Focus on our Customers: Fun Services! For Spectacular Events!

This series of original articles focuses on our local business customers, employees and other areas of interest to our communities including local initiatives and non-profit organizations. We hope that you will find these interesting and informative, and that you will share them with your friends and colleagues via social media or by free subscriptions. It’s easy – just enter your email address or click on the Share on Facebook icon!

Jackie and Matt Hatty have fun at work every single day!

That’s because they own and operate a dynamic party planning and event business called Fun Services based in Woodhaven, Michigan.  Specializing in fairs, carnivals, corporate events and school fundraising programs, clients can relax and have fun while the event planning and operational logistics are managed for them.

Jackie’s father, well known local businessman Joe Pitrone, started the company in 1969 along with his wife Jeanine.  The Pitrone clan, including four daughters, lived in Trenton. A big community supporter, Pitrone was active as a Jaycee and was also a member of the Trenton Rotary Club.

Jackie, president, and her husband Matt, vice president, purchased the company from her parents in 1989, making it a continuing  family affair – especially since their five children are also involved to one degree or another.

“Jackie had worked in the business all along and always had a passion for it. Plus, both of our parents ran their own businesses. We saw the hard work it took but we also saw the advantages. So we took the plunge and have never regretted it,” Matt explained.  “Originally, it was a franchise but I would describe it today as more like a distributorship. There are about 40 operations nationwide, and we have two colleagues in Michigan – one near Battle Creek and one in Grand Rapids.

“School programs are a large part of our business. Santa’s Secret Shop® and our Holiday Gift Shop® are particular favorites. Parent volunteers help children to select Christmas and holiday gifts for family members (and even pets) ranging from 25 cents to $10.00 with the majority in the $1.00 to $5.00 price range. The children are proud to choose their high quality gifts ‘in secret’. We find that this program aids in teaching children budgeting, counting and decision-making. And it’s turnkey. We provide everything the school needs to be successful including promotional materials, fliers, posters, decorative gift bags, delivery and pick up, plus our Express Check Out system for inventory and billing.”

Both programs offer customizable gift selections, all of which comply with safety regulations. Schools can choose their own items and same day reorders are standard. Sports items are popular and there are numerous choices available in lower price ranges.

Other popular offerings for school, church, corporate and home parties include carnival games and prizes; inflatable bouncers, slides and obstacle courses; photo booths and cash cubes; dunk tanks; and concessions like cotton candy, sno cones and popcorn.

Plus Fun Services provides tents, tables and chairs for private and corporate parties – a real necessity for graduations, family reunions, and other major outdoor events.

In addition to an office facility, Fun Services operates from a 4,800 square foot warehouse, and has a fleet of vehicles including vans, trailers and a box truck for transporting equipment. The company has six employees total, plus an additional two to three dozen seasonal employees during the summer months and throughout the holidays.

“The economy has been a challenge recently, especially in the corporate special events segment of the business,” Matt stated. “But it’s slowly starting to come back. We’ve done some really fun picnics and carnivals for lots of different clients. We have about a 1 ½ hour reach as we cover clients throughout Southeast Michigan and the Toledo area.”

“We have provided lots of fun and created lots of smiles for long time customers such as Anderson Elementary and St. Joe’s schools in Trenton, the Hunter Elementary School in Woodhaven, and Monroe County Community College. We also work with local companies such as Ford Motor Company, DTE Energy, and Flat Rock Metal to provide entertainment for their community events, customer appreciation celebrations and employee picnics,” Jackie added.

Fun Services also supports the local area charitably and regularly sponsors, for example, Trenton Rotary Club’s ‘Roar on the River’ boat race by providing the Children’s Fun Fair area – assisted by Monroe Bank & Trust’s ENLIST volunteers. The company is also actively involved with the Trenton Educational Foundation, among other organizations.

“We think it’s important to be part of the community and to give back,” Matt said. “In addition to sponsorships, we often supply gifts or merchandise to help charities. We’re also active in the business community and are members of the Southern Wayne County Chamber of Commerce, the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Detroit Visitors and Convention Bureau. We like to be involved. Recently, to help out, we donated our photo booth for the SWCCC Black Tie Expo and the Trenton Rotary Club’s Winter Beach Blast event – always a hit! We enjoy being able to assist when we can.”

Matt’s advice for business owners is to have a cast iron stomach. “You’re going to need one to get through the tough times,” he explained. “You have to have a passion for what you do and really want to do it. And you need to be sure that you have adequate capital and resources behind you.

“For example, we’ve had a banking relationship with MBT for years. It really helps to have a personal banking relationship with people who care about you and your business when you need loans or lines of credit – or even for deposit banking. Jackie and I wear a lot of hats at work, so we need advisors we can trust and rely on.”

Jackie and Matt live in Trenton with their children: Matthew (24) who attended Hillsdale College and recently received a Master in Music Composition from Bowling Green University; Christine (22), a graduate of Central Michigan University; Mitchell (19), a student at Central Michigan University; Caroline (16), a student at Trenton High School; and Max (12), a student at Arthur Middle School.

For your next party or event, please contact Fun Services! They’re located at 20430 Van Horn Road in Woodhaven, Michigan. They can be reached by telephone at (734) 671-5960, by email at funservices@comcast.net, or on the web at www.funservicesofmichigan.com.

Focus on our Customers: Sachse Construction – Pursuing Excellence by Constantly Raising the Bar

This series of original articles focuses on our local business customers, employees and other areas of interest to our communities including local initiatives and non-profit organizations. We hope that you will find these interesting and informative, and that you will share them with your friends and colleagues via social media or by free subscriptions. It’s easy – just enter your email address or click on the Share on Facebook icon!

Todd Sachse, president and active owner of Sachse Construction headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan, has four core values that drive him and his company: Do the right thing; pursue excellence by constantly raising the bar; have passion and enthusiasm; and do whatever it takes.

The philosophy has paid off as the operation has grown from the construction company founded in 1991 to an enterprise that includes Broder and Sachse Real Estate Services, a property management company; Stuart Mechanical, an HVAC company; Brewster Maintenance, a commercial maintenance and repair company; and Zolman Restoration, an insurance restoration company. The enterprise now employs approximately 180 people.

Sachse is a born entrepreneur with an incredible work ethic – plus boundless energy. Originally planning to be a doctor since he was 10 years old, he attended the University of Michigan in premed and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology and Zoology in 1985. While in college, he also taught biochemistry as a teaching assistant and continued to grow a window washing company that he started while he was still in high school.

“I continued to operate A1 Cleaning Systems and also expanded to add maid and janitorial companies with offices in Ann Arbor and Farmington Hills. I was accepted into medical school but changed my mind and decided to focus on my companies instead. I started buying student rental properties in Ann Arbor in 1987, and served as the property manager. Then in 1989, I had an opportunity to build a 100 unit apartment complex – which I knew nothing about!

“So I hired an architect and superintendent, and basically worked as the assistant superintendent. In the meantime, I would start the day at my cleaning company in Ann Arbor at about 6:00 am, spend most of the day on the apartment complex job site, then go to Farmington Hills at 4:00 pm to close the maid and window washing business, and return to Ann Arbor at about 11 pm to set up for the next day. And I also ran a telemarketing operation to sell our services four nights a week. It was crazy. I sold the cleaning companies in 1991 and then started Sachse Construction the same year. We got our first job in December, so we really started to take off in 1992.”

Sachse credits much of his business success to his people. “We recruit and fire based on our core values. We have great, high caliber, energetic people who are challenged by our focus on ‘doing the impossible’. We sell who we are, not what we do. It’s all about ethics and how you operate and treat people,” he explained.

