Figuring out where to start as you migrate
from a “tell mode” to a “seek mode” in sales – Part III
JERRY STAPLETON
For SBT
Two months ago, in the first installment of this series, we talked about the “whys”: Why curiosity is the salesperson’s greatest weapon and why it’s smart business to channel that curiosity into a Knowledge Call.
Last month, we talked “whats”: What a Knowledge Call is and what it isn’t. Intended to gain insight into the customer’s organization and business, a Knowledge Call is not a needs-analysis meeting.
We also talked “how”: How Knowledge Calls fit into your overall sales strategy. Assuming that they do (and is too much knowledge really ever a bad thing?), the next question is, of course, “who.”
Knowledge calls don’t need to be rationed
You can and should request a Knowledge Call with almost any contact – from a person you’ve never met who represents a company that your own firm has never done business with, to a long-time contact at a well-established account.
In selecting contacts for Knowledge Calls, follow these guidelines:
1. Let me in, coach
A true coach is by far your best Knowledge Call contact. Remember, coaches are more than “friendly contacts.” Coaches want you to have an advantage over your competition. They give you information that they wouldn’t give your competitors. Just beware the ubiquitous friendly gatekeeper masquerading as a coach.
2. Movin’ on up
Start with the least powerful, most talkative people first. This is the best way to avoid gatekeepers who try to block your ascent. It’s also how you prepare yourself as you move to more powerful contacts in the customer company.
3. Familiarity breeds content
If it’s an existing account, start with your day-to-day contacts. Just be alert to a tendency on the part of some contacts to act as gatekeepers. Sometimes you’re stuck with a contact whom you might otherwise not have chosen.
4. Don’t go there
Never attempt a Knowledge Call with someone who might be considered “off limits.” Secretaries fall into this category. With any prospective Knowledge Call contact, ask yourself if there’s any chance that your contact-or others in the company-might get the impression that you’re snooping.
5. So close, yet so far away
Don’t forget former employees and non-employees. Depending on your relationship with them and their relationship with the targeted company, such individuals can be buried treasure.
Tony discovered that when he snagged Mike, a new contact at one account, who had only weeks earlier left another of Tony’s key customers. Their 45-minute Knowledge Call turned into two hours, and gave Tony the insight he needed to save a $250,000 deal that was being torpedoed by someone working for Mike’s former employer.
6. Working at higher elevations
When your initial entry to an account is through an executive, and you have no good lower-level contacts, make a mini-Knowledge Call part of your introductory meeting with the executive.
Contrary to popular selling notions, it’s a bad idea to do Knowledge Calls with senior executives. However, if your first meeting at an account is with an executive, you should ask a few high-level, strategic questions as part of that meeting. But never try to conduct the same kind of in-depth Knowledge Call that you would with a good coach.
Making contact with your contacts
OK, we’ve talked what, why, how and who. Now it’s time to call your contact and set up the meeting. You know what you want to accomplish, but you need to explain it to the person on the other side of the phone or e-mail. And you need to explain in a a way that’s both professional and non-threatening. That’s a whole ‘nother topic, I’m afraid-one that we’ll explore next month.
(Part I of this series appeared in the July 6 issue of SBT while Part II appeared in the Aug. 3 issue.)
Jerry Stapleton is president of the IBS Group and author of “From Vendor to Business Resource: Transforming the Sales Force for the New Era of Selling.” For more than ten years, he has been showing companies of all sizes, from start-ups to Fortune 500, how to sell to large accounts. E-mail: jstaple@theibsgroup.com Web site: www.theibsgroup.com
August 31, 2001 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

A $170,000 loan from the Milwaukee Economic Development Commission will help a grocery store maintain operations at a Fond du Lac Avenue site in the city.
Penasa Foods, Inc., received the Target Area Loan to purchase the building and land at 6627 W. Fond du Lac Ave., which now is host to a Sentry food store.
Chris Penasa, the owner of Penasa Foods who decided to purchase the real estate, has made several changes to the store since purchasing it from his father. He wants to remodel the store to expand the dairy, meat and produce departments to help the store meet growing demands from consumers for prepared foods.
The company, which currently employs 22 people, expects to create one full-time position.
M&I Marshall & Ilsley also is participating in the $425,000 project.
The MEDC’s loan committee also approved the following projects:
Animal Emergency Center, Inc., an emergency and critical-care medical facility for small animals, received a $300,000 MEDC Target Area Loan to buy a facility at 5401 N. Lovers Lane Rd.
The company currently employs 24 full-time workers and expects to hire three more as part of the $1 million expansion project.
The firm was founded in 1977 as an emergency medical clinic. In 1984, it became one of the nation’s first 24-hour animal hospitals, devoted exclusively to emergency and critical care.
The hospital, which also serves as a teaching center, examines between 6,000 and 7,000 animals each year.
Park Bank is also participating financially in the project.
Theiss Business Interiors, LTD, received a $210,000 Target Area Loan to construct a 7,500-square-foot building that would house the company’s interior design business and provide space for tenants.
Theiss Business Interiors specializes in commercial building space for offices, colleges, hospitals, clinics, banks or any type of business. The company’s services include layout, reflected ceiling and lighting plans, elevations, cabinetry and counter designs, and finish.
Greg Thiess, owner of the firm, would like to purchase a parcel at 1323 E. Brady St.
The company currently employs five full-time workers and expects to add one. Park Bank is participating financially in the $525,000 project.
Channel One, Inc., received a $161,968 Second Mortgage Loan to purchase commercial condominium space at 207 N. Milwaukee St. for continued use by the company.
Channel One, a business video and interactive media provider, expanded into a multi-million dollar company, now employing 22 people full time. It anticipates hiring seven more full-time workers to handle business growth.
Services provided by Channel One include graphics, animation video, narration, music and sound effects. The company also offers video and interactive production that includes concept development, digital editing and script writing. Clients include Miller Brewing, Sargento Foods, Monsanto, Gardetto’s, Tombstone Pizza and the NFL Players Association.
Associated Bank is financially participating in the $647,870 project.
Comfort Zone Entertainment Center received a $61,600 Target Area Loan to convert the Capital Sports Bowl at 5526 W. Fond du Lac Ave. into a banquet facility.
Real estate owners Jane Keenan-Turner and Lonnie Turner Jr. will lease the bar and banquet area to Melvin Turner, who will operate the Comfort Zone. In addition to a main banquet hall that will accommodate 180 people, a second area will be available for smaller parties of 75 people.
