The The Voicesign of the Wisconsin Sign Industry Since post 1970 November 2006 now! He assisted in the interview process and hiring of the A Message From . WAM association that is also doing a great job for us. Gail Schroepfer, 2006 WSA President THANKS, JIM, for the GREAT leadership!! Hope all is well with everyone!! I’m We also announced the new officers and board of directors: so excited to inform you all about what is happening on the WSA front. PRESIDENT: Gail Schroepfer, Northern Advertising, Inc. I’ll start with the fall conference that VICE PRESIDENT: Dennis Bauer, Poblocki & Sons, LLC was held October 5 & 6th at Chula SECRETARY/TREASURER: Roger Ostermann, RLO Signs Inc. BOARD MEMBERS: Vista Theme Resort in the Wisconsin Shelly Crawley, Cochran Sign Co., a Division of Appleton Sign Dells. WOW!! I’d call it quite a suc- Brian Dantinne,Alpha-Neonx Sign & Lighting, LLC cessful conference. It started with a Craig Gray, Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Co. golf outing with 24 golfers. We had Myron Mertens, Orde Advertising close to 70 attendees, of which half Bill Morrow, N. Glantz & Son, LLC were sign companies and half suppli- ers/manufactures. I’d like to encourage more sign compa- I’d like to welcome the new members and assure the old nies to join and take advantage of the many WSA benefits. that I’m looking forward to working with you all towards With some dedication the advantages are ten fold. the continued success of WSA. If you would like to serve on a committee please contact Naomi Hink at the WSA The sign design contest drew 101 entries—a new all time office. high. Look next month in your local papers for the win- ning entries. Please let us know if you happen to see it in Committees are a great way to network, expand your the papers, we would like to keep them for our scrapbook! knowledge, and contribute to the sign industry in Wisconsin. WSA is by company, rather than by individual, so We also awarded three scholarships at the conference. anyone from your company is welcome to volunteer. We They went to: (Continued on page 2) Scott R. Nielsen - $1000 — Miami (OH) University WSA Member Firm – Cochran Sign Company Desired Career – Small-Medium Size Manufacturing In this issue . John Ostermann - $500 — University of Wisconsin-Stout Sales Meeting at the Fall Conference 3 WSA Member Firm – RLO Sign Inc. Reflections from the Annual Fall Conference 4-5 Desired Career – Technology Education Equipment Exchange Online 6 Michael D. Stith - $500 — Winona State University WSA Member Firm – La Crosse Sign Co, Inc. Thank You From a WSA Scholarship Winner 7 Press Release 7 Desired Career – Composite Engineering 2006 Sign Design Contest Winners Named 8-9 Congratulations to the winners!! Sounds like all were very close. Welcome New WSA Members 10 WSA Committees 10 Also, we gave Jim Emden from Badger Display a plaque in New User-Programmable Neon Sign and appreciation for his six-year term as our WSA president. User-Programmable POP Holographic SpinLED 11 Jim has lead WSA from an almost extinct association to BOARD OF DIRECTORS WSA SIGN POST, November 2006 PRESIDENT — Gail Schroepfer Northern Advertising Inc. PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE (Continued from page 1) N4220 State Hwy 45, P.O. Box 92 Antigo,WI 54409 (715) 623-3000; FAX (715) 623-4738 are also still looking for a sign company director to sit on the board of direc- [email protected] tors. Please contact Naomi for more information. PRESIDENT-ELECT — Dennis Bauer Poblocki & Sons, LLC Friday started off with Bert Guinee, President from Miratec Systems. He 922 S. 70th Street Milwaukee,WI 53201-1541 worked with us on Sales, Profits and Cash Flow Management. He demonstrat- (414) 453-4010; FAX (414) 453-3070 ed management techniques applicable to managing for profit, developing a [email protected] healthy balance sheet and forecasting critical cash flow. SECRETARY/TREASURER — Roger Ostermann RLO Sign, Inc. Mid morning we heard from Troy Crocker, President of Sign Faces, LLC. He 1030 Ontario Avenue Sheboygan,WI 53081 talked about Customer Service 101. In a society where everything moves at (920) 457-6602; FAX (920) 457-2399 the speed of light, are we stopping to say thank you? He gave helpful hints on [email protected] how to please our customers which could give us the competitive edge and keep them coming back. PAST-PRESIDENT — Jim Emden Badger Display Signs, Inc. 2242 Mustang Way In the afternoon we broke out into discussion forums: Sign Designers/Owners Madison,WI 53704 (608) 222-5353; FAX (608) 222-6363 & Managers/Sales. [email protected] Coming up on a Friday in January is our Holiday party. Please look for details DIRECTORS coming soon! Shelly Crawley, Cochran Sign Co. 2460 Hwy. 28 Our Spring Workshop is also coming up on March 6, 2007. It