“I always tell our customers that I guarantee that we will make a mistake, but I promise that we will do the right thing. We obsess over every detail, and we’re even more obsessed by constantly striving to get better. No one is a bigger critic of us than us. It’s exhausting because we’re never satisfied. It’s the details that separate the good from the great. If you want to hire the ‘Good Enough Construction Company’, we’re not it.”

Part of the company culture is embodied in their mascot named Ray Z. Bar. “We have a number of ‘Rayisms’, one of which is ‘Say yes we can’. Yes is a powerful word, and we use it to explain to customers that we can do what they wish – although there might be a cost involved. Another of Ray’s sayings is ‘no done but’. If there’s a ‘but’ involved, then it’s not done,” Sachse stated.

Today, Sachse Construction is licensed in 43 states plus Canada, and is a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) green builder with LEED accredited professionals. Clients include retailers like Nike and Louis Vuitton; restaurants; airports including Detroit Metropolitan and Washington Reagan International; office and industrial buildings; medical centers; multi-family apartments and condominiums; hotels; and educational facilities.

A recent project was the new Whole Foods in Midtown Detroit on Mack Ave. This is a 21,000 square foot, ground up, luxury grocery store - the first in Detroit.

Notably, Sachse Construction is consistently listed as one of Metropolitan Detroit’s 101 Best & Brightest Places To Work, partly due to a very active employee outreach committee.

Employees are very involved with charitable and community projects, and have raised over $180,000 for organizations including the Make A Wish Foundation, the Michigan Humane Society, the Bear Hug Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute and the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center. The company also works with Toys for Tots, the Head Start program and Habitat for Humanity as well as aiding local families and victims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina.

In addition to the people and the creative aspect of the business, Sachse noted that one of the reasons he loves construction is because it is the only industry (with the exception of an illegal one) that hasn’t changed in five thousand years. “We still build things one brick at a time. We use our bare hands. Men and women weld steel, place brick, and paint walls. There’s no other way to do it. Every other industry you can think of has changed,” he said.

“And I’m happy to be working with Monroe Bank & Trust for loans, lines of credit and retail banking to continue to grow. We had been working with a regional bank and it became a nightmare. MBT is easy to work with and responsive. It’s a breath of fresh air,” he added.

Sachse’s advice for people is simple. “Get up every day and work hard. Anyone in the United States who does that can be successful. You might start off planting shrubs and wind up owning a landscaping business, or you might flip burgers and become an owner or manager,” he noted.

Sachse resides in Huntington Woods with his wife, Karen, and their three children: daughters Erica (21) and Laura (18), who both attend the University of Pennsylvania, and son Jason (16) who attends Berkeley High School.

Sachse Construction Company is located at 260 E. Brown Street Suite 200, Birmingham, Michigan, 48009

Call them at 248.647.4200 or visit them on the web at  http://www.sachse.net/index.php/about-us

Focus on our Customers: Monroe Bank & Trust Business Services – Helping Our Customers Thrive!

This series of original articles focuses on our local business customers, employees and other areas of interest to our communities including local initiatives and non-profit organizations. We hope that you will find these interesting and informative, and that you will share them with your friends and colleagues via social media or by free subscriptions. It’s easy – just enter your email address or click on the Share on Facebook icon!

The energetic and professional Business Services team at Monroe Bank & Trust has a singular focus – helping their customers thrive by developing and offering products and services designed to help them manage their banking more efficiently.

The group works with businesses of all sizes – from single proprietors to very large, complex institutions - to help them manage their daily cash needs, invest, and make more informed financial decisions.

The team offers state-of-the-art cash management solutions, such as online banking and automatic bill payment options, merchant services, wholesale lockbox, remote deposit, commercial credit cards, and a wide array of payroll and human resource services.

Vice President and Business Services Group Manager Christien Brow leads the team and states that most of their customers have been referred to them by MBT branch managers or commercial lenders. “We pride ourselves on being accessible with a very fast turn-around time for both internal and external requests,” she stated. “We regularly train our branch personnel about our products and services so that they can help their customers determine what solutions might be best for them. And we conduct reviews with our customers at least annually to be sure that those solutions are still working.

