Jay Sachetti joined Jeff O’Brien, partner at Husch Blackwell and Dyanne Ross-Hanson, president of Exit Planning Strategies talked about the market for mergers and acquisitions, exit planning opportunities for companies that don’t end up for sale and how companies can maximize their eventual sale price during an early October panel at the first Upsize on Tap event at Summit Brewing Co. in St. Paul.
When the state Legislature passed a law requiring employers to provide paid leave and safe time for employees, Justin Bieganek started hearing differing details from friends, colleagues and peers.
BEST PRACTICES: CUSTOMER RELATIONS
listen up
Finalists take care of customers by seeking their feedback
FINALIST RUNDOWN
Advanced Informatics, online management tools for medical education: collects direct feedback from clients; adds requests to wish list database and reviews weekly.
Suzanne DuBois is client services director: 612.877.4569; sd*****@*****************cs.com; www.advancedinformatics.com
Engineered Products Co, supplies electrical specialty products: created a company scoreboard that measures service levels, increasing revenue, profits and employee profit sharing.
Jack Schuster is president: 800.336.1976; js*******@*********ts.com; www.engproducts.com
Mike Otto Construction Inc, home remodeler: employs principles of sustainable building and remodeling long before the current ?green? wave; practices ?empathetic? remodeling.
Mike Otto is founder and president: 612.825.4568; www.moconstruction.com
ORBIT Systems Inc., IT consulting: developed numerous customer service programs including Customer Learning Center, implementation surveys, quarterly reviews, and more.
Chad Westrum is vice president of customer care: 651.767.3322; cd*******@****ts.net; www.orbits.net
VISI, Internet services provider: created the MyVisi Customer Portal, which allows customer-exclusive access to account information and services.
Mike Sowada is CEO: 612.395.9000;
ms*****@**si.com; www.visi.com
by Sarah Brouillard
IF YOU WANT your employees to treat your customers well, start by treating them well, believe the finalists for Best Practices in Customer Relations. Then, keep in close contact with customers and create programs that make their lives easier.
?Wish list? works
Advanced Informatics has provided online management tools for medical education programs at universities and hospitals since 1998.
But 2002 was the year ?things really took off for us,? says Suzanne DuBois, client services director. That?s when the Minneapolis-based company implemented a quality-assurance mechanism, called the wish list. Employees take requests for enhancements, changes or additional functionality, and use the suggestions to make their product better.
The company?s goals, however, are always moving targets. Medical education is g
As the name suggests, Owatonna-based Kamp Automation looks for customers with a process they’d like to automate. It could be a small, inconvenient, tiny part that people can’t assemble. It could be a high-volume product so needed that the customer can’t find enough labor to produce it in the necessary quantities. “We’ll work anywhere from medical device companies to the seed industry for corn and soybeans,” says Kent Patterson, co-founder, president and CEO. “We just jump all over wherever there is custom automation.” The company started in his garage. Patterson and his partners built a machine. The company started to grow to the point where now it has 48 employees — and had a bunch of people and stuff in different locations. “We went from a garage to a shop to a shop and just kept moving to new places and signing leases,” he says. “We got to a point where it’s like, OK, this is getting big enough and sustainable — we felt that we wanted to look for our own space.’”
