Scott Blanke, majority owner and president of Bank-A-Count in Rudolph, says his company is a well-kept local secret.

Bank-A-Count provides products like checks, payment coupons and monthly billing coupons for banks, credit unions and businesses across the country. Because Bank-A-Count deals primarily with businesses, and the nature of the corporation means security must be high, most people in the Rudolph area don’t know it exists, Blanke said. The company does have a small sales force on the road, but most of its business is transactions over the telephone or on the web.

Q: Why is your business special?

A: We serve just about every state in the country. We have about 1,000 clients in a typical month. We do most of our business through the website. Our specialty is high-quality, personalized customer service. The company has been in business since 1955 and has evolved its product line numerous times to change with the changing business world.

Q: Why have you chosen central Wisconsin as a place to do business?

A: The company was founded by a local banker out of Rudolph in the mid-1950s, and the business grew. When the owners retired in 2004, their wish was to keep the business local, so they offered it to local investors.

Q: What’s your long-term vision for the company?

A: To remain local, to grow our business and to continue to support our staff as they develop and grow in their careers. The secret to our success has not been our products, but it has been our staff and our wish to give them the resources to continue to grow in their jobs and do well. Being in the print business, our world has changed dramatically several times over the years, and our staff has stepped up to the challenges. They’ve turned the challenges into opportunities.

Q: What might people be surprised to learn about your business?

A: First of all, they’d be surprised to learn the checks they get at their banks are printed locally.

I think they would be surprised at the level of our data processing skills. We have a tremendous staff of website developers and programmers. Our business is heavily data processing-driven. They might think we’re simple printers, but there is more data processing then printing.

Q: What does your business bring to the local economy and community?

A: For our small staff, we provide reliable and consistent employment. Our average tenure here is about 13 years, and we’re growing, so there’s a number of new employees. Our average age is 43.

We actually purchase the vast majority of our raw materials locally. We use local vendors in Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids. The majority of our materials comes from within a 100 mile radius.