5077 S. 27th St. in Greenfield. The site is a vacant lot and is the former location of a Sentry grocery store.
— A Travlin’ Jo Expresso-to-Go is planned for the College Green Retail Center at South 27th Street and College Avenue in Greenfield. The specialty coffee shop will be built in a parking lot. It will include a drive-thru window.
"I think maybe 27th Street as a whole as it runs through this portion of Milwaukee County is seeing a renewed interest," said Chuck Erickson, planning director for the City of Greenfield. "I think it has picked up in the last few months."
Franklin officials expect more development in the corridor, as other businesses will want to locate near NML’s glitzy campus.
"I think there is a lot of activity that is going to start taking place there," Booth said. "(Northwestern Mutual) has a large portion to do with it."
In other area real estate development news:
Greenfield
Frauenshuh Cos. and Children’s Hospital plan to build a two-story, 40,000-square-foot medical office building south of the Surgi-Center at 3223 S. 103rd St.
Loomis Investments LLC plans to build an 8,000-square-foot office building and a 9,000-square-foot out-patient surgery center at 4125 W. Loomis Road. The office building will be the first phase of the two-phase development. Advanced Pain Management will occupy the second phase of the project. The project still needs to receive zoning and site plan approval from the city.
Glendale
A Nothing But Noodles restaurant and a Bay Shore Graphics retail printing and graphic design shop plan to lease space in a new multi-tenant retail building at 6150 N. Port Washington Road. Nothing But Noodles will occupy about 5,000 square feet of space, and Bay Shore Graphics will occupy about 1,600 square feet of space.
Paragon Printing and Graphics plans to occupy 5,000 square feet of space in a multi-tenant building at 2041-43 W. Mill Road.
Waukesha
Citizens Bank of Mukwonago plans to build a two-story, 12,665-square-foot branch on a vacant lot at the southeast corner of Center Road and Les Paul Parkway. The company plans to move its credit and loan department from its Mukwonago headquarters to the Waukesha branch, said Doug Bruins, vice president of Citizens Bank of Mukwonago. Construction is expected to begin this month and be completed during the second quarter of 2005. The building will have a 1,850 square-foot meeting room on the second floor, which business groups will be able to use for free, Bruins said.
Badger Property Management LLC plans to build a 3,835 square-foot building at the southwest corner of Moreland Boulevard and Delafield Street. The building could accommodate three retail tenants. It would be built on the site of a former gas station. A vacant gas station building on the property will be demolished if the retail building is built.
Racine
Roberto and Rosie Montaro plan to open a tire sales, repair and accessories business at 1225 Washington Ave. The business, to be called Montaro’s Tires and Plus, will occupy about 4,000 square-foot of an existing industrial building. They plan to open early this month, Rosie Montaro said.
Andrew Weiland is managing editor of Small Business Times. Send news about commercial real estate to Andrew.weiland@biztimes.com or by calling him at (414) 277-8181, ext. 120. News can also be sent to Andrew Weiland, Small Business Times, 1123 N. Water St., Milwaukee, WI 53202.
September 3, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI