NFIB

Wisconsin Small Biz Owner Does Heavy Lifting to Prepare for Important Visitors
08/12/2003

When Gary Conger got the call to see if his business could host a visit from three U.S. cabinet secretaries in just less than one week, he thought someone was playing a joke on him.

"I couldn't believe it when Bill Smith [NFIB/Wisconsin's state director] asked if I could have the event here," says Conger, the second-generation owner of Green Bay, Wis.-based Conger Toyotalift (www.conger.com). "When he told me they needed room for about 50 people I said that it sounded interesting, but that our conference room only held about 10 people."

Bill Smith was looking for a venue to host Secretary of Commerce Don Evans, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao and Secretary of the Treasury John Snow. All were visiting businesses across the country as a part of the "Jobs and Growth Tour," touting the importance of the recent tax package passed by President Bush. The plan is expected to help small business owners and the entire economy by reducing personal income tax rates; quadrupling small business expensing limits and cutting dividend and capital-gains rates.

After hanging up the phone, Conger walked down the hall to his daughter's office to tell her about the unusual request. "Dad, you can't pass this up," she told him. "Call them back, and say we'll do it."

For the next week, the 50 employees at Conger Toyotalift busied themselves preparing for the visit. They cleaned up their service area and made room for the event. They skirted the tables and decorated a forklift with a huge American flag.

"It was a tremendous opportunity for me," says Conger, a member of NFIB for almost 13 years.

"Gary was so professional and thorough," says NFIB's Bill Smith. "He was thinking of appropriate arrangements before I could. He really went the extra mile to make it a successful event."

Conger Toyotalift was the perfect venue for such an event. Conger himself has benefited directly from the increased expense limits, as have his customers. After the expensing limits were passed, a longtime customer who normally leased equipment from Conger's company decided to purchase the equipment instead.

What services does your business provide?
Conger was established by my parents, Lloyd and Dorothy Conger, in 1955. At the time we sold replacement parts and did repairs on forklift trucks. Today, we're still a family-owned full line material handling company. We sell conveyers, loading dock equipment and new and used forklifts. We also do rentals. We employ 50 people.

Do you employ family members? How many?
My sister is office manager. She has been with us 27 years. My daughter is in the business as well. She has been here about five years.

Tell us a little about your business: interesting facts, changes you've seen, things you've endured.
The most interesting part of my job is that I get to see all different types and styles of companies. I don't just service one industry. I sell to businesses in retail, manufacturing and the service industry. In one day, I may be in a paper plant, a foundry and a cheese-processing company. It's very interesting to get to see all the different kinds of business.

Why did you join NFIB?
I joined NFIB about 13 years ago. I keep my membership because I feel like they've played an important role in my business. They keep me informed about what's happening, and they lobby for my business. I've dropped out of other groups I've belonged to in the past, but I've made a conscious decision to keep my NFIB membership.

Tell us your number one legislative concerns on the state and federal levels.
That's easy: Health care. My health care insurance costs are increasing by $100,000 this year. In this economy, the only place that money can come from is my bottom line. I don't know what the answer is myself. There's not a simple one. But something has to happen to help small businesses struggling to provide health care coverage to their employees. When the secretaries visited my business last week, I gave them each a letter to take back to President Bush expressing my concern about the costs and burdens that increased health care premiums place on my business.

Why do you like being a small business owner?
I get to see all the facets of a business. I have a complete view of what a business is. If I were in a large company, I'd only see a small niche.