The new owners intend to renovate and update the kitchen for a short-order grill facility, to serve the bar area and caterers. Park Bank is financially participating in the $154,000 project.
Woody’s Sausage received a $19,800 Target Area Loan to purchase a building at 3528 W. Fond du Lac Ave. for use as a retail facility for Viceroy Wondering Foods, Inc., and as a manufacturing facility for Woody’s Sausages.
The MEDC loan will also assist with relocation and set-up costs.
Woody’s currently operates out of a former photography studio at 4328 W. Fond du Lac Ave.
The new 2,500-square-foot location will allow the company to expand its existing company base, increase its market share and reduce operating costs.
Alvin Holloman, president of Woody’s, has contracted with Klements Sausage to produce the company’s products since 1993.
Liberty Bank is financially participating in the $49,500 project.
National Tissue Co. received a $300,000 Target Area Loan for the purchase of two state-of-the-art machines that will enable the company to expand its product line from three to six products and increase efficiency by more than 50%.
The company is moving from Waukesha to 737 W. Cleveland Ave. in Milwaukee due to space constrictions at its former site and the need to be closer to a larger labor pool.
National Tissue is a manufacturer of toilet paper and paper towels for the commercial market. It produces three product lines which include jumbo-roll toilet tissue, hard-wound towels, and center-pull towels for public restrooms and for the institutional market nationwide. The company currently employs 16 full-time workers and expects to add 12 full-time positions.
M&I Marshall & Ilsley Bank is financially participating in the $752,000 project.
SBA loans
The following loan guarantees have been approved in March by the U.S. Small Business Administration in Wisconsin:
Associates Soil Testing, N9009 State Road 67, East Troy 53120, $18,500, First Citizens Bank of Whitewater;
Broadlands Golf Club, Inc., Highway 59, North Prairie 53153, $1 million, Wisconsin Development Finance Corp.;
Extreme Towing, Inc., 5414G W. Presidio Ln., Milwaukee 53223, $50,000, Norwest Bank Wisconsin;
Fibeco Corp., 425 Spruce St., Sheboygan Falls 53085, $575,000, Firstar Bank Wisconsin;
Hi Way Motors, 100 Twilight St., Lacrescent, Minn., 55947, $120,000, Bank of Holmen;
Iamusa, Inc., 9152 W. Dixon St., Milwaukee 53214, $120,000, Waukesha State Bank;
Interlude, 3712 W. Mt. Vernon Ave., Milwaukee 53204, $35,000, TCF National Bank Wisconsin;
Joseph T. Hebert Cleaning Service, 3230 N. 36th St., Milwaukee 53216, $8,100, Park Bank;
JW Towing & Auto Service, 2940 W. Fond du Lac Ave., Milwaukee 53210, $80,000, Firstar Bank Milwaukee;
Kut-Rite Corp., 4050 N. 34th St., Milwaukee 53216, $75,000, University National Bank;
Maid-4-U, Inc., 65 W. Pioneer Rd., Fond du Lac 54935, $95,000, Firstar Bank Wisconsin;
Making The Grade, Inc., 3477 N. 89th St., Milwaukee 53222, $52,000, Norwest Bank Wisconsin;
Malkins Carpets, Inc., N85 W16093 Appleton Ave., Menomonee Falls 53051, $550,000, Investors Bank;
Mike Burkart Ford Mercury, Inc., 102 N. Milwaukee St., Plymouth 53073, $1 million, Wisconsin Business Development Corp.,;
Performance Mold Products, Inc., N116 W18515 Morse Dr., Germantown 53022, $334,000, Wisconsin Business Development Corp.;
Rapwood Enterprises, Inc. W4385 Belgium Kohler Rd., Fredonia 53021, $515,300, Community Bank of Sheboygan;
R&B Video & Paging, 1532 E. Sumner St., Hartford 53027, $50,000, First National Bank of Hartford;
Scenic View Country Club, 4415 Club Dr., Slinger 53086, $160,000 and $250,000, Firstar Bank Wisconsin;
Señor Luna, LLC, 1901 S. Calhoun Rd., Waukesha 53188, $250,000, AT&T Small Business Lending Corp.;
Wells Consulting, Inc., 1260 Pioneer Trail, Waukesha 53186, $100,000, Waukesha State Bank.
Century firms
As part of Wisconsin’s sesquicentennial celebration, Gov. Tommy Thompson is seeking to identify Wisconsin’s businesses that are 150 years old or older; they will be honored at a ceremony this month, receiving a plaque and a governor’s letter of recognition.
A number of companies have been identified;others not on the list can contact Tony Hozeny at the state Department of Commerce in Madison, 608-267-9661.
The following firms are on the list, including the year they were founded:
Journal Communications, Milwaukee, 1837;
Dodge County Title & Abstract, Juneau, 1839;
State Medical Society of Wisconsin, Madison, 1840;
Case Corp., Racine, 1842;
Foley & Lardner, Milwaukee, 1842;
Joseph T. Ryerson & Son, Milwaukee, 1842;
Bliss Communications (Gazette Publishing),
Janesville, 1845;
Dane County Title, Madison, 1846;
Chicago Title Insurance, Waukesha, 1847;
H.H. West, Milwaukee, 1847;
Marshall & Ilsley Bank, Milwaukee, 1847;
Svedala Industries, Waukesha, 1847;
Wisconsin Color Press, Milwaukee, 1847;
Bentley & Son, Brown Deer, 1848;
Bruno Boiler & Engine Works, Edgerton, 1848;
Greater Beloit Publishing Co., Beloit, 1848;
Joseph Huber Brewing, Monroe, 1848;
The Masterson Co., Milwaukee, 1848;
Meissner, Tierney, Fisher & Nichols,
Milwaukee, 1848;
Michael, Best & Friedrich, Milwaukee, 1848;
Pfister & Vogel Tanning, Milwaukee, 1848;
Richardson Brothers, Sheboygan Falls, 1848;
St. Mary’s Hospital, Milwaukee, 1848;
Suettinger Sheet Metal, Two Rivers, 1848;
United States Leather Holdings, Milwaukee, 1848.

Joppe Logistics, LLC, a new distribution company, has leased 137,500 square feet of the former Briggs & Stratton facility at 12000 W. Burleigh St. in Wauwatosa, according to Mooney LeSage & Associates which handled the transaction.
The company commenced business in February, according to owner James Joppe Jr.
In addition to serving Briggs & Stratton, the company offers distribution, logistics and warehousing.
The company has signed a long-term lease.
Other leases announced by Mooney LeSage include:
– 42,000 square feet of space at 960 E. Milwaukee St. in Whitewater for Eco-Tech;
– 32,300 square feet of space at S66W14328 Janesville Rd. in Muskego for Meurer Bakeries of Milwaukee;
– 30,000 square feet of space at 1171 Universal Blvd. in Whitewater for Trek Bicycle Corp.
The Polacheck Co. of Milwaukee has announced the following leases:
– 1,847 square feet of retail space in the Riverview Centre at 827 S. Rochester Rd. in Mukwonago for Einar C. Svang III, DDS;
– 2,820 square feet of office space at 8350 N. Stevens Rd. in Milwaukee for Barrientos Architects;
– 1,150 square feet of retail space at 1677 N. Farwell Ave. in Milwaukee for Starbucks Corp.;
– 11,241 square feet of office space at 4915 S. Howell Ave. in Milwaukee for Sky Alland Marketing;
– 2,681 square feet of office space in the Riverfront Plaza at 1110 N. Old World Third St. in Milwaukee for CBS Cable; CBS Corp.;
– 1,780 square feet of office space at 5485 S. Westridge Dr. in New Berlin for Aid Association for Lutherans;
– 2,289 square feet of retail space at The Pavilion in Mequon for Scando Enterprises, d/b/a The Tinder Box;
– 6,400 square feet of industrial space at 11711 River Ln. in Germantown for Mero Structures, Inc.
– 2,738 square feet of office space at 250 N. Sunnyslope Rd. in Brookfield for Banc One Financial;
– 23,500 square feet of retail space at Rivercrest Drive and Appleton Avenue in Menomonee Falls for Office Max, Inc.;
– 2,000 square feet of retail space at Timmerman Plaza at 10442 W. Silver Spring Dr. in Milwaukee for Advance America, Cash Advance;
– 10,400 square feet of space at 1000 N. Water St. in Milwaukee for New Resources Corp.;
– 4,800 square feet of retail space at 6800 Washington Ave. in the Racine County Town of Mount Pleasant for Aurora Health Care, Inc.
Building Projects
Golden Leaves, LLC, is constructing a 15,000-square-foot retail and professional office building in downtown Hartland. The property, at 350 Cottonwood Ave., will be the home of Benning’s Books, adjoined by Heidi’s Café and Gourmet Coffee, Inc. The project also includes interconnected professional office suites and a luxury second-level apartment.
Ludwig Ridder Design, an architectural firm, will occupy one of the suites.
The development is a venture of Dianne Benning, who started Benning’s Books five years ago, and partner Karen Zernan. Golden Leaves will also manage the building.
Beyer Construction of New Berlin is handling interior office construction for the Helen Bader Foundation at the century-old Saddlery Building at 233 N. Water St. in Milwaukee. The foundation is locating from the Firstar Center. Architectural work is by Kahler Slater Architects of Milwaukee.
– Beyer is nearing completion of a project at Eaton Corp./Cutler Hammer Products, 4201 N. 27th St., Milwaukee. The project, which began in December, involves renovation of the second floor elevator lobby and complete reconstruction of the cafeteria and servery areas. Work includes installation of new servery fixtures and food service equipment, and new lighting and furniture. Quorum Architects of Milwaukee handled design.
Selzer-Ornst Co. of Wauwatosa is completing the renovation for Interim Health Care in Wauwatosa.
KCM, Inc., of West Bend has completed the design and has been awarded the contract for a 10,000-square-foot professional office and retail mall to be located in Jackson. B.E.K. & Associates, owners, are in the process of leasing the space.
– KCM has also been awarded a contract for a 13,000-square-foot industrial building in Jackson. The owner, Sierra Grinding, manufactures grinding wheels.
Z-Teca Fresh Mexican Grill Restaurant of Milwaukee chose MSI General Corp. of Oconomowoc to complete the tenant build-out for a Mexican restaurant at 3101 N. Oakland Ave. in Milwaukee. An April opening was scheduled. The restaurant will be operated by Roaring Fork, LLC, which is owned by Mike Pranke and Eric Wagner and which holds the exclusive Wisconsin franchise for Z-Teca. The restaurant firm is based in Denver. Founded in 1995, it plans to have about 300 locations in the US by the year 2000. It features made-to-order entrees.
– MSI General has also been selected by Custom Products Corp. of Menomonee Falls for the design and construction of a 33,502-square-foot addition to its manufacturing facility at the corner of Lilly Road and Silver Spring Drive. The expansion is Phase I of a program to provide additional manufacturing space. New orders from Cummins Engine and others were the catalyst for the project.
When John Iverson purchased the company in 1972, it had three employees and 8,000 square feet of space. It now occupies more than 300,000 square feet and employs more than 650 people. With expected growth, the company is planning a Phase II addition, as well.
Venture Development of Waukesha has completed the new office space for Relations Systems in Brookfield.
– Venture Development has also completed an interior remodeling project for Burton & Mayer, Inc., in Brookfield.
ASI General, Inc., of Waukesha has completed a new office building for Wisconsin Retail Lumber Association at W175 N11086 Stonewood Dr. in Germantown. The building includes 6,000 square feet of offices for the association and 4,000 square feet for tenant space.
The Lang Group of Lake Mills has been selected by the Sheboygan Redevelopment Authority to develop 14 condominiums with individual entrances on the Sheboygan River in the downtown area. The project will be known as River’s Edge. Each home will have a boat pier in the backyard with access to Lake Michigan.
Moves
George Webb Restaurants has moved to a new corporate office and commissary in the Bluemound East Industrial Park, south of I-94 in Pewaukee. The 16,350-square-foot building features expanded warehouse space plus rooms for training, conferencing and a full test kitchen. The chain now has 45 restaurants in Wisconsin.
Image Makers Advertising has moved from its Elm Grove location to its own renovated building at 139 E. North St. in Waukesha. The historic building was constructed in the 1880s as an out-building for a woolen mill.
Maglio & Co., a full-service wholesaler and distributor of produce, has relocated its offices and warehouse to 4287 N. Port Washington Rd. in Glendale.
The company had operated for 50 years on Commission Row in Milwaukee’s Third Ward. A second location was added in 1985 in the Walker’s Point neighborhood. Both those locations were vacated.
By the end of the year, the company expects to add 15 people to its current staff of 52.
The Glendale site was purchased from Johnson Controls last May. A 21,000-square-foot addition was constructed, adding 10 truck doors. The completed facility has 80,000 square feet of operating space with more than 30,0000 square feet dedicated to refrigerated storage.
With the added capacity, the company plans to expand its service territory and product lineup.
May 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

With the right development, sites can help the bottom line
One of the more common questions heard around the water cooler, the health club or the boardroom these days seems to be “How’s the Website doing?”
The answers to that question can range anywhere from “I’m not sure” to “Which one?” to “I hear it’s doing well” to “We have a Website?”
Even though society is almost three years into the Internet revolution, there is still a pattern in companies both large and small when it comes to planning a Website.
“Early adopters” inside those companies see the advantages before the rest of their colleagues and seniors. Therefore the saying, “the right hand doesn’t always know what the left hand is doing” is very appropriate for businesses attempting to leverage the Internet.
Visionaries pushing Websites within their organizations are often isolated because a scant few in the enterprise understand the pervasiveness and reach of the World Wide Web. They also fail to grasp how Web-based technologies can provide efficiencies to functional lines of business within their own organizations.
Although some companies are just now beginning to experience revenue streams with e-business applications, effective Web initiatives that exist for reasons other than marketing usually focus on solving business problems, streamlining business processes or reaching external business partners. Often those solutions provide soft-dollar savings to the enterprise, providing little cover from hard-dollar savings purists.
Aside from the obvious opportunity to provide a high level of interaction between people and information, the Web doesn’t always provide a tangible, bottom-line benefit, or a revenue stream whose trajectory is comparable to a successful Space Shuttle launch.
So how can one justify Web-based technology as a necessary expenditure?
Because of the attractive potential of Web technology – such as its worldwide reach and ability to interact with users, many organizations have rushed headlong to establish Internet and intranet Websites. Many are taking a haphazard approach, resulting in wasted money and, more significantly, lost opportunity.
Develop a clear purpose
One of the most common mistakes companies make when implementing Websites is not having a clear vision or purpose for the sites. Therefore, when planning a Website there needs to be a blueprint for success, as well as benchmarks for success. Then we have also been working with this amazing web design service in the UK as they are just super-talented, so call them if you want some top-level web design in the UK. When it comes to ROI and the Web, there are several areas within an organization that can provide low hanging fruit to feed to the frugal financiers.
Automate business processes: Automate a variety of internal business processes on your Website for increased efficiency. For example, many organizations are using Intranet Web sites to automate the distribution and administration of internal documents, including policies and procedures, benefit selections, financial information, telephone lists and job postings. Electronic distribution eliminates the high cost of updating and distributing paper documents every time an update occurs.
Redeploy client/server solutions: By redeploying client/server solutions to Websites, you provide universal access to information without the need to install and manage specialized client software. Users can access the information they need through their standard Web browsers. Many organizations are already redeploying client/server applications in human resources, accounting, sales management and executive information services onto their intranets. Those Web-based applications are considerably less expensive to maintain and manage than traditional client/server solutions.
Disseminate information: Through your intranet Website you can disseminate internal information to employees – and even to business partners, such as suppliers and contractors. You can use your Website to present information in new and engaging ways, so your employees will be more apt to access the information. Your business partners will also appreciate being kept “in the loop.”
Salesforce automation: Organizations with remote field agents who are required to complete and submit field reports to the home office after every sales call traditionally fill out those reports either by hand or by word processor. In addition, this data would need to be re-keyed into the company contact database.
With a secure Extranet application, remote agents can use a browser to access a password protected, Web-enabled salesforce automation system – anytime, anywhere – on-demand. All forms/reports that would be required for the field agents to complete would be available electronically via the Web. Each agent has an individual user profile, and once the agent identifies himself/herself to the system, the appropriate forms are pushed to the agent to complete.
Human resource function: Allow employees to update their personal information, investigate new policies involving performance and rewards issues, control their 401K investment profile and to post questions and receive answers from senior management.
Facilitate a collaborative culture: Because important information flows more freely through intranet Web sites, it is easier for your employees to become more engaged, involved and interactive – within their own departments and workgroups as well as with other departments and workgroups.
Increase employee satisfaction: Use your Website to keep employees informed and solicit their feedback on matters that are important to them. As a result, you’ll build closer relationships with them.
Receive feedback: Because of its ease of interaction, a Web site can help you obtain valuable feedback from your employees and business partners. Use this information to improve service and support to these people who are so important to your business.
In order to provide feedback to the sponsors of your Web initiative, the methods you establish for monitoring your solution should be objective and measurable. Use them to evaluate the effectiveness of your site in meeting the objectives you have established. Are you reaching your intended audience? What incremental sales are attributable to the site? What cost savings have you realized by automating business processes on the intranet? Are you finding increased employee satisfaction because of improved information flow through your intranet site? Is your overhead reduced because of lower printing costs (external or internal) or lower sales costs?
As you increase the number of processes you deploy, the more your customers, vendors and employees will view your Web activity as a viable place to conduct business – and to invest resources. The result: you’ll improve access and service to your customers, suppliers and employees, and strengthen your relationships with them. And you’ll increase revenues and reduce costs at the same time.
So the next time someone asks you how your Website is doing, you can respond by saying: “The one where I can manage my 401K? Or the one that saves us 20% a year in paper?”
Jim Brophy is senior manager, business solutions, for the Milwaukee practice of USWeb Corp. in New Berlin. Comments can be directed to him at jbrophy@mke.usweb.com.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

1 Develop a complete Web marketing plan. Your online audience may be different from other audiences to which you market your products.
2 Spend money wisely. A lot of money put into designing a Website doesn’t equal success. Start within your means – you can always add on.
3 Put your company’s address and phone number on every page of your site. Sometimes customers will come to your site simply to research products but would prefer to purchase by phone or in person.
4 Register your site with search engines. Yahoo!, Excite, Lycos and other search engines all have online registration forms on their sites. Only if your site is registered will it appear when a search is conducted.
5 Track your visitors. Know who comes to your site and what they look at.
6 Register users. Registering users adds them to your e-mail list so you can keep in contact with them.
7 Send useful e-mails. If you e-mail your customers, make sure you’re sending them information they can use, not just promotional material.
8 Surf the ‘Net. Know what works for other companies, know what your competitors are doing.
9 Change site often. Users won’t come back if there is nothing new for them when they return.
10 Put your Web address on all printed materials. Business cards, mailers, company stationery, and advertisements are all good ways to get the word out that you are online.
11 Make sure you can fulfill new orders. If your business doesn’t have the capabilities internally to fulfill the new orders you might receive over the Internet, it could mean bad publicity for your business.
Source: Jenni DeGlopper,
Value Computer

Marketing program tracks e-mail responses
Steve Culver knows where you’re coming from. Literally. Culver, president of Computer 911 in Milwaukee, is setting up e-mail response addresses, allowing him to track his marketing efforts.
It’s not unlike the tracking often seen for regular mail responses, where a vendor might ask prospects to respond to something like “Department SI” at the vendor’s postal address. In that example, he’d know that the prospect saw the advertisement in Sports Illustrated.
That practice has been taken to the Internet to allow similar tracking, says Culver, whose firm rescues computer users in distress.
Culver is also tracking visits to his Website in a similar way.
“We want to know if someone is visiting our Website or sending an e-mail query as the result of seeing the ad,” he said.
While he called his response so far “disappointing,” he admitted that the nature of his business might preclude responses via the Internet.
“Most people who require our services need us because they want to, need to, but can’t access the World Wide Web and e-mail. That may be because they don’t have the computing power and/or the technical savvy to make it happen.”
Culver says he’s seeing use of the specified e-mail response addresses in the high-tech arena, especially in the computer trade magazines.
But the practice hasn’t come into widespread use among the general business community, even though Culver says it’s relatively easy to do.
“Any Internet service provider (ISP) should be able to host a company’s Internet domain name and set up any number of aliases for your e-mailbox for a small fee,” he notes. “We host Websites for our customers on our Web server. Every Website includes a mailbox that is usually named ‘info@mydomain.com.’ Additional mailboxes and aliases can be set up easily.”
The “alias” would be the tracking e-mail address.
While Culver offers the service through Websites, he notes that a Website isn’t necessary for e-mail tracking.
Culver is a big fan of e-mail. “E-mail is a great tool,” he says. “I tell my clients that the surest way to get a quick response from me, other than in an emergency, is to send me an e-mail.”
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

According to projections by the Gartner Group Inc., more than half of all companies worldwide won’t be prepared for the Year 2000 computer problem. Companies which have started work on the problem are finding out that it’s more than they bargained for.
“I’m surprised at the systems I thought would be compliant which aren’t, or we haven’t figured it out yet,” says John Schwarz, director of Y2K compliance for Aurora Health Care. “It’s a lot bigger than I anticipated, and I think most companies will find this to be the case.”
Compared to six months ago when Aurora was first wading into its Y2K project, the project cost has taken what Schwarz will only describe as “a quantum leap.”
Many in-state manufacturers are already butting up against the Year 2000 as they make future projections for materials handling requirements.
At Appleton Papers, a material requirements application is used to plan for paper production at least 18 months in advance. That’s how long it can take to line up the sophisticated equipment required to produce the thousands of products made by the $1.3 billion Fox River Valley papermaker.
Because building a new paper machine is a complex effort involving a variety of vendors, if the material requirements application was not working by July 1998, there would be no way Appleton Papers could meet customer demands in the Year 2000, says Mike Pratt, the Y2K project manager.
“If the material requirements planning application was not working, our shop floor would simply shut down,” Pratt says.
Appleton Papers got started on the problem as early as 1995. With the help of Y2K consultant Compuware, the Fox River Valley papermaker launched a $3 million effort to convert 5.5 million lines of code. The project was completed in February, five months ahead of schedule.
Insurance companies and banks have been out ahead of the pack in dealing with the Year 2000 problem. That’s because much of the information those institutions handle is based on calculations that use dates as the basis for many of their applications. Last year, Allstate Insurance Co. estimated the cost of its Y2K fix at $40 million.
Like Allstate, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. has been actively working on the problem for two years, and has a targeted completion date of November of this year, says Kathy Oman, NML’s Year 2000 project director.
NML has 40 people working full-time on the project at its Milwaukee headquarters, and another 40 to 50 consultants from Infosys Technologies are attacking the problem offsite.
Infosys, an offshore company based in India, uses an automated tool to scan NML’s code and find out where the date hits are. Once they find the problem, they set about the task of “renovation.” Altogether, NML has about 150 different applications and 20 million lines of code to sort through, Oman says.
“Right now, only about 20% of our code remains to be looked at, so we should easily make our target date,” Oman says.
NML’s corporate service department is responsible for looking at the company’s embedded systems, which include elevators, security systems and anything else that is run by microchips. In addition, the insurer is analyzing the Y2K readiness of all of its electronic vendors, both hardware and software.
Don’t forget to
check the phone system
Most businesses will be affected in their accounting systems and also their telephone systems, says Tony Ollman, an information systems consultant with Virchow, Krause & Co. in Madison. In a survey of 200 Wisconsin manufacturers and distributors by Virchow, Krause revealed that 45% of the firms had not considered their phone systems as part of their Year 2000 planning.
“You can’t do business without a telephone, and that’s the most expensive system to repair,” Ollman says.
If your company has “homemade” programs from an outside programer, the best alternative may be to simply replace the application, says Steven J. Hyde, an information technology consultant with Kolb Lauwasser & Co. in West Allis.
That’s what Milwaukee Public Schools opted for in replacing its payroll system which was not Y2K compliant. While the new systems developed by Oracle and PeopleSoft are costly, it represents a good opportunity to do away with outdated code and upgrade with new software that should result in economies of scale, says Jim Bloom, a resource specialist with MPS.
Most companies will find it less costly and more timely to replace their systems with new packaged software that is Y2K-compliant, says Hyde, rather than continue to pay expensive
“My biggest concern is
that small businesses just aren’t getting it.”
– Carl Gerlach,
Apex Information Systems
programer wages which nationally average $90,000 per year.