“One of our most popular services is eBusiness Access Online Banking which allows customers to access their accounts 24/7 over the internet. This solution allows customers to view their statements in real time, transfer funds between institutions, execute wire transfers, and download and print statements, among other options. It’s extremely convenient and secure. Over the past few years, eBusiness Access users have grown from about 300 to over 3,000 – a testament to the efficiency and ease of use of online banking.”

Brow went on to add that another popular service is eBusiness Deposit. As a number of customers are not in close proximity to an MBT branch, this option provides a convenient solution for everyday banking. eBusiness Deposit allows customers to scan checks and electronically submit deposits from their offices, and receive same day credit if submitted before 6 pm on a bank business day.

“Additionally, many of our business customers are looking for efficient ways to quickly convert in store or on site payments into cash, so in many cases we can provide next-day funding through our Merchant Services option. Transactions that are processed by 8:30 pm are credited to the customer’s account the next business day. Customers can be set up to process their payments via traditional point-of-sale terminals, or via phone and websites. And we also offer mobile processing through wireless terminals and smart phone devices,” Brow explained.

The Business Services team also has a dedicated public funds professional who works exclusively with municipalities and government agencies to ensure that their specific and unique needs are met with maximum efficiency – from cash management to investments. Reviews are done on a regular basis to assist with funds management.

A particularly unique, powerful and innovative offering is MBT Business Solutions. In partnership with WorkLife HR®, the service provides payroll administration, human resources management, employee benefit options and plans, and retirement plans for business owners of all sizes. Business owners can take advantage of a free, no obligation assessment to identify potential threats, suggest ways to reduce risk and provide guidance, and to see if the service is right for them.

“This is a very exciting product – and an opportunity for businesses to significantly reduce the huge amounts of time spent on employment-related paperwork. For example, according to the Department of Labor, one out of three businesses pays a penalty each year for payroll errors. By outsourcing human resource management and payroll administration, the business owner can avoid those costly errors and focus on the areas of the business that actually make money,” Brow stated. “It allows business owners and managers to focus on other areas like marketing, sales and execution without worrying about having to be a specialist in all of the employment related areas,” Brow added.

In addition to Brow, MBT’s Business Services Group is comprised of six additional team members: Heather Burkhart, Business Services Support Officer; Jamie Cormier, Business Services Support Clerk; Angel Gibson, Assistant Vice President Business Services Representative; Mallory Hines, Receptionist; Marci Laney, Assistant Vice President Business Services Representative; and Jen Langenderfer, Assistant Vice President Public Funds Representative. 

Vicki Franzen, Senior Vice President and Group Services Manager, who oversees the Business Services Group as well as Retail Lending and the Mortgage Department, stated, “Beyond a shadow of a doubt, this is a phenomenal team. Christien leads with tremendous professionalism and the success of the Business Services Group is totally due to the strength of the staff. Everyone is committed to doing the right thing for customers both internally and externally, and their responsiveness is second to none. I’m extremely proud of each of them and appreciate their dedication and enthusiasm.”

Brow added, “I love working with this group because we can focus solely on our business, municipal and institutional customers. We have a great partnership with our commercial lenders and our branch personnel, and we love working with them as an advisor and partner to deliver great service to MBT customers. It’s also fun to see how we’ve been able to help businesses and the people who operate and manage them. It’s a wonderful place to work.”

Brow holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Michigan State University and spent time in medical and pharmaceutical sales before pursuing a career in banking. She transitioned to MBT from Main Street Bank in 2009, and resides in Livonia with her husband, Jeff; daughter, Ella; and son, William.

Visit MBT’s Business Services Group on the web at http://www.mbandt.com/BusinessBanking.aspx, call them at (800)-321-0032, or email at customerservice@mbandt.com.