Focus

Debra Paterson oversees $11 billion in assets, 2,400 employees and more than 95 stores, since coming to Wells Fargo in Minneapolis 18 months ago. She?s in charge of retail and business banking in the Twin Cities. She says her bankers are keenly interested in lending to small-business owners and selling them a wide range of products, and are emphasizing even more in 2006 the smallest of the small, those with $0 to $2 million in annual revenue. Here?s insight into how small-business owners can improve their chances of getting capital.

Minnesota small-business owners see good things on the horizon for 2006, especially at their own companies, exclusive new research by Upsize Minnesota shows.

Surveyed near the end of a rough 2005 ? a year that saw hurricanes wreck the coastlands, and high energy prices ravage bottom lines ? respondents say they feel the new year will bring positive economic changes.

Upsize discussed in late 2005 the results of the Upsize small-business survey with experts in four fields: Loren Viere, KDV, accounting, tax and operations Kirk Hoaglund, Clientek, technology Elin Raymond, The Sage Group, marketing and communications and Richard Hoyt, Analytics Invesment Advisors, investing and economics. Small-business owners themselves, they also represent the four sponsoring firms of the Upsize Lifeline Awards & Forecast, held Jan. 31, and presented versions of these comments at the event.

When Upsize set out last spring to find the smartest ways to build a business, we went to the best source: the owners and top managers of growing small companies.

In the pages that follow, we report their 30 best practices in hopes that you can apply their ideas to your own enterprises.

We asked for best practices in six areas crucial to operating a business. Our judges considered the flood of nominees, and chose five finalists in each category based primarily on the impact of the best practice on company performance.

One idea came from reading several management books.

Another was inspired by an owner?s experiences with the drawbacks of the traditional model of doing business.

A third came about as an epiphany while raising money while the markets were painfully slow.

As the finalists in the Best Practices in Finance & Operations category prove, a good idea can hit you almost anywhere. The important thing is to get that idea in the first place, and then work hard to implement it.

The No. 1 rule in customer relations is this: Listen to the customer. It may seem obvious, but it?s not always easy to do.

The five finalists in the category of Best Practices in Customer Relations have all taken very different approaches to listening to their customers, but all have achieved a high level of customer service.

Innovation is not the sole province of technology companies, as the finalists for Best Practices in Technology & Innovation prove.

Case in point: French Meadow Bakery, whose founder pioneered the frozen bread category in 1987 and continues to experiment with new products such as bread packed with fiber to promote men?s health.

?I can only create products that have never been done before,? says Lynn Gordon, president. Her statement could serve as a motto for the following group.

The five finalists for Best Practices in Community Impact have different definitions of ?community.? For some, their community is their neighborhood for others, it?s halfway around the world.

They share a commitment to making a difference, some purely for philanthropic reasons and some as an integral part of their business plan.

Business often comes down to numbers. What are the top and bottom lines and how do we grow revenue and maximize profit?

The finalists for Best Practices in People & Workplace focus on the people who drive the numbers, but do so with widely varying techniques: from candy to wellness programs, from offices with pets to offices designed like a dugout.

When it comes to communications and marketing, five finalists show that a little creative thinking can create a big business advantage. To wit:

Connecting with customers in a new way landed Bard Advertising a finalist position.

When a prospective client asked to learn more about the firm?s capabilities, but specifically begged not to see another PowerPoint presentation, the company knew it had to put its best creative foot forward.

The end result was an interactive game in which prospective clients are asked to guess how the company obtained measurable results. Bard won the business, and a new sales tool.

?In all cases of our presentation, people were amazed at the results,? says Barb Stabno, founder.