Philipp Lithographing Co. in Grafton realized a tenfold increase in the speed of its IBM mid-range computer when it replaced it as part of Y2K compliance, says controller Dave Kaehny. After the computer upgrade in 1996, Kaehny had an outside consultant go through and work out the bugs in the company’s software in 1997.
Kaehny’s foresight resulted in a substantial savings for the company. From the time Philipp Lithographing got its Y2K problem out of the way, the cost of qualified programers has more than doubled, according to Carl Gerlach of Apex Information Systems in Cudahy, who performed the work.
“My biggest concern is that small businesses just aren’t getting it,” Gerlach says. “We have done a lot of public education through speaking at Rotary and Lions meetings, and have called on people who know for a fact that they’ve got a problem, but they just refuse to acknowledge it.”
Amid all the gloom, there are some positives that come out of a Year 2000 project.
By unbuttoning applications, businesses can create new processes designed to adapt to future changes, says Ernst & Young’s Lorne Richardson. Maintenance activities can be better organized, and systems can be made more flexible.
Simply eliminating dead computer code and multiple applications may generate substantial savings, Richardson says.
Each process that can be made more flexible and adaptive will add to the bonus. Also, data collected during your Y2K project can serve as a repository of application data which may prove invaluable when it’s time for upgrades and platform migrations.
“If you look at every program that you have and every date, it’s an overwhelming task,” MPS’ Bloom says. “But if you triage your systems and determine what’s going to fail, then it becomes doable.”
All Y2K consultants recommend that you identify your mission-critical applications first when you go about developing a plan of attack.
Also, remember to build in enough time to test your Year 2000 fix. Give yourself six months to a year to do all the testing, Aurora Health Care’s Schwarz advises.
“So you don’t have until next year to do it,” Schwarz says. “You should be doing it this year.”
By summer, companies that have not started the process of code conversion are probably not going to make it in time for the Year 2000, and could face potentially crippling systems failures, warns Y2K guru Peter de Jager.
“The companies who know that their very survival depends on their computers have already started making their systems Year 2000-compliant,” de Jager says. “For those who have not even begun to assess the extent of the problem, it’s too late. They won’t be ready by the Year 2000.”
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

Employers enlist trainers to boost staff capabilities
Imagine yourself as the president of a manufacturing company. Your largest customer notified you that beginning in the Year 2000 all of its vendors must be ISO 9000 certified.
No one in your company, including your top manufacturing people, has the experience necessary to implement such a quality control program.
Do you hire somebody with ISO 9000 experience, or seek help in training your own people?
Every day, employers make these decisions. Faced with the current manpower situation, more businesses lean toward educating and training their own people.
At Park Bank, which has more than 150 employees, president and chairman of the board P. Michael Mahoney gets involved with the progress of his bank’s workers.
“I’d rather bet on an internal person than hire someone from the outside,” Mahoney said, referring to the bank’s policy of seeking to promote from within. “Education is critical with the growing focus on retaining employees.”
Not long ago, Mahoney engaged the assistance of Dr. Margo Frey to provide one-on-one coaching in management skills to an employee being considered for promotion.
A noted columnist and speaker, Frey is one of a half-dozen people in Wisconsin to achieve the status of National Board Certified Career Counselor. Her company, Career Development Services, charges about $150 an hour for services.
Individuals such as Frey and organizations which coach and train employees are finding that businesses are willing to make a significant financial investment in training.
Premier Aluminum, an 80-employee firm with plants in Allenton and Racine, engages the services of MRA-The Management Association, spending thousands of dollars for employee training.
Chuck O’Connor, Premier’s corporate production manager, sends his supervisors to MRA headquarters once a month for 10 months to a course on principles of management.
“It costs us about $2,000 a person,” O’Connor said. “After each class, I get together with them to discuss issues covered and to see how we can apply them in our plants.”
O’Connor admits it’s a gamble on whether or not they lose people after the training. “We try to impress on our people the opportunities here. We encourage them to take on more responsibilities.”
Larger corporations such as International Flavors and Fragrances, with a division in Menomonee Falls, find MRA’s training services convenient and affordable.
“We have 22 divisions, so our corporate training staff is kept busy with on-going safety and management training programs in all those locations,” says Jessie Core in the firm’s human resources department.
International Flavors and Fragrances brought in MRA to introduce senior management to team-building concepts during five half-day meetings. Each session costs approximately $1,500.
With more than 1,700 member companies, MRA-The Management Association, conducts more than 600 seminars and on-site programs each year at its Brookfield headquarters. Trainers such as Bill Bonham have job descriptions as “employee involvement facilitators.”
Founded in 1901, MRA functions as a non-profit management association. Over half of its members have fewer than 250 employees. In addition to providing human resource data and temporary on-site HR assistance, it offers a wide range of workshops and customized training programs. Sixty-five percent of its members are manufacturers.
Human resource people have developed a jargon of their own. They talk about “hard skills” and “soft skills” like computer junkies discussing hard drives and software. For example, Allen-Edmonds teaches newly-employed workers at its Milwaukee plant how to sew leather; that’s a hard skill. After work, the company offers soft-skill training – language classes to teach English to Spanish-speaking workers.
“A-E offers two-day classes in English,” says Cathy Jones, director of human resources for the operation. Over half of the workers attend, while a few of them attend both sessions. The in-plant classes are conducted by UW-Milwaukee faculty. For its workers in Ozaukee County, Allen-Edmonds offers Spanish language classes taught at Port Washington High School by instructors from MATC-North.
Hard skills such as basic mathematics, micrometer reading, and product knowledge receive special attention at R&B Wagner and at Advance Stamping in Butler. Both companies share the presidential skills of Robert Wagner, who encourages his workers to teach each other. Mike Kerney, a former shop manager with a background in tool-and-die making, teaches basic math and instrument reading to plant personnel who need it to perform their jobs. Two instructors, Mark Wojtycski and Jay Krickeberg, conduct 20 hours of product awareness classes to everyone who has customer contact.
Krickeberg conceived the idea and everyone from sales to shipping takes the training, Wagner said.
More employers measure their effectiveness against employee retention records because they recognize employee turnover is a loss of valuable company assets. What’s it worth to salvage a skilled employee, one who may have some deficiencies in an area human resource people call soft skills?
“The focus today is on behavioral competencies like critical thinking, problem solving, how to ask questions, and getting along with fellow employees,” says Dr. Daniel Schroeder of Organization Development Consultants in Brookfield. “Attitudinal problems may not show up on the bottom line, but they’re hidden contributors to the company’s P&L statements.”
