The Enterprise-Utah's Business Journal

UTAH’S BUSINESS JOURNAL www.slenterprise.com

THIS WEEK

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Utah catering firms starting to see return of corporate clients

Salt Lake Jet Center assets sold

Million-Air also picks up the firms leases.

See page 2.

Manufacturing group honors two companies Mity-Lite, Dustless Technologies honored.

See page 3.

• Industry Briefs • Begin on page 6.

• Calendar • See page 13.

Catering companies are reporting gains in sales of between 5 and 20 percent this year.

By Andrew Haley The Enterprise

Utah’s catering companies are beginning to see strong growth after several years of poor sales.

Renewed contracts with corporate clients who gutted entertaining budgets and cancelled events such as company Christmas parties after the 2008 downturn have led the rebound, several area catering companies said. Those companies reported between 5 and 20 percent growth in sales over last year.

Kelly Lake, who owns Le Croissant Catering along with her husband John and his sister Pat Slade, said, “we are busy, busy, busy. It’s been fabulous.”

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Volume 41, Number 9

While profit margins are still a little slim, she said Le Croissant had seen a notable increase in the demand for catered weddings and corporate events.

“The budgets still aren’t there, but demand is really increasing,” according to Lake.

“We’re still here and we’re having fun. Business dropped a little in 2008, was flat in 2009, increased slightly in 2010, and is up approximately 5 percent in 2011.”

While grateful for renewed profitability, she said Le Croissant had experienced steady annual growth of 15 percent prior to the 2008 downturn. Lake, whose

Salt Lake area HVAC contractors devastated by lackluster economy

By Andrew Haley The Enterprise

Salt Lake area heating and air conditioning contractors are experiencing their worst year in decades, according to several HVAC company owners. While cool summer weather led some potential customers to defer air conditioning repairs, several career professionals said that ongoing economic uncertainty is to blame. Not only is 2011 far worse on their bottom lines than 2008, the worst years of the 1980s seem tame in comparison, they said.

Mel Pollard, owner of Pollard Heating and Air Conditioning, has been in the HVAC business nearly four decades.

“This is the worst I’ve ever had it since I’ve been in business, and I’ve been through some tough times. Financially, I’m probably

worse off than I’ve been in many years. I don’t ever remember having such financial trouble,” he said.

Pollard said his customers are foregoing installations of new air conditioners as well as repairs of existing ones.

“I don’t know how people are getting by without repairs. If they’re broke you’d think they’d have to repair them,” he said.

Business has been slow enough to force Pollard to expand his work area significantly in pursuit of elusive customers.

“Since it’s so slow I go from Roy to Orem,” he said.

Pollard said his company is adjusting to what he fears is the new normal by taking several cost saving measures.

“We watch our spending, pull our reins back in, are very careful

see HVAC page 5

Local nurseries reporting seasonal increase in sales

see CATERING page 5

Area CPA firms unaffected by long financial downturn

By Andrew Haley The Enterprise

Several certified public accounts working in the Salt Lake Valley say the economic downturn has not negatively affected their industry. In some cases, the CPAs said their practices had improved as small businesses have sought outside expertise to minimize their tax losses and have let go in-house accountants due to budgetary belt tightening.

“For the last couple of years, we went through that whole period and remained pretty much even. We’re pretty stable,” Wade Haslam, CPA , od Haslam and

Co.

The three-employee Haslam and Co., which Haslam said earns about $150,000 per year, provides tax preparation and business accounting services.

“If anything, some small businesses with in-house accountants have moved away from that to public accounting because it’s a little cheaper,” he said.

Richard Reid, also a CPA, said he is in the process of expanding his firm to keep up with several years of strong demand. Like Haslam, Reid specializes in small business accounting. He said the see CPAs page 2

Even with an extremely late start to the spring planting season, area plant retailers are reporting upticks in sales. mer. We had a slow start to the

By Andrew Haley summer because of weather. So The Enterprise

With the planting season the question is, is the reason it’s up coming to an end, several nurser- because of a cold May or because ies in the Salt Lake Valley report the economy is coming back?” an increase in seasonal sales for said Cactus and Tropicals owner the year. Despite those gains, Scott Pynes.

Cactus and Tropicals operates however, owners tempered their optimism by expressing continued two high-end nurseries specializuncertainty about the economic ing in indoor plants. While a significant portion of its sales occur future.

For the end of the summer between April and September, we’re up compared to last sumsee NURSERIES page 12

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Oct. 3-9, 2011

The Enterprise

CPAs

from page 1 need for highly seasoned accountants at small businesses is growing.

“In my view [the public accounting industry] is strong and

stable,” he said.

“The economy has not impacted to a large degree CPAs who are serving small business.

There is a growing need for more CPAs who are working with small business,” he said.

Reid said part of the stability

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of the accounting industry is due to Utah’s economic strength during the downturn.

“I think the Utah economy has been pretty resilient,” he said.

Another CPA, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly about his business, said his company was “rapidly expanding” despite some cutbacks by clients working in the health care industry. He said those clients’ profitability had suffered because of fluctuations in insurance policies.

“There’s been a lot of changes in the way insurance is paid,” he said.

He said he had heard of accounting professionals being relegated to de facto bookkeepers but worried that it was not an effective use of their time. Despite that, the career accountant said he frequently found his clients’ businesses had suffered because of poor financial counseling.

“I find in quite a number of cases when I go to talk to a prospective client, I find services

they’d been receiving prior are not the kind of services that are ultimately helpful. There certainly is a need for accounting professionals to help their clients get more out of their [finances],” he said.

Michelle McGaughey, CEO of the Utah Association of Certified Public Accountants (UACPA), said that in the wake of the financial downturn smallbusiness owners were beginning to recognize the value of expert public accountants. While she said no one wants to see salaried bookkeepers let go, CPAs often add value to a business in ways bookkeepers don’t. McGaughey called that value adding potential “the most important service a CPA can provide.”

McGaughey said that Utah’s CPAs are doing well, despite ongoing sluggishness in the economy, and that the recruiting of college graduates by accounting firms is returning to pre-recession levels.

She also said a UACPA jobs board posted free for its members on the UACPA website currently had more open positions than it ever had previously, indicating strong demand for CPA jobs across the accounting industry.

“It’s pretty amazing and very promising,” she said.

McGaughey also said she had seen the results of a recent UACPA survey circulated among the community of CPAs who make up the association’s membership.

“They are cautiously optimistic about Utah’s economy, but not at all about the national economy,” she said.

As to professional accountants being relegated to bookkeeper status, McGaughey said she was aware of a limited number of high-salaried CPAs who found themselves forced into lower level positions after the 2008 downturn, but that it was far from a common problem in the industry.

“I’m not hearing that anymore. I didn’t feel it was rampant by any means,” she said.

Million-Air acquires assets, leases of Salt Lake Jet Center

Million Air-Salt Lake City has acquired the assets and airport leases of the Salt Lake Jet Center, effective.

“The Salt Lake Jet Center had an exclusive and loyal clientele. We are excited about the opportunity to earn their loyalty by demonstrating our own exceptional customer service,” said William F. Haberstock, president and CEO of Million Air-Salt Lake City.

The company is renovating the Jet Center’s former facilities.

Included in the renovation plans are a new sales office, showroom and service center for the soon to be released HondaJet aircraft.

Million Air – Salt Lake City’s subsidiary, Intermountain Jet LLC, became a HondaJet dealer in 2007.