will be held at Kewaskum,WI 53040 the Comfort Inn in Madison. This year’s topic will be Sales. (262) 338-8082; FAX (262) 338-4102 [email protected] See you at the Holiday Party!! Brian Dantinne, Alpha-Neonx Sign & Lighting, LLC 11607 W. Dearbourn Avenue Wauwatosa,WI 53226 (414) 543-6300; FAX (414) 431-4949 [email protected] Craig Gray, Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Co. CODE OF ETHICS 10061 S. 54th Street Franklin,WI 53132 (414) 423-1200; FAX (414) 423-0300 Members of the Wisconsin Sign Association pledge their customers: [email protected] To honest competition with a fair profit on quality products and services, Myron Mertens, Orde Advertising 1825 Nimitz Dr., DePere,WI 54115 P.O. Box 11595, Green Bay,WI 54307 Produced with materials and workmanship of the highest standards, (920) 339-4600; FAX (920) 339-4611 [email protected] In an environment of safety with concern for energy conservation, Bill Morrow, N. Glantz & Son, LLC 6900 W. State St. Personnel development and the general elevation of the industry Wauwatosa,WI 53213 (414) 259-1331; FAX (414) 259-7922 [email protected] Administrative Office 11801 W. Silver Spring Dr., Suite 200 Milwaukee,WI 53225 (414) 271-9277; FAX (414) 464-0850 www.wisconsinsign.org If you have any article ideas for the WSA newsletter or would like to write an article, please contact Heather at [email protected]. 2 WSA SIGN POST, November 2006 this approach, the sales rep is performing a valuable service Sales Meeting at to our customers. the Fall Conference Big Idea Bill Morrow We tossed around the idea of a sales award, contest, or some type of recognition for the sales reps of our member On Friday afternoon at the sales breakout session the fol- companies that could possibly be incorporated into the lowing were in attendance: Dominic and Chad from Alpha Spring Conference. The feeling was that we obviously have Neonx, Jim Miller and Chris Emden from Badger Display, a lot of talented designers working for our member com- and Roger, Jr. and Randy Ostermann from RLO Signs. panies, but someone had to sell that sign. The old adage that "Sales drives the bus!" seemed to ring true to us. Since it was a small group, I opened it up by asking what they wanted to see out of future conferences in terms of sales training. The discussion was beneficial, and I wanted to highlight the main points for everyone to digest. Future Topics 3 Prospecting - How to find and qualify leads Time Management - How do you carve out enough time in a day to concentrate on new business? How much time should you spend on existing customers? How do you manage the pipeline of new projects com- ing in? 3 Marketing Ideas - What works? Direct mail? Associations? 3 Service Contracts - Should a sales rep spend time on this? Should they be compensated for pursuing serv- ice contracts? 3 Websites - How should a company website be designed to build sales, leads, etc… Can a website help maximize sales? 3 Signage Codes - How do you balance creativity vs. what is legal? Are sales reps spending too much time in hearings or meetings (some as high as 20%)? Meeting Format We felt that a combination of classroom/ballroom instruc- tion was beneficial, with several breakout sessions to follow. Everyone was very complimentary of Troy Crocker's pres- entation. What I suggested was a pre-planned schedule of breakout sessions that would include all conference atten- dees, which would be designed to allow maximum partici- pation. Sales Purpose We concluded that the purpose of a sales rep in the sign business is business development, for both the customer and the sign company. We also determined that by taking 3 WSA SIGN POST, November 2006 Reflections from the Annual Fall Conference . Golfing Team: Golfing Team: Steve Plumhoff, Plastics Dynamics; Jim Brusek, 3M; Bill Morrow, Craig Gray, Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.; N Glantz & Son, LLC; and Myron Mertens, Orde Sign and Graphics Charlie Demoulin, Midwest Sign & Screen Printing Supply Co.; Paul Fuchsel, La Crosse Sign Co.; and Jim Murphy, Midwest Neon Supply Golfers enjoying their lunch. The winning golf team! Harry Dunville,Alpha-Neonx Sign & Lighting, LLC; Brad Kreidler,Voltarc Technologies & Transco Inc.; Dominic Gugliatto,Alpha-Neonx Sign & Lighting, LLC; and Chad Engstrom,Alpha-Neonx Sign & Lighting, LLC Exhibit and Conference Room Set-up Jim Emden presenting a scholarship to John Ostermann from UW-Stout. 4 WSA SIGN POST, November 2006 October 5-6, 2006, Chula Vista Theme Resort,Wisconsin Dells Gail Schroepfer presenting Jim Emden Sara Moran from Orde Sign and Graphics receiving an award with his President’s plaque. at the Sign Design Awards Presentation. Greg Moerner from Poblocki Sign Company accepting an award Troy Crocker Seminar at the Sign Design Awards Presentation.