Schroeder’s staff of 10 people offers dozens of soft-skill training programs under a franchise arrangement with WorkSmart. The cost for services from professionals like Schroeder will vary from $1,500 to $2,500 a day.
Today’s corporate structure is moving away from middle managers to self-directed work teams, Schroeder adds.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

A business man was to give a presentation in China. His advisor and translator on the trip had warned him not to include any jokes in his talk since the Chinese don’t use humor in business presentations, as the humor could easily be misinterpreted.
But when he gave his talk, he included two jokes in the introduction. The crowd seemed to laugh at the right parts so he thought everything had gone very well.
At the end of the talk, as he took his seat, he noticed that his translator was fuming.
“What’s your problem?” he asked. “The jokes went over very well. Don’t be mad at me because I proved you wrong.”
“They weren’t laughing at your jokes,” his translator said. “When you started telling your stories, the Chinese translator for the group told them, ‘The American is telling a joke now. Please laugh when I give you the signal.’ ”
I embellished this story a little to make a point – that cultural differences are real. Ignorance of those differences, or failure to respect them, can be costly in international business.
The situation mentioned above is not uncommon in the world of international business.
From my own experience I have observed a lack of appreciation on the part of many US management teams of how different business styles in other cultures influence the way business is carried out. Many US managers going overseas for the first time do their normal preparation, but take no time to consider the potential problems that could be caused by misunderstandings over cultural differences.
Training programs on cultural differences are starting to gain the attention of business owners. However, even in places that you would not expect, there seems to be a belief that cultural differences are not an issue because of the use of English in most international business settings.
Recently I attended a one-day conference on international business at a leading university. One of the professors from the business school was asked if he did anything differently when he was overseas. His answer was, “No. I’ve found that if you treat everybody the same and be fair that things will go smoothly.” I later discovered that he had never in his career entered into any difficult cross-cultural business negotiations.
The problem with what he said is that even a slight gesture made in a complimentary way may be interpreted by the another culture as a gross insult.
A phrase or word common in American talk may be interpreted with the exact opposite meaning in a different country.
A forceful style which in the US would convey passion and conviction would in another culture convey deception and trickery.
So a businessman with the best of intentions can fail in an international setting and never know why.
No wonder that some studies show a 60%-70% failure rate of cross-cultural projects by Americans. A lack of attention to the cultural issues is a primary cause of those failures.
So even with the probability of failure high, there are still attempts at global projects without taking into account the need for bridging the cultural barriers. With all the information available today there is really no excuse to go into those situations unprepared. Even if there is no time to take a training course in a particular culture, there are books that focus on a number of countries. A good book that can give an introduction to 60 countries, and I stress the word introduction, is Kiss, Bow, or Shake Hands by Morrison, Conaway, and Borden. Also in the area of gestures there is Roger Axtell’s Gestures: The Do’s and Taboos of Body Language Around the World. I use both those books as well as many others as sources in my training courses, and the books are excellent.
The point is there are three levels of communication: language, body language, and actions. All three are heavily influenced by the culture a person has grown up in, and in turn they strongly influence business processes.
Most people go through life completely unaware of potential miscommunications that can occur when their words, gestures, and actions are interpreted by a person from another culture. For the business person embarking on an international business venture, awareness of the impact on business practices of culture can mean the difference between success and failure.
Don’t ignore the signs
About 10 years ago there was a new manager assigned to the marketing group I was working in. At that time in my career I had already established a reputation for being very interested in the Japanese, having studied the language and designed a course for doing business with Japan.
The manager, whom we’ll call “Jeff,” impressed me at first with his thoroughness of preparation. Whenever he didn’t know someone with whom he was going to meet, Jeff would come over and ask one of us about the person. Jeff would ask questions about the person’s style and the way he handled problems in the workplace.
When a video conference was scheduled with a group from Japan, I had expected Jeff to come ask me about the Japanese we would be meeting with. When the meeting date was approaching and no Jeff appeared, I went to his office to volunteer the information he always seemed so careful about acquiring.
“Don’t worry,” he told me. “This is just a preliminary meeting. Nothing important will be decided.”
He was right on that point, although I don’t think looking back on it that he knew why.
“Besides,” he said, “You’ll be there to signal me if I start getting into trouble.”
Knowing Jeff’s ability to communicate and knowing that he was acutely aware of how even in this country differences in a person’s style required different strategies of communication, I assumed Jeff would be sensitive enough to stay out of trouble in the video conference.
But when the meeting came, he started getting himself into trouble immediately. And he never looked over to me for advice as I tried to signal him. In the end, after a number of miscommunications, he was annoyed with an issue that the Japanese side did not even understand.
The video conference, which cost a lot of money, turned out to be a complete waste of time.
Joseph Geck is president of Accelerated Solutions Consulting in Waukesha. He can be reached at 650-1818 or via e-mail at geckj@execpc.com.

Re-spider – Registering your Website with various search engines to get your address to the top of the listing. When people search for information for services like those you offer, you want your name to be among the first they see.
Search engine – Databases on the Internet such as Alta Vista, Yahoo! and Infoseek, that call up Web addresses that match the criteria of the user’s word search.
Hyperlinks – A Website can actually contain multiple pages. Hyperlinks connect all the pages of a Website to the home page and to each other.
Home page -The first page that comes up when someone brings up your Website.
Browser – A software package that allows you to navigate the Web (Netscape and Microsoft Explorer are the two dominant browsers).
Reciprocal Links – A link on your site to a complementary business and a link on their site back to your site
HTML – HyperText Markup Language. The method is used to create Web pages so that they can be viewed.
URL – Uniform Resource Locator. Identifies your address or location on the Web.
WWW – World Wide Web.
ISP – Internet Service Provider. Companies that provide e-mail services and connection to the Web and the Internet
Domain name – Part of your Website address (www.yourcompanyname.com). A specialized domain name is not necessary for the operation of your Web page, but most companies desire the prestige of having their own.

E-commerce opening a world of opportunities
Value Computer spent years unsuccessfully using telemarketing and cold-calling to gain the attention of a certain company.
But once the Waukesha-based distributor and manufacturer of computer cables and connection products developed a site on the World Wide Web, the company it had worked so hard to attract found Value Computer on its own. That company has been a customer ever since.