In 2006, Million Air-Salt Lake City completed a major expansion and renovation of its passenger lobby and pilot amenities. The inclusion of the Jet Center’s facility grows Million Air-Salt Lake City’s operations to more than 400,000 square feet of hangar space at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

Million Air-Salt Lake City is the largest provider of full-service general aviation services in Utah and offers fixed-base services, a complete aircraft sales and management program, charter and maintenance.

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3

The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Manufacturing organization honors two Utah companies

While entrepreneurs pursue different paths to success, they all seem to have the ability to create opportunity for themselves and others even in uncertain and difficult times. This year, during Entrepreneur Week, Manufacturers Extension Partnership has chosen to recognize two Utah entrepreneurial companies that have used this skill to find unique customer needs and fill them better than anyone else in their category.

Brian Bowers—Chief Operating Officer, Mity-Lite Inc.

By any measure, Mity-Lite is a genuine entrepreneurial success.

From its beginnings in 1987, when founder Greg Wilson had a vision of creating a lightweight, durable table product, to its current status as a global manufacturer of market-leading furniture systems, Mity-Lite has nurtured a culture of innovation. This culture is driven by a corporate commitment at all levels to customer service, continuous improvement, employee involvement and “scrappy competitiveness.”

According to Brian Bowers, COO of Mity-Lite, “The recession of 2008 unexpectedly challenged our commitment to market leadership. To thrive in those difficult times, we needed to capture market share, and in turn we needed to be more competitive.” As a result of that insight, the first thing MityLite did was to strengthen its innovation pipeline. From the CEO to the factory floor, processes are now in place to generate ideas for new, market-leading products, such as methods for incentivizing employees to look for ways to improve manufacturing and customer support systems. This is accomplished through structured and unstructured meetings where employees and managers openly discuss ideas to improve quality, reduce costs, improve the employee experience and stay connected to customer needs.

The second focus area for Mity-Lite was to streamline manufacturing to improve its customer experience, both in service and price. Because of intense pricing pressures from Asian competitors, “Beat China” became the firm’s catchphrase. Through a series

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of employee-led innovations, the company was able to “re-shore” several products and to produce their new FlexOne folding chair in Orem. Successive improvements made it possible to sell these chairs at an even more competitive price in Sam’s Club.

Not only does this competitive spirit permeate Mity-Lite, but it extends to the company’s relationship with its vendors, as well.

A monthly newsletter rates suppliers along several criteria, so everyone can see how they’re doing in their partnership with Mity-Lite.

This motivates vendors to improve their performance, which ensures ongoing business with Mity-Lite and improves vendors’ competitiveness in their industries.

Continuous improvement is a mantra at Mity-Lite. “Our incentive structure and method of employee involvement creates an open atmosphere where people want to continually improve by asking questions such as: ‘How can we do this better?’ and ‘What problems need to be solved?’ and ‘What opportunities exist to make a better product at cheaper cost?’” said Brian. “What makes this work,” he continued, “is that if an idea will improve our performance on key metrics such as on-time delivery, quality and productivity, there is a company-wide expectation that changes will be made.”

Colleen Loveless, President, Love-Less Ash Co., (dba Dustless Technologies)

In 1988, Diesel Mechanic Mike Loveless invented and began to use the first “ash vacuum,” a device created to remove ashes from fireplaces and wood stoves.

Five years later, he and his wife Colleen began to market the vacuum, starting what was destined to become a manufacturing powerhouse in Price. Mike stayed close to his customers and over the years produced the dustless wet-dry vacuum, the dustless drywall vacuum and drywall sander and other patented products. (See the company’s web sites at www.

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lovelessash.com, and www.dustlesstechnologies.com.)

“Mike thought up the idea of the ash vacuum and stuck with it through the early years. He made it work,” Colleen said. Since Mike’s death two years ago, she and her son Spencer have been running the company and creating new products that help homeowners and contractors to contain and control the dust that they create.

When asked why customers would choose to buy from them, Colleen replied: “The products work well to remove drywall and concrete dust, and dust created in other industries such as automotive and marine environments. Our secret sauce is to know our customers’ requirements and deliver innovative and quality products that meet their specifications at an affordable price.”

That’s not quite as easy as it sounds. Colleen described the long hours and hard work it takes to grow and manage the company.

For example, in addition to the firm’s manufacturing work, company representatives attend more than 20 trade shows a year and manage a network of distributors, retailers and independent sales representatives domestically and in New Zealand, Sweden, Ireland, Mexico, Canada and the UK. But they’ve never lost sight of their vision to build a company that reduces the costs of keeping the workplace clean and contributes to a healthier environment.

Along the way Colleen and

her team have also kept their employees’ welfare in mind. “We feel it’s important to create a workplace atmosphere where employees feel appreciated and know that they’re doing important work,” Colleen explained. “We’ve also provided insurance benefits, and medical and 401(k) plans for the workers.”

Colleen is proud to produce and sell innovative dust control

solutions that are made in the U.S. and meet stringent regulatory standards. For example, the company has developed and offers a variety of HEPA vacuums that have been HEPA certified which means, for one thing, that their filtering system reduces 99.97 percent of all particulates to a .5 micron.

“It’s hard work,” says Colleen, “but extremely satisfying to be an entrepreneur.”

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The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

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© 2011 Rocky Mountain Power

Headquartered in Utah for 25 years, Lifetime manufactures outdoor products including kayaks, basketball hoops, folding tables and sheds. From left: Robert Adams, vice president of plant engineering, and Richard Hendrickson, president.

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The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

CATERING from page 1

grandfathers worked as cooks in lumber camps and whose grandmother was a mid-altitude recipe tester for Betty Crocker, said that after the downturn many corporate clients slashed entertainment budgets without taking into consideration the true value of either their catering budgets or their newfound austerity. She said Le Croissant reached out to its corporate clients to work with them on slimmer budgets.

“People were sending their administrative assistants to Costco and comparing the Costco receipt to the catering bottom line,” without considering the costs of having an employee away from the office or of the impression they were sending to clients and employees, she said. According to Lake, instead of letting its corporate clients slip away, Le Croissant negotiated revamped menus that worked within their funding constraints, allowing the catering company to moderate its losses and preserve relationships.

“Just because a budget isn’t what it was doesn’t mean we can’t work together,” she said.

High-end caterer Culinary Craft has had a strong year, said Jacque Riehl, the company’s senior event coordinator and wedding specialist. According to Riehl, as of Sept. 19 the compa-

ny’s September sales already were up between 10 and 15 percent year-to-date. She said September saw the strongest sales yet this year, and that the holiday season us expected to be even stronger.

“December is targeted to be our biggest month ever,” she said.

Riehl said the biggest reason for such strong business was the return of corporate clients who had dramatically slashed event budgets after the downturn.

Riehl estimated 40 percent of Culinary Craft’s corporate clients slashed their catering budgets after 2008, while the remaining 60 percent did away with catering altogether. She said that Utahbased corporate clients were still reticent to return to the days of company Christmas parties and catered product launches, while out-of-state corporate clients were spending more freely, something she said surprised Culinary Craft’s executives.

“Our local corporate clientele are being a little more cautious. It’s been surprising,” Riehl said.

The company, which employs more than 100 part-time and 10 full-time employees, saw few declines in its wedding services, despite the economic downturn, something Riehl attributed to the company’s wealthier clientele refusing to scrimp on family weddings. As president of the organization Wedding Professionals of

Utah she has a good vantage point for the state’s catering and hospitality services, which she said are all interconnected. Industry-wide, from caterers to florists, she said the hospitality industry’s business is improving and that several career professionals who had taken on supplemental work in the previous few years had returned to their careers full-time.

“The industry is doing quite well. Everybody has been pretty happy this year,” she said.

Tom Vanderbeek, owner of Eiffel Tower Catering, said his business is improving despite a slow July and is set to show an estimated 20 percent increase over last year. He said the summer season for 2011was stronger than in the last couple of years. According to Vanderbeek, who bought the company in 2004, Eiffel Tower’s profits slumped at the end of 2007 when his clients’ catering budgets disappeared.

“When they got their budget cut they decided to get deli trays at Costco,” he said.

Vanderbeek said he has made do during the recession by taking cost cutting measures and making some changes to his menu to attract clients with lower budgets.

“The last couple of years have taught me how to cut expenses.

I’ve learned how to be more careful with my money,” he said.

Eiffel Tower employs approximately 15 part-time employees.

HVAC from page 1

about what we purchase, keep our overhead low and take very good care of our customers. Customers are our number one item and we make sure we take care of them,” he said.

So far, Pollard Heating and Air Conditioning has managed to avoid any layoffs, though not without a price.

“I’m working harder than I have since I remember. I’m working longer hours and just trying to find work. And I’m doing a lot of the work myself,” he said.

James Ball, owner of ACME Heating and Air Conditioning, echoed Pollard’s assessment of the grave financial situation the HVAC industry was facing.

He summed up his business’s performance this year with a single word, “terrible.”

Ball, who has been in the HVAC business for 35 years, said, “This is the worst I’ve ever seen.

Nobody has any money.”

Like Pollard, Ball navigated the recession of the early 1980s and survived the downturn of 2008. Those recessions simply could not compare to this year, he said. Angry at what he sees as a betrayal of the American people, Ball placed the blame for his company’s misfortunes at the feet of Washington and Wall Street.

“The government has lied

to us. They stabilized the banks and the rest of us can go to hell.

They’re turning the USA into a bunch of […] slaves,” he said.

Ball disagreed with Pollard about the role of the weather in affecting his business, saying that his customers simply did not have the money to repair or replace their heating and air conditioning units.

“For the first time in my life I’ve run into people without heating and cooling,” he said.

According to Ball, ACME currently employs 15 full-time employees, including him. That is down from 17 before pressure on his bottom line forced him to lay off two people. Ball said he does not foresee any more layoffs in the near future and is not worried about his business failing despite a bad summer coming on the heels of a bad winter.

“I got specialized skills these clowns around here don’t; like, I know what I’m doing,” he said.

Richard Justice, owner of ESCO Services Inc, a residential electrical, plumbing and HVAC company, said unseasonably cool weather and low consumer confidence have contributed to the worst year in his professional career.

“Summer was slower than normal, but it’s been slower than normal the last two, three years.

This year has been the toughest

see HVAC next page

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SM

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HVAC

from previous page I’ve seen in 30-plus years,” he said.

Justice said potential customers who left their air conditioners off through June decided to tough it out through the rest of the summer. Others, he said, lacked the home equity they once had to pay for AC repairs or replacement. Still more customers, he said, behind on their mortgages or having seen their retirement funds eviscerated by market fluctuations, were holding on to their cash and waiting for the economy to improve.

According to Justice, the ongoing financial doldrums are far worse than the recession of the early ‘80s.

“That was a blip. It wasn’t even close to this. The difference here is it’s gone on so damn long.

It won’t quit,” he said.

Like most companies in the housing sector, ESCO saw a significant drop in business in 2008.

But according to Justice, the lingering aspect of the downturn has affected his business more harshly than the sudden drop of three years ago. He said he thought the economy had finally bottomed out last year, but this year proved him wrong.

“Things are just getting gradually slightly worse,” he said.

While the poor performance of his air conditioning repair and

installation service has been the prime culprit for his company’s economic malaise, its heating repair and installation service did not fare much better over the winter. ESCO is diversified into electrical work and plumbing, both of which have performed slightly better than its HVAC unit, Justice said. Another factor that helped ease his company’s financial pain was work ESCO performed in partnership with Utah Home Performance, a state-administered program initiated with money from the federal stimulus plan.

Utah Home Performance offered to pay homeowners between 50 and 80 percent of the cost of repairs that increased the energy efficiency of their homes by more than 20 percent, up to $2,000. That plan, combined with tax credits and financial incentive programs offered by utility companies like Questar, helped convince reluctant homeowners to make efficiency upgrades to their homes, while channeling money into local contractors like ESCO. Initially scheduled to run until March 2012, the program recently depleted its funding and ceased operations after a mere nine months, drying up one of the few revenue streams Justice was able to count on in 2011.

“It put people to work. We hired people to do that work. It was one of the few things the government got right,” Justice said.

COMPUTERS/ SOFTWARE

• Industry Briefs •

• South Jordan-based Allegiance Inc., a provider of “VOCi” (Voice of Customer Intelligence,) has expanded its engineering and software development team to address growing demand for its products and services. The company has named Jason Taylor, formerly with Omniture and Novell, as executive vice president of engineering. Allegiance has also appointed Usman Mian as director of network operations and Matt Aaron as director of quality assurance.

Mian, previously with Vantive and

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PeopleSoft, specializes in production support and system design for web applications and deployment. Aaron is a specialist in quality assurance, globalization and agile software development. He has worked for Intel and consulted with Symantec, LANDesk, Dell, and Verisk Health.

CONSTRUCTION

• BHB Consulting Engineers, Salt Lake City, has promoted Michael Keirnes to senior drafter. Keirnes has been leading the firm’s expansion into providing detailing services to façade suppliers.

• Construction began Sept. 12

by SC Builders of Grantsville on a $1.2 million, 8,700 square foot retail strip mall tenant improvement project at 10535 S. State in Sandy, according to owner/developer Brad Shepherd of Lizben Enterprises. Five retail spaces will be occupied by three tenants, who Shepherd did not wish to disclose. The first tenant will move into the building March 1, 2012.

The shops are adjacent to All-Star Bowling Lanes and a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant, which are also owned by Lizben Enterprises and will undergo a tenant improve-

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ment.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

• The Zions Bank Utah Consumer Attitude Index (CAI) increased to 70.7 in September, an increase of 10.9 points compared to August 2011. The national Consumer Confidence Index increased 0.2 points to 45.4. An index of 70 or below is indicative of slow economic growth. Last month, consumer confidence in the local economy dropped due to fears of a national economic slowdown. Utah consumer outlook has since returned to a confidence level similar to that in the month of May. As of this month, the local attitude has shifted away from “negative market conditions” to “neutral market conditions.” This implies that Utahns have maintained their cautiously optimistic attitude toward the economy, but are hesitant to predict a bullish market in the near future. The Zions Bank CAI Present Situation Index, which is a snapshot of current business conditions and employment, rose to 54.1 an increase of 9.8 points. The national CCI Present Situation Index continued on page 14

7

The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Is there a Webinar in your future? What kind and how much?

Free Webinar! money. I didn’t think it was right,

If you’re like me, you get at didn’t think it was fair, and I still least 10 of these e-mails a day. feel that way.

Webinars offered on every topic: AHA! MOMENT: When I Saving on Your Taxes, Becoming got involved with Ace of Sales, a Trusted Advisor, Making More I began to develop a relationSales, Leadership in the 21st ship with Andy Horner, the chief Century, How to Handle Difficult architect of Ace of Sales. Andy Employees, The New Rules was giving free, weekly, of Healthcare. Blah, blah, value-based Webinars to blah. people who had already

May I remind you signed up and paid for the that death and taxes were service. The basis of his the last two pieces of cerWebinar content was how tainty? And, at last report, to use Ace of Sales to cretaxes were coming under ate memorable messages fire. But add to the big and differentiate yourtwo the fact that a free self through the use of Jeffrey Webinar is certain to have branded and customized Gitomer a sales pitch at the end of e-mails, e-mail magazines, it. greeting cards and postcards.

The word FREE is an entice- Every week, Andy gave away ment. Someone wants to expose a free Webinar. And every week, your to their message and then Andy’s audience grew. There’s a present you with an option to buy reason. Andy’s Webinars were 100 more now, or take advantage of percent value-driven with no sales this once in a lifetime offer, or act pitch at the end. now, this offer is only good if you I began to pay closer attenclick this button or it will go away tion to the potential of Webinars. forever!

One day Andy and I were on

Unfortunately, most of the the phone, and I can’t remember free Webinars out there offer little who said it first, but we decided to or no value to the people who do a Webinar together on Business attend them. More unfortunately, Social Media – FREE. hundreds of thousands of people More than 5,000 people waste their time following a false signed up for an event that would promise. only hold only 1,000. Suffice it to

I will admit I ignored the say, it was a technological nightopportunity of putting on my own mare. Let me rephrase that, it was Webinars at first because I didn’t a technological disaster. want to be identified with a pitch After reviewing the results, and a come-on that would entice response and aftermath, we decidor lure my customers who’ve ed the next Webinar would carry come to trust me and my word — a small fee. Twenty bucks. We and then at the end ask them for would offer it at two different time

slots so people could choose. The result? Nearly 1,000 people registered and paid.

MAJOR QUESTION: Why were these customers willing to pay for my Webinar and not take your Webinar for free? Two-word answer: perceived value.

REALITY: People (people like you) are willing to invest a small amount of money for information and answers that they believe, in the end, will lead to their own increased revenue.

Why? In this economic time, every salesperson, every sales manager, every business owner and every entrepreneur is seeking fresh and relevant answers.

I’m about to intensify my Webinar intentions for the following three reasons:

1. I’ve proven it works.

2. My customers are very accepting of it.

3. People are actually requesting more.

I’m going to end 2011 with a five-day Webinar Boot Camp that will talk about new approaches to the selling process, and what you can do in 2012 that will differentiate you from the competitor, and endear you to your potential customer.

NOTE WELL: This article is not an advertisement for my Webinars. It’s a challenge to you to develop your own value-driven offerings.

• Are your customers willing to pay for your information? Or are you simply trying to sell more of your stuff?

• If you are going to offer a

Webinar for free, is it with an ulterior motive? And, are you willing to disclose that motive prior to enticing your prospective customers with that offer?

Therein lies the challenge.

The more you create a Webinar that your customers would consider valuable, the more they are willing to sign up, pay up, sign on, take action and want more.

NOTE WELL: If the Webinar is great, the customer will want to buy. You don’t have to sell. If the Webinar is not great, no matter how much you try to sell, the customer will not want to buy.

The Webinar is an amazing strategy to create direct communication with the people who know you and the people who are your present customers. What messages are you sending them? What messages are they responding to? How is that increasing their loyalty to

you? How is that increasing their word-of-mouth advertising for you? And how is that affecting your business?

Those are tough questions, but if the answers are positive, the response is money. And I’m certain you could use more of that.

Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at salesman@gitomer.com. © 2011 All Rights Reserved.

                                            

                          

                    

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8

Oct. 3-9, 2011

The Enterprise

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9

The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Federal Reserve revisits 'The Twist'

The Federal Reserve in recent tiative does not involve the credays announced its latest effort to ation of new money to be investboost the lagging U.S. economy. ed into U.S. Treasury securiWhether this latest move will have ties. Instead, it involves shifting much impact is open to debate. $400,000,000,000 of the current More than three years of investment holdings of the Fed largely unprecedented monetary to longer-dated securities (many policy initiatives to (1) avoid an with maturities of 10-30 years), even deeper economic contraction with the intent …you guessed it during 2008 and 2009 and … of pushing long-term (2) to provide stimulus for interest rates — includrenewed economic growth ing mortgage rates — during 2010 and 2011 have lower still. shown limited success.

Such transYes, the Great Recession actions are currently from December 2007 to scheduled to take place June 2009 was enormousbetween next month and ly painful and the longest June 2012. One positive in 70 years, but a downresult of such a program ward spiral into another Jeff Thredgold should be the ability of depression was avoided. larger U.S. companies Yes, the American economy to refinance their own long-term has registered growth since June debt or issue new debt at extraor2009. However, the growth pace dinarily attractive interest rates. has been anemic, disappointing, Such a result could (hopefully) substandard, and frustrating, espe- lead employment higher. cially when considering all of the The Fed will sell $400 billion various forms of stimulus at play of securities with maturities of in recent years. less than three years and reinvest The QEs the proceeds into securities with The Federal Reserve enacted maturities longer than six years. two major programs during the As a component of the program, past two years to stimulate the the Fed plans to buy $116 bileconomy. The Fed’s intent was lion of U.S. Treasury bonds with to both inject more “money” into maturities of 20 to 30 years. Such the economy to stimulate lending a sum would represent more than and investing and to push medi- 80 percent of the net government um- and long-term interest rates issuance of new 30-year bonds lower in order to make mortgage over the same period (The Wall refinance or new home finance Street Journal). opportunities more attractive.

A similar program was first These programs, now affec- tried in the early 1960s, with the tionately referred to as QE1 and intent of keeping long-term interQE2 (quantitative easing), saw the est rates at extremely low levels. purchase of more than $2 trillion Results were mixed at that time. in U.S. Treasury securities, U.S. Ironically, the combination of Agency securities and mortgage- (1) the prior QE programs, (2) backed securities. frustration about weak U.S. ecoSuch purchases were essen- nomic growth and the possibility tially financed with newly created of another recession, (3) slowing money. Many critics of the Fed growth in China, and (4) major have been savage in their opin- anxiety about a rapidly slowions and now see a major surge in ing European economy dragged inflation just around the corner. down by sovereign debt worries The “…flations” has already led long-term interest It seems clear that Federal rates to 60-year lows.

Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke Refinance was more concerned a year or two Thirty-year fixed-rate conago about the potential ravages ventional mortgages averaged of deflation upon the economy, rather than “more traditional” LEXIBLE ACKAGING inflation. One could suggest that his concern would now be some- IT HAPPENS EVERY DAY. what balanced between the two “..flations.” Even so, a number of media stories about rising deflation anxiety, tied to the substantial slowing of the global economy, have appeared in recent days.

• Flexible Films In addition, the Fed’s most • Shrink Sleeves important interest rate — the fed• Labels eral funds rate — has been at a record low target level of 0 to • Boxes 0.25% since December 2008. The • Inserts Fed has also taken the unprecedented step of suggesting that rate ISO CERTIFIED MATERIALS will stay at its current low level until at least mid-2013.

801.484.8503 Operation Twist The Fed’s latest policy ini-

F

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4.09 percent during the past two weeks, with various lenders quoting 3.875 percent in recent days.

Such rates were at 4.60 percent as recently as early July A refinance boom? Not exactly.

Confidence levels of businesses owners and consumers have been severely damaged this year. Widespread anxiety about the direction of government and ongoing horrific budget deficits has simply led employers to sit on their collective hands, with consumers doing essentially the same.

Millions of homeowners are stymied in their ability to refinance because home values have declined, on average, more than 30 percent since peaking in 2006.

Millions more have lost jobs or have seen incomes decline to levels wherein they simply won’t qualify to refinance.

In addition, much more complex documentation required now for almost any lending option — especially for a mortgage — limits the number of people who can take advantage of historically low interest rates. The new DoddFrank financial legislation, more than 2,300 pages of new rules and regulations still being interpreted by the powers that be, has made a mess of the refinance industry.

The phrase “we’re from the federal government and we’re here to help you” hammers us once again.

Credibility The three main policymaking bodies in the nation’s capital are the Administration, the Congress, and the Federal Reserve. One could argue (and I

will) that the Administration has largely misplaced or misused the “credibility” it began with in early 2009.

Massive amounts of new and proposed regulations — including but not limited to the health care and financial sectors — have largely sapped the will of American businesses to expand their hiring.

Sitting on the sidelines to see how such an anti-business agenda shakes out is currently in fashion.

In addition, trillion dollar budget deficits for as far as the eye can see don’t help either.

The Democratic Senate and the Republican House of Representatives frustrate all 1 with theirGSBS_Enterprise_4x4.pdf inability to make decisions in the nation’s best inter-

ests. Meanwhile, consumers also prefer to sit on the sidelines, shaken in their belief in an everincreasing standard of living for each new generation.

Make no mistake. The Fed and its chairman have their critics. Three of the 10 voting members of the Fed’s Open Market Committee voted against the latest decision, preferring to move to the sidelines. The fact that the Fed could enact this and other aggressive programs, and still maintain inflation-fighting credibility, is a story in and of itself.

The Fed — the most credible of the three major “political” entities5:14 — with not a whole lot of 8/4/11 PM competition.

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deserve some perks. That’s why The Gateway, FM100 and The Enterprise have created and exclusive “Office Worker At Work Perk Card” for all of you hardworking people. (Fill out your At Work Perk Card application at The Gateway Concierge desk.)

Flash your card and get savings and discounts at participating shops and restaurants at The Gateway.

Just keep your card in your wallet and look for special deals throughout The Gateway. FM100 will be e-mailing you ever Monday with the “Perks of the Week.” Log on to www.fm100.com or check out The Enterprise for the most up to date list of specials.

Turn in your completed form to The Gateway Concierge, located across from Urban Outfitters or to any participating retailer to be eligible for monthly drawings.

10

Oct. 3-9, 2011

The Enterprise

October tech tips — how to improve your website

Most small businesses have ions on your service or product. a website to go along with their Once you get an idea of how your other marketing and advertising customer thinks, you can change practices. Sometimes, business your website branding and content owners are told they need some- to reflect their needs. People want thing out there on the Web, and so to see themselves in your business, they may have gone with so create an online envia cheaply made templateronment that puts their based website. Although needs and desires first. it is a good idea to have Keep it simple. We won’t some kind of presence on call you stupid, but make the Internet, having a websure your website is easy site that does not draw in to navigate, has a clear and retain customers can message and does not do more harm than good. John Stewart require potential clients

Know your customto have to search for the er. Sometimes, as busiinformation that they need ness owners, we think we know the most. If your business does who our ideal customer is, and a lot of work over the telephone, when we create advertising, spe- make sure the telephone number cial offers and branding, we try to is easy to find. If your business is attract customers using our ideals a retail store or restaurant, make and thoughts. Our customers have sure the address is clearly listed. much different ideas about who Sometimes, function is better than they are. Some easy ways to find form for a website. You may have out who your customer really is, a beautiful design in mind, with and what they need from you, is lots of animation and graphics, to ask current customers for their but if your customers mainly need input. Create a survey and hand it your contact info, having to sit out with their invoices. Set aside through a video or animation may time each day to call five of your put them off. Although every busiclients and ask them for their opin- ness wants to stand out, it may be

beneficial to use a basic design of a website, with buttons for who you are, what you do and how to contact you. Think about some of the most successful websites , such as Amazon.com or eBay. People are used to having the login button, search function or other options at specific places. Try not to make your customers jump through too many hoops to get the information they need.

Be consistent. Try to create a branding design that is similar for all of the pages on your website.

Keep the information you offer organized and clean. If you have a navigation bar on the right site of your home page, then keep that navigation bar on the right side of all of the other pages of your site.

A site map is a separate page that helps to give a visitor an overview of all of the information is contained in your site. It is a good idea to have a site map for those that are looking for a specific page.

Content is king. Keep your site up to date with your business offerings, and try to add or change content on a monthly basis.

This not only helps repeat visitors

learn more about your business, but it also helps rank your website higher with Google and other search engines. It is important to be listed on the front page of a search engine, as some studies have shown that people do not always look past the first page of search results. Use words and phrases that your customers are likely searching for in the content that you write for your website.

Google has tools that can help you determine what customers may be looking for when they are trying to find your product or service. Just open up a Google search page and type “Google Search Tool.”

Goal! No, we are not talking about kicking a ball in a net. Each Web page on your website should have a goal. What do you hope to accomplish for your customers with the pages on your site? If you have a page that doesn’t seem to have a set goal, then perhaps the page is just cluttering up your website. Again, by putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and really thinking about what they want from your website will help designing the site to be a good

marketing tool.

Good grammar and spelling are important for a website. It is a good idea to have someone else review the website for grammatical and spelling errors. Having problems like that on a website may dissuade a customer from using your products or services.

Beware of only relying on the spellcheck function on your computer as your sole reviewer.

Many business owners will opt to use a professional website developer to create or update their site. Some important things to look for when finding a developer is to make sure they focus on the goals for your website and they work with you to determine what your customer’s needs are. We prefer Web design companies that utilize a project management style for the site design. They should outline the entire process, who will be performing what tasks and there should be set deadlines for each component of the site.

John Stewart is the operations manager for inQuo.

11

The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Market uncertainties

Are you a long-term investor prior to the deadline that the ceilor a short-term market timer? Are ing needed to be raised? This was you patient in enduring market ups the ultimate example of irresponand downs, or are you looking for sible procrastination. every opportunity to get out at the • U.S. credit rating downhighs and buy-in at the lows? grade. Standard & Poors’ deciIf you are an investor (even in sion to downgrade the AAA credit an employer-sponsored 401k), you rating of the United States was a likely know that August and first in history. It may September was a very diffiprovide a wake-up call cult months. Stocks fell as to the procrastinators in worldwide concerns were Washington to get serilikely exaggerated in the ous about debt reducmedia. There really wasn’t tion. any place to hide. Even • August was the worst gold took a dramatic dive month for U.S. casuover a two-day period. alties in Afghanistan.

The stock market One has to wonder at fully-priced in a recession Jim Rigtrup this point why we are during August, with the even in Afghanistan at stock market down 18 perall at this time. Not only cent from its April peak (Source: does it cost us in the lives of our Weekly Market Commentary, troops, but it increases the huge Jeffrey Kleintop, 10/6/11). The U.S. deficit even further. following are the latest uncertain• Worsening European debt ties that investors were forced to problems. The European Union deal with: does not seem to have any solid • Plunging consumer con- ideas on how to take the world’s fidence. The consumer is lacking worries away regarding their more spending power, with a 9.1 percent exposed countries to financial unemployment number (Source: default. We are more of a worldWeekly Market Commentary, wide economy than ever before Jeffrey Kleintop, 10/6/11) and is and sluggishness in Europe will likely reluctant to spend with the likely bleed out to the rest of the political policy landscape uncer- world. tain.

• Riots in London. Anytime • The debt-ceiling debacle. the consumer tunes in and witDoes anyone understand why nesses these sad rebellions, confiCongress and the President took dence typically wanes. so long to come to an agreement Obviously, the investor has when they had known for months become more cautious as a result

of the world’s uncertainties. But what many do not seem to notice among the many negatives that are currently being exaggerated by the media, is the healthiness of corporate profits. Just like you and I as small-business owners, large corporations have typically cut back on hiring and on other expenses.

This has, in combination with surprisingly healthy sales, improved corporate cash positions.

In fact, according to Nick Murray’s Newsletter of August 2011, final earnings of the S&P 500 have topped analyst’s expectations by an average of 6.3 percent over the past three to four quarters.* The upside to higher unemployment is that corporations often reduce their expenses. In fact, the cash for the non-financial companies in the S&P 500 rose from $940.1 billion to a record $1.1 trillion in Q1, 2011.** Why, do you suppose, have we not heard these numbers being advertised in the media? It’s like the old saying, “Bad news is good copy.”

What do you think the great companies in America and throughout the world are likely to do with all of their cash? Historically, their options have been: (1) Hire more employees.

(2) Buy back their stock.

(3) Build new manufacturing facilities or expand their offices.

(4) Increase their dividend payouts to their shareholders.

Are any of these potential options negative for the economy?

The obvious answer is no.

So, despite all of the negative events we have witnessed during August and September, my hope is that you, as a longterm investor, have continued to have faith in the great companies in America and throughout the world. Hopefully, you didn’t call your financial advisor and demand that your investments be liquidated to cash. Hopefully, you understand that a postage stamp, which costs 44 cents today, cost three cents in 1932. That a Harvard University tuition that cost $400 in 1947 went up to $20,600 in 1997 (source, Nick Murray Interactive, Aug. 2011). And that, to preserve your purchasing power against the incessant march of inflation, the long-term capital gains that are typically derived from holding the great companies in America and throughout the world are the best bet, historically, to maintain and increase your purchasing power for the future.

And with every negative, one can typically locate an adjacent positive. We can hope that things have sunk far enough into the abyss both with our domestic economy and within the European Union that lawmakers will now wake up to the fact that significant austerity measures need to be implemented. Perhaps there is a growing realization that entitle-

ments (welfare, Social Security, Medicare, etc.) will have to be restructured in order for them to be helping our grandchildren.

Someday maybe real change will take place once the suffering has become extreme enough.

Maybe the market uncertainties will be a blessing in the long run. * Standard & Poors ** Standard & Poors Jim Rigtrup is the owner of and a wealth manager with Keystone Wealth Management Group LLC, Sandy. He can be reached at (801) 572-1077 or at jim.rigtrup@ lpl.com.

Securities and Advisory Services offered through LPL Financial, a Registered Investment Advisor.

Member FINRA/SIPC. Opinions expressed are solely those of the author and not LPL Financial, and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing.

Past performance is no guarantee of a future result. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not ensure against market risk.

All performance referenced is historical and no guarantee of future results.

All indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.

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12

Oct. 3-9, 2011

The Enterprise

NURSERIES from page 1

Cactus and Tropicals operates its indoor showrooms year round.

According to Pynes, who became owner in 2002, the company also has significant commercial contracts for indoor plants at area restaurants, hotels, government buildings and hospitals.

“We’re seeing a bit of an upswing,” Pynes said.

“We’re still waiting to get back to 2007 but I don’t think that will ever happen. From 2002 to 2007 we grew pretty significantly

by opening a second location and putting in a lot of effort in marketing. I’m not sure the economy is back to 2002-2003 levels. It may be back to 2003-2004. But we had some really good years,” he said.

Rod Glover is the owner of Glover Nursery, a fourth generation family business. Echoing Pynes remarks, he said he was having trouble determining if sales were strong per se or just seemed so relative to last year. Glover said his nursery, a large outdoor facility on 1300 West and 9200 South, has seen gains, year to date, of approximately 10 percent despite poor

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“We’ve actually had a better year this year than last year, year to date,” he said.

“April 2010 I did $459,000.

This year I did 385,000. But in May, last year, I did $1,180,000 and this year I did $1,250,000.

And yet we had the wettest May in recorded history since Brigham Young came into the valley,” he said.

According to Glover, June sales, year to date, were even stronger. June 2010 sales of $835,000 increased to $1,052 this year. July 2011 sales were up $51,000 YTD to $551,000 and August 2011 sales were up, YTD, from $287,000 in 2010 to $330,000.

“What I tell people is, I’m up 10 percent off last year but last year was the worst year I’ve ever had,” he said.

Glover said other nursery owners, both in Utah and nationwide, have told him their sales are down across the board. What sets him apart is not price or marketing, he said. Rather, customers come to Glover Nursery, and keep coming back, because of the expertise of its sales staff, he said.

“People talk about our service and our knowledge. People feel they can trust us. People know us as a source to get the knowledge and the truth,” Glover said.

In addition to knowledge and truth, Glover Nursery has also recently diversified its retail offerings. It now sells water features and has begun exploring the small end of the green technology market. The nursery retails solar panels, LED lights and a garden-scale electricity-generating windmill.

Glover said he sees green

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technology as a part of his nurseryman’s legacy. He cited the trees first brought to the valley by people like his grandfather, who supplemented the sale of bare root trees from the Midwest with hand-grafted strains of peach trees he started from peach pits in the Wasatch Mountains. Trees, like flowers and other plants, provided shade and prevented erosion while increasing the esthetic experience of domestic and public spaces.

“The nursery industry was the first to bring green into the valley. We were the original green, so it’s only natural,” he said.

So far, Glover’s green tech offerings are helping shore up the company’s bottom line. Sales aren’t as strong as they were in the pre-recession salad days but Glover is feeling cautiously optimistic.

“We’re doing OK. We’re not out buying second homes, but we’re keeping food on the table.”

One explanation for its success is increased customer traffic that offsets smaller purchases.

According to Glover, his customer traffic for August was up over 20 percent YTD from 3,024 to 3,755. The average ticket price for those customers was between $95 and $100, compared to an average ticket price of $138 in 2007, Glover said.

“Back in ’06 you’d have these young couples pull up in a new truck and fill up the back of it and hand you a credit card,” he said.

Owning all its resources free and clear, with no debt, little overhead and loyal customers, only one factor worries Glover: the health insurance costs of his employees.

Glover provides health insurance for all of his year round employees at an expense he estimated at $100,000 per year.

“Health insurance has gone up at least 20 percent this year,” he said.

Not all of the valley’s nurseries reported resurgent sales over last year. Geoff Christiensen became owner of Grow Wild in 2007 when he completed a buyout from previous owner and com-

pany founder Gail Weir. A nursery and landscaping business based in Sugar House, Grow Wild specializes in native and drought-resistant plants suitable both to Utah’s high desert climate and seeks to tap into increasing interest in xeriscaping, the low-water gardening technique that has led many area residents to replace front lawns with Russian sage and wild grasses.

“It hasn’t been a great summer for us,” Christiensen said.

“There are a few reasons: people keeping their wallets closer to their hip and sales. Fifty percent of our gross sales is tied to my landscaping business. We just didn’t have a lot of [landscaping] projects.”

The other 50 percent of Grow Wild’s sales come from the retail side of the nursery. With little to no advertising, the company relies on walk-ins, repeat customers and referrals for its retail sales. The company also relies on customer interest in plants Christiensen called “appropriate for our climate.”

“You can got to a Home Depot and buy a bunch of cheap plants that are inappropriate for our climate and will probably die,” he said.

Ironically, this year’s unseasonal heavy rains and cool weather were disastrous for a company specializing in desert plants. Closed November through March, Grow Wild’s business is highly seasonal, leaving little room to maneuver when unforeseen events, like bad weather, hurt already tenuous profit margins. This year, customers shied away from the nursery’s outdoor showroom during the rainy spring months that are crucial to the company’s bottom line.

“We lost pretty much the entire month of April due to weather. April and May are the most important months for our cash flow,” Christiensen said.

In a cascade of misfortune, sluggish retail sales hurt the landscaping side of the business.

“Generally, we get landscaping jobs from referrals or impromptu consultations at the nursery from walk-ins,” Christiensen said.

Grow Wild employs four, including Christiensen. A teller operates the company’s Sugar House nursery, while two landscapers work on landscaping projects across Salt Lake County. Christiensen said he was unsure whether his small company would survive to next summer.

“I don’t know what to think.

We did relatively well in 2008.

2008 made me feel pretty optimistic we would weather it. Because we’re so small our bottom line is pretty closely tied to what I’m doing at any given moment,” he said.

“It’s going to be close but frankly every year is close. I’m banking on being open next year.

It will depend on how we close out the season.”

• Oct. 12, 8:30 a.m.: Top of Utah Business Expo, presented by the Ogden/Weber Chamber of Commerce. The western themed, all-day business symposium and expo will deliver concrete tips and strategies in an interactive, entertaining business format for those wanting to build their brand both professionally and personally.

Exclusive networking opportunities will give attendees an opportunity to expand their prospects.

Marketing and branding gurus, The Hired Guns, will host a onehour breakfast seminar, “Ridin’ for the Brand” at 8:30 a.m., and free, fast and practical 15-minute seminars through the day from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.ogdenweberchamber.com.

• Oct. 13, 11:30 a.m.: Building The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA Utah) Monthly Luncheon. Representatives from the Utah Transit Authority will discuss UTA’s $2.8 billion dollar project to build 70-miles of rail in seven years. These projects include the recently completed Mid Jordan or Red Line and the West Valley or Green Line as well as yet to complete TRAX lines to Draper, the airport. Additionally FrontRunner commuter rail to Provo. They will also address the Sugar House streetcar, next steps for long-range plans and UTA’s

13

The Enterprise

• Calendar • involvement in development surrounding UTA’s stations. Lunch will be followed by an 11:57 a.m.departing FrontRunner. Location is the UTA Central Station, 600 W. 250 S., Salt Lake City. Free for BOMA members, $45.00 for nonmembers. Register at www.

BOMAUtah.org.

• Oct. 28-29: Women in Business Conference, sponsored by the BYU Management Society and the Marriott School of Management at BYU. Keynote speakers will be Cathy

Chamberlain, managing director of market strategy for Deseret Book Co.; Linda Daines, managing director for private client services at Goldman Sachs; and Jan Saumweber, senior vice president of Global WalmartTeam Sara Lee Corp. There will also be a number of breakout sessions and speakers. The Oct. 28 events run from 5:30-9 p.m. while the Oct. 29 events run from 7:30 a.m.-4:15 p.m. Location is the BYU campus in Provo. Cost varies depending on number of events attended.

Registration deadline is Oct. 14.

For more information and to register, visit www.wibc.byu.edu.

• Nov. 4, 7 p.m.: Utah Technology Council 2011 Hall of Fame Gala. Keynote speaker will be Larry Ellison, founder and CEO of Oracle Corp. Location is the Grand America Hotel, 555 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. A networking session will begin at 6 p.m. Cost is $300 for UTC members, $450 for nonmembers.

Register at www.utahtech.org.

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Oct. 3-9, 2011

14 from page 6 decreased 1.8 points to 32.5. The Expectations Index for six months from now, which more closely projects the direction of consumer spending, increased 11.7 points to 81.1 in Utah, while the national CCI Expectations Index increased 1.6 points to 54.0.

EDUCATION/TRAINING • Utah Valley University

has finalized the purchase of 100 acres from Anderson Geneva Development Inc. The plot is part of the 1,700-acre redevelopment site of the former Geneva Steel mill in the town of Vineyard, about 2.3 miles from the institution’s main campus in Orem. About half of the property will house new intramural fields with the other half being used for future building needs. The acquisition will also add roughly 900 parking stalls. The acquisition, which was approved by the UVU Board of Trustees last year, includes a donation of half the property’s $20 million value from Anderson Geneva. UVU paid $5 million for the property. The remaining $5 million will be supplied by Redevelopment Agency reimbursements from available funds when infrastructure is put in place.

• The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business has joined the ranks of Entrepreneur magazine’s” Top 25,” winning special recognition for its innovative, experiencebased approach to business education. The David Eccles School of Business debuted at No. 16 on the publication’s list for best undergraduate entrepreneurial programs. That honor comes in tandem with the tenth anniversary of the business school’s Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New Venture Development Center, recognized as a model of success for studentfaculty partnerships in conceiving, planning, marketing and launching new enterprises based on university research.

HEALTH CARE

• President Barack Obama has named Nicola Camp, Ph.D., professor of genetic epidemiology in the University of Utah Department of Medicine, as one of the 94 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on scientists and engineers in the early stages of their research careers. A mathematician and statistician by training, Camp has spent the last decade working to develop meth-

Oct. 3-9, 2011

The Enterprise ods of analyzing and interpreting genomic data. Currently she is working to apply these methods to multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and breast cancer in hopes of better understanding the genetic factors involved in risk to these cancers.

MEDIA/MARKETING • Kia Motors America is

partnering with Friendemic, a Utah social media engagement agency, to implement a more effective and community-driven resource for marketing. Kia Motors plans to further its impact by focusing on local dealer-toclient communication and selected Friendemic from other leading social media agencies nationwide as a preferred partner. The relationship was announced on Sept.

21 at the automaker’s national dealer meeting in Las Vegas.

REAL ESTATE • The Redwood Village

Shopping Center, located along a high-traffic retail corridor at 7064 S. Redwood Road in West Jordan, will be auctioned on Nov. 16 by Sheldon Good and Co., a leading real estate auctioneer. The property, which consists of more than 101,754 square feet of retail space and is over 75 percent occupied, will be sold subject to a minimum bid of $3.75 million. The center has a current net operating income of $582,420, reflecting a 16 percent cap rate at the minimum bid, and a variety of tenants including Dollar Tree, Harbor Freight Tools, Furniture Warehouse, an insurance office, a hair and tanning salon, restaurant, karate studio, copy, bridal, craft, pawn, and shoe repair shops, and a dry cleaning business. Beginning Oct. 6, interested buyers can view the property during pre-auction on-site inspections from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Additional dates for on-site inspections are Oct. 18 and Nov. 2. The auction will take place at the Hampton Inn, 307 N. Admiral Byrd Road For more information visit www.

RedwoodVillageAuction.com.

• Steven Koch has joined the NAI West Property Management team as a senior property manager. Koch brings more than 15 years property management experience to the group, coming to NAI West from Coldwell Banker Commercial, where he served as a senior property manager and managed over one million square feet of office and retail properties. Prior to Coldwell, Koch was the managing officer of the Transwestern Commercial Properties Salt Lake office.

• Sales of previously-owned homes in Salt Lake County in

August rose 38 percent compared to August 2010, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. In August there were 1,099 home sales (all housing types) compared to 797 home sales in August 2010.

Sales of homes sold by Realtors in the June-July-August summer period in Salt Lake County were up 22 percent compared to home sales in the same three months last summer. There were 3,224 homes sold this summer compared to 2,634 home sales in the summer of 2010. Home sales in the first eight months of 2011 were up 2 percent compared to the same eight-month period a year ago (7,431 home sales compared to 7,312 sales last year). The median home sales price (all housing types) in August declined to $185,000, a 15 percent decrease compared to a median price of $216,400 in August 2010.

The inventory of homes for sale in Salt Lake County in August fell to 6,805 active listings, a 23 percent decline compared to 8,859 active listings in August 2010. Based on pending sales, there is a 7.7-month supply of housing inventory for sale in Salt Lake County, down 17 percent compared to a 9.3-month supply of inventory last year at this time.

• Green River Capital (GRC), a West Valley City-based an REO asset management and loss mitigation provider for mortgage servicers, investment firms, credit unions and banking institutions, has enhanced its rental and property management program, an REO alternative that helps bank clients preserve and maintain their properties. Following President Obama’s recent request for proposals from firms on new rental strategies, GRC’s program offers financial institutions a viable option for effectively managing REO properties while helping consumers regain some financial stability. GRC’s program provides residential property management and rental services on a national and regional basis. Additionally, the program handles the disposition of properties identified for liquidation. The program includes single-family residences, two-tofour family homes and most condominium and townhome properties. Occupant participants of the rental program are former borrowers and bona fide tenants as defined by the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA), as well as newly sourced tenants.

• Rising home sales and declining inventory brought good news to the Utah real estate market. In August, statewide home sales rose 23.5 percent compared to the same month last year and are on track to exceed the number of

sales closed during 2010, according to a report released today by the Utah Association of Realtors.

Utah Realtors sold 2,997 homes, townhomes and condominiums in August compared to 2,427 sold during August 2010. This is the biggest increase in sales since May of last year when buyers were rushing to finalize tax-crediteligible transactions. Year-to-date sales are up about 2 percent compared to last year. For the first eight months of the year, Utah Realtors sold 21,226 homes compared to 20,873 sold during the same period in 2010. The number of contracts signed to buy homes suggests the improvement in home sales will continue. Pending sales, which is a leading indicator, were up about 30 percent in August and about 6 percent year to date. More than 3,200 contracts were signed to buy homes in August, which, excluding the tax credit months of March 2010 and April 2010, is the highest level since July 2007.

The median price of homes sold in August was $175,000, down 10 percent compared to August 2010.

However, the median price has hovered around $175,000 since January. Another indicator that saw improvement was inventory.

The number of homes on the market fell more than 19 percent compared to last August. At the end of the month, there were 24,656 homes on the market. There have not been fewer properties on the market since May of 2007 when there were 23,295 properties for sale. Inventory levels were highest in 2008 when there were close to 35,000 homes on the market.

RETAIL • Harmons Grocery Stores

celebrated its 79th birthday with a food drive to benefit the Utah Food Bank during August of this year. The neighborhood grocery chain’s effort generated more than 33,000 pounds of food, providing 26,263 meals for Utahns in need.

For the drive, Harmons invited customers to purchase pre-filled $10 Food for Families grocery bags and donate them to the Food Bank, while still at the store.

SCIENCE • University of Utah organic

chemist Peter J. Stang has won a National Medal of Science — the highest U.S. honor for a scientist or engineer — and is tentatively scheduled to be honored by President Barack Obama at the White House later this year. Stang — whose family fled the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary when he was a teenager — was among seven scientists newly honored with the Medal of Science and

five inventors honored with a National Medal in Technology and Innovation. Stang was cited by the White House “for his creative contributions to the development of organic supramolecular chemistry and for his outstanding and unique record of public service.”

SPORTS/FITNESS • XSI Factory, Lehi, has

completed nearly $100,000 worth of renovations to its 70,000 square foot sports training facility. The remodel included new bathrooms and locker rooms, an upgraded fitness center, new paint, refinished flooring and a refinished and upgraded lobby.

XSI Factory is located at 4425 N. Thanksgiving Way; the facility offers five basketball courts, fitness classes, sports camps and leagues, a full-workout gym, USA certified boxing coaches, personal trainers and special training and skills techniques. The building can also be rented out as a venue for trade shows, concerts, sporting events, dances, and weddings.

TRANSPORTATION • Bountiful-based Logistics

Specialty Inc. is the only firm in the Small Business Administration’s Region Seven to be awarded funds in an SBA pilot program designed to help small businesses work together to compete for federal contracts, grow and create jobs. The Small Business Teaming Pilot Program, made possible by the Small Business Jobs Act, awards grants to organizations for training, counseling, and mentoring to help small businesses enter into teaming relationships and compete for larger federal contracts. Teaming may take the form of joint venture and mentor-protégé relationships.

Logistics Specialty was awarded $499,920.

15

The Enterprise

Oct. 3-9, 2011

Politics versus economics

They say “all politics is that many locally owned banks local.” But economic decisions could not successfully compete impact the whole economy and against. reverberate internationally. That But, limited and local as is why politicians’ meddling with such state banking laws were, the economy creates so many their impact was both national disasters. and catastrophic, when

The time horizon of thousands of American politics seldom reaches banks failed during the beyond the next election.

Great Depression of the But, in economics, when 1930s. The vast majoran oil company invests in ity of the banks that oil explorations today, the failed were in states that oil they eventually find had laws against branch and process may not make banking.

Thomas its way to market and earn

Why? Because, when Sowell a profit until it is sold as there is a single bank in gasoline a decade from a single place, the fate of now. both its depositors and its bor In short, the focus of pol- rowers depends on what happens iticians is extremely limited in there. If it is a wheat-growing both space and time — and all region, a drop in the price of the repercussions that lie beyond wheat means people deposit less those limits carry little, if any, money in the bank at the same weight in political decisions. time when more borrowers are

At one time, many state bank- unable to repay their loans. ing laws forbad a bank from hav- Banks caught in that kind of ing multiple branches. The goal crossfire went under on a scale that was limited and local — namely, shrank the total amount of credit in to prevent big, nationally known the country and helped plunge the banks from setting up branches national economy into depression.

In Canada, where banks were free to have branches all across the country, not one bank failed during the same years when thousands of American banks failed — and Canada did not yet have deposit insurance until 1967.

A Canadian bank with branches in all sorts of places across the country — with all sorts of different industry, commerce and agriculture — had their risks spread, instead of being concentrated, as in the United States.

Problems in a place where one branch was located would not collapse the whole bank.

Our own more recent housing boom and bust began when local politicians in various places began severely restricting the building of houses, in the name of “open space,” “smart growth” or whatever other political slogans were in vogue.

As housing prices skyrocketed in such places as coastal California, both renters and home buyers in these particular places often had to pay half their monthly

income just to put a roof over their heads. This in turn led to Washington politicians declaring a need for nationwide laws and policies to create “affordable housing,” even though people in most of the country were paying a lower share of their income for housing than in previous years.

This political crusade for “affordable housing” was at the heart of laws, regulations and even threats from the Department of Justice, against mortgage lenders who failed to lend to as many lowincome and minority borrowers as the politicians wanted them to.

Regardless of the additional problems that occurred as these mortgages were bought by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or were later bundled into securities sold

by Wall Street, the fundamental problem was that many people simply stopped making their mortgage payments — as was perfectly predictable when lending standards were forced down by the government.

The politicians and bureau-

crats who forced lenders to lower their standards had limited goals in mind — namely affordable housing and more minority home ownership. But the repercussions when the housing markets collapsed spread all across the American economy and led to financial crises overseas, where financial securities based on American mortgages were widely sold.

All politics may be local but the repercussions reach around the world, and even extend to generations yet unborn, who will be left to cope with the national debts resulting from this debacle.

Quick fixes for the economy now are unlikely to get investors to make job-creating investments, which depend on long-term factors ignored by politicians who are focused on the 2012 elections.

Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

Copyright 2011 Creators.com.

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