LOCATION: 4600 W. Schroeder Road, Brown Deer, WI
WEB SITE: www.northwoodsoft.com
YEAR FOUNDED: 1997
PRODUCT OR SERVICE OFFERED: Northwoods is one of Milwaukee's leading web development, e-commerce, and software programming companies.
LEADERSHIP TEAM: Bob Weisenberg, president; Patrick Bieser, founder
TARGET CLIENTELE: All organizations, large & small, for-profit and nonprofit. Northwoods has attracted an excellent customer base, including Briggs & Stratton, Children's Hospital, Manitowoc Company, Metrix, B.C. Ziegler, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, and a great variety of small and medium-size firms.
BUSINESS ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIPS: Wisconsin IT Leadership Association, eInnovate, MMAC, Society for Information Management.
PEER-SUPPORT GROUPS THAT OWNER OR OTHER MANAGEMENT PARTICIPATES
IN: The Summit Group.
BIGGEST ADVICE YOU'VE GLEANED FROM THAT PEER-SUPPORT GROUP PARTICIPATION: The value of developing wide diversity in one's contact base.
BIGGEST ISSUE YOUR FIRM FACES IN 2002: Our biggest challenge is the same one sports teams like the Packers face – attracting great players and then building a winning team through great coaching. We have been successful because we are very good at the basics, at the "blocking and tackling" of business. One of those basic challenges (especially in a growth company) is, of course, the ability to attract new customers.
HOW YOU PLAN TO DEAL WITH THAT BIG ISSUE: Since we're in the services business, our product is our people. Our biggest competitive advantage is strong staff and low turnover. We will continue our growth through referrals and personal references. We will continue to achieve a very high level of customer satisfaction. We will continue to attract and keep the best people in the industry. And we will continue to be a leader in our field. We gave up "selling" years ago. Our meetings with prospects have few of the trappings of a traditional sales call. Instead we search for "chemistry" with our prospective customers. After an initial show of interest, we get their best people and our best people in a room together, start talking about what they want to accomplish, and see what kind of chemistry develops – personal chemistry, business chemistry and technical chemistry – all of these are important. Doing business together often becomes irresistible at that point.
BUSINESS WORDS OF WISDOM: Great companies are built around a close relationship between the employees and their leaders, so the secret to success is to discover each individual's natural strengths and create an environment where those strengths can thrive and grow. FUTURE 50