Unlike the experience of others, Value Computer’s try at e-commerce was an instant success. According to president Jenni DeGlopper, Value has twice as many new customers as last year – 75% of which found the business via the Internet – equaling more than 90 new customers.
Additionally, the World Wide Web has taken Value business worldwide. The company’s Website accounts for 80% of international sales, along with providing leads in Saudi Arabia, London and Pakistan.
“We thought there was no demand for our products internationally,” DeGlopper says, “but our international customers found us through the Internet.”
The Internet is growing in acceptance as a legitimate medium through which to do business. Forrester Research, Inc., in Cambridge, Mass., estimates that business-to-business Internet transactions increased 1,000% in 1997 to $8 billion.
Revenues are expected to reach $327 billion – equivalent to 2.3% of total US economic activity – in 2002. Wholesale and business retail companies are expected to benefit the most, as sales in those areas are forecast to grow from $2 billion in 1997 to $168 billion in 2002.
Gregg Tushaus, president of Tushaus Computer Services in Wauwatosa, says it is to the advantage of small businesses to sell on the Internet because of the exposure a Website can give a business. Tushaus offers a service called Salessite Internet Sites, a section of the Tushaus Website which features customers’ sites. Tushaus aids in all aspects of developing a site, from building a marketing plan to designing the site to registering the site with search engines, and in return receives a commission from what is sold through the Website.
“Salessite takes the e-commerce concept and turns it into a partnership between the Internet provider and the seller,” Tushaus says.
But as more companies enter the realm of electronic or “e-commerce,” businesses realize that there is more to e-commerce than having a place on the World Wide Web.
Elliott Erickson, owner of Pro Golf of Wisconsin, a Salessite customer, decided to try e-commerce because he thought it would provide an extra opportunity for sales volume. He chose to work with Tushaus because the Pro Golf staff did not have the expertise to design and develop a Website internally. The results, says Erickson, have been modest thus far.
“We get a lot of inquiries but not a lot of buys,” Erickson says. “People are shopping but not buying. I don’t know why that is. It could be our prices, it could be the fact that people fear the security risks involved in purchasing over the Internet.”
Tushaus maintains that Salessites are secure. Information sent through Salessites is encrypted, and digital identification numbers are used so that the chance of someone capturing credit card information from the sites is slim to none.
“It’s much easier for someone to take your credit card slip from the garbage and copy your number off that than to get it through the Internet,” Tushaus says.
John Orth, president of CyberZonics in Mequon, agrees, calling Internet transactions “more secure than any other place you use your credit card.”
Orth adds that “the sense that e-commerce is less secure than other credit card transactions is false.”
With encryption, a credit card number is encoded, just as messages an army might send in war would be encoded. Only someone with the key can read the code. And it generally would take a very large computer, such as a supercomputer, to break a code, industry insiders say.
They also note that merchants you’re buying from on the Web usually don’t even see your actual credit card number; only the bank does.
Sales Concepts, a Brookfield-based company and Salessite customer that provides various staff training programs, uses its Website in place of mail-order catalogs, which are more expensive than a Website, according to company president Melissa Blair.
“Websites are cheaper and easier to update than four-color catalogs,” Blair says. “Websites are very cost-effective for small businesses because you can put online what you would normally send via regular mail as part of media kits and other mailings. Four-color printing gets very expensive.”
Which is not to say that a business should do away with the use of regular mail altogether in favor of Internet promotion. Sales Concepts still does some mailings but has found the Internet to be a viable marketing tool.
“We send out postcards with our Internet address on them and encourage customers to see our Website or call us,” Blair says. “This is much cheaper for us than printing catalogs. And it works.”
Although Blair has received no purchases via the Internet yet since going online in January, she is not disillusioned by the e-commerce boom.
“Our Website is more a marketing tool for the business than strictly a sales tool,” Blair says. “If people simply get in touch with me because they’ve visited the site or if I generate good leads from the site, then it’s worth it. The Website is great visibility for the business even if people aren’t necessarily buying. Don’t get upset or give up if you don’t make a sale online right away.”
As far as perceived security risks are concerned, Blair also holds that Internet purchasing presents no more risk than does giving your credit card over the phone.
Whether Internet sites actually boost sales is still open to debate.
But DeGlopper says the key to a successful Website is successful marketing. Register your site with as many search engines as you can. There’s no cost involved, but it might take more than one try before your site is actually registered because the search engines receive thousands of entries daily and choose which ones they will add to their database. DeGlopper had to send Value’s information 16 times before it was registered with Yahoo!. And there are companies which will submit your Website to search engines for you. For instance, Submit-It.com does the job for $70.
“Marketing is vitally important,” DeGlopper says. “If you build it, they will not always come. People have to be able to find you through search engines.”
Naturally, there are legal issues involved in Internet commerce. Laws governing ownership, security, interstate commerce and privacy all apply to e-commerce.
According to Mark Foley, a partner with the Foley & Lardner law firm, if you hire an outside Web developer to design your site, make sure you determine, in a contract, who owns the source code used to create the site. Also, make sure you take the required steps to protect your customers from hackers. Furthermore, Foley advises, keep in mind that Internet business is a form of interstate commerce and that different laws may apply as transactions travel from one state to another.
“The Internet can be a very effective sales tool, but there are so many issues to address that you really need to work with someone who is used to dealing with these issues,” Foley says. “Small business people often try to avoid spending money on legal help in the beginning, but they end up spending more money in the end dealing with legal problems.”
Foley says it isn’t that expensive to have an attorney draw up an ownership contract.
April 1998 Small Business Times, Milwaukee

before you sign on the dotted line:
? Will the vendor install and configure the firewall? You typically have to pay extra, but paying a vendor or the vendor’s authorized reseller to install the firewall may save you the headache of dealing with complex setup procedures.
? What is included in the software maintenance program, and how much is it? With innovations being discovered regularly, you’ll want to ensure the firewall vendor offers updates on a regular basis.
? Are references available? A firewall vendor should be able to provide you with examples of previous customers who are satisfied with the product and have configurations similar to your own environment. Integrity is important.
? Does the firewall support open standards? A firewall solution that doesn’t implement open standards like IPSEC and RADIUS will inevitably come back to haunt you. Many solutions support open standards for a variety of features. If the firewall doesn’t have support for these standards, you may not want to implement it as a solution.