COVER STORY :: UPSIZE GROWTH CHALLENGE
Unified message,
process boosts sales
for Press Gold Group
by Andrew Tellijohn
IT'S BEEN A BUSY couple of months for Press Gold Group, the Bloomington-based provider of time-and-labor software that is trying to figure out how to integrate its new payroll business with the older time-and-labor business that built its reputation.
While the firm is keeping separate financial records for each entity, Press Gold owners have been working to offer both services to clients as a package deal and is restructuring its internal practices to achieve that goal.
Co-founders Jeffrey Goldenberg and Carl Pressman say they?re 90 percent of the way there. As one of three winners of this year?s Upsize Growth Challenge, they spoke with experts at the second of two workshops in May for some assistance in finishing the job.
?The way we are presenting ourselves, and the way we are posing business, and now even the way we are implementing business, is now under one umbrella more and more and it seems to be working well for us,? says Goldenberg.
Based on advice from the experts at the contest?s first workshop in March, Press Gold Group incorporated a noncompete clause into the contract of its latest sales hire. Press Gold is finalizing a deal to do Positive Pay, which means the firm will be able to reconcile its financial accounts daily rather than at the end of the month, a move that was recommended because of the tremendous number of transactions the company handles.
The company has also largely unified its marketing message and the move is leading to greater revenue and profitability, Goldenberg says. The size of client Press Gold has been attracting in recent months has doubled from fewer than 20 employees to approaching 40.
And about half of the new business acquired in April and May combines both services, ?which is wholly different from where we were,? Goldenberg says. ?The face of who our clients are has changed. That?s a significant difference for us and that?s a step we?ve wanted to take.?
On the technology front, Press Gold has partnered with Integra Telecom to install an upgraded voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone system and also is adding server capacity and a new surveillance system. Founders see the telecom upgrade as especially vital given the sensitivity of the data their clients entrust them with and the need to be available to provide service.
?It?s really exciting,? Pressman says. ?We?ll know who is calling us, we?ll be able to do direct dial-in for customer service. VoIP is going to give us functionality we need right now and allow us to expand. It will be for our sales department, it will be for service, and for disaster recovery obviously, because it allows us to not be in the place where the phone system is at to keep the support going.?
All of the company?s data is backed up in San Antonio, Texas, and as soon as Press Gold is finished assessing its server needs, company officials will look into conducting a periodic hard-copy backup transfer through a company such as Iron Mountain.
?We?re definitely considering doing off-site storage with the hard disk exchange,? Pressman says. ?We feel there are a couple big projects we have to get through first. In a customer service environment our phones are really our lifeline.?
There is still work left to be done. Elin Raymond, founder and president of The Sage Group in Minneapolis and the Upsize Growth Challenge marketing expert, urged Press Gold to upgrade its Web site. The company description is too vague and the site isn?t as interactive as it could be, she says. There also is an opportunity to gain publicity and business through posting case studies and accolades from customers.
?The Web site needs to get less static,? she says.
Raymond also suggests that the company be more specific about describing the third and least defined leg of its business, human resources services, because those services are payroll related and not general human resources as customers might expect. And she cautioned against calling the company ?the best.?
?If you say you are 'the leading' people aren?t going to believe it,? she says. ?You may be the leading, but never use a superlative.?
Goldenberg also sought feedback from Mark Gleeman, attorney with Winthrop & Weinstine in Minneapolis and the Upsize Growth Challenge legal expert, regarding its client contracts, which haven?t been updated in nearly a decade. Gleeman suggests that with the company?s new business strategy and the experience garnered from nine years in the industry it probably would be good to visit with an attorney for a review.
Gleeman also made a pitch for regularly updating employees, including some specifics, on how the company is performing financially. ?Most of the time people keep ownership pretty close to people they want to be owners,? he says. ?There?s a whole different part of that, which is how much do you tell employees to get their buy-in, to make them feel like a part of the team??
[contact] Jeffrey Goldenberg, Carl Pressman, Press Gold Group: 952.926.8463; jeffg@pressgoldgroup.com; carlp@pressgoldgroup.com; www.pressgoldgroup.com.
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY?
? ON ECONOMIC STIMULUS.
The individual rebates involved in the economic stimulus package receive most of the press, but small businesses can benefit as well. Bryan Ross, partner at EideBailly in Bloomington, says the government increased the first-year write-off for technology equipment purchases to $250,000 on purchases up to $800,000 through the end of 2008. The previous write-off limit had been $128,000. ?If it was something you were planning on in the next two or three years you might look at accelerating that,? he says. ?You would instantly get your money back. You would get your deduction right away and it would save you the tax dollars.?
? ON THE COMPETITION.
Press Gold has two publicly held competitors, ADP and Paychex Inc., that file regular financial reports. Studying such documents can help small-business owners tweak their strategies, says Rick Wall, CEO of Highland Bank in St. Paul. ?Look at somebody who has published financials who is in your business and spend the time to read through it,? he says. ?Sometimes it will tell you how they are making money and you never even thought of making money that way.?
? ON CONTRACTS.
Clients are pushing for shorter contracts while lawyers want to include every detail. Plus laws periodically change and businesses learn from experience, making it important to go back and occasionally review the forms businesses have their clients sign. ?I do think periodically your contracts should be reviewed,? says Mark Gleeman, a partner with Winthrop & Weinstine. ?You review periodically and you bring all those experiences in to draft however you want to draft to cover the issue.?
? ON WEB SITES.
When Goldenberg told Upsize Growth Challenge experts that the company has been receiving unsolicited phone calls from clients praising their work, The Sage Group?s Elin Raymond said he should get them in writing and put them on the Web site. Testimonials and case studies provide free marketing and are an opportunity to better get the word out. ?Those are great tools to pitch to the media,? she says. ?I would also go to your vertical industry trade publications because you would probably be the only one in your space seeking coverage or putting an ad in those vertical publications.?
? ON TECH REDUNDANCY.
Kirk Hoaglund, managing partner and CEO of Clientek in Minneapolis, says redundancy in technology is often vital for firms that have ?that thing that?s highly critical to your business.? Whether it?s telephones for Press Gold or data connections for Clientek there are some things a company simply cannot be without. ?We have multiple T1 lines with autofailover,? he says. ?That autofailover dual T1 thing is huge.?
