Company address: 1245 Cheyenne Avenue, Suite 200, Grafton,WI 53024
Company Web site: www.thefrantzgroup.com
Industry: Technical marketing and sales
Number of employees: 145
Education: Iowa State University, bachelor’s degree in journalism/television speech; Northwestern University, integrated marketing; Harvard University, business class.
Family: Wife, Joy; and daughter, Elizabeth
What was the smartest thing your company did in the past year?
“Frantz Group invested in more sophisticated business finance analytics, tools and processes.”
What’s new at your company?
“In 2007, we re-branded and refocused our company on certain technologies and industries so we could become more knowledgeable and provide more value to our clients.”
Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?
“We will be hiring individuals interested in a professional marketing career serving the technology marketplace. We are investing in business intelligence processes and software later in the year.”
What will be your company’s main challenges in the next year?
“Considering current economic trends, our clients will need even more value for every dollar. Frantz Group’s challenge will be to leverage marketing and sales expertise to keep clients growing and profitable.”
What’s the hottest trend in your industry?
“Online marketing puts a whole new set of capabilities in play to help companies execute marketing tactics more efficiently. The challenge is to figure out how to integrate them with existing marketing techniques to generate the best ROI for your marketing investment.”
Do you have a business mantra?
“Tomorrow is always the most important thing. Focus is power. What we achieve, we achieve together.”
From a business standpoint, who do you look up to?
“Walter Elias Disney – a dreamer and an innovator that created an entire industry … and a little place called Orlando, Fla. Robert Miller and Stephen Heiman – the relationship experts transformed selling from manipulation tactics to a process focused on generating a win/win.”
What was the best advice you ever received?
“To get what you want out of life you must be willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.”
What’s the funniest thing that ever happened to you in your career?
“I once spent an entire day mapping a very complex process with a client and his entire team. The map was built by defining the steps of the process with colored sticky Post-it notes on a 14-foot by 4-foot piece of paper thumb tacked to the wall. We ended the day very proud of what was created. We left the map up over night and in the morning found the Post-it sticky notes had fallen off the paper onto the floor. I was embarrassed, but we were able to get it back in order pretty quickly. After that, I insisted we tape the Post-it notes. Problem solved.”
What do you like to do in your free time?
“Run. Kayak. Bike. Spend time with family and friends. Cheer for the Packers and other Wisconsin teams.”
