Being the best will get you the best prices. You have to be better than everyone else. You have to be better than everyone else to win the business; not only win it, but keep it. If you are good, very good, you can be good enough to get past the price issue. If your […]
This Is Not Rocket Science: Give Your Customers What They Need
To succeed in business today especially a custom business where you’re making products based on not your designs but the customers’ designs you have to be flexible. You have to listen to what your customers want today and what they are going to need tomorrow and customize your offerings to meet those needs. This concept […]
The Devil Is In The Details
So often we only talk about the obvious tools and tactics we need to be a successful sales person, so much so, that we overlook some of the smaller details that could help us be successful, those that could give us an edge over our competition. They say that the devil is in the details […]
Get Out Of Those Doldrums: Dare To Make That Next Move
Okay, you’re in a meeting with your management team. You’re all trying to figure out how to make your company outstanding, so that you can get off that plateau you’ve been hanging around on for the past three years. Your numbers have been flat, your company has been flat and for the most part your […]
Your Executives Should Visit Customers
Yes, sales managers have to visit customers. In fact General Managers and Presidents and Quality Managers and yes, even owners need to visit customers whenever they get the opportunity. Why are we happy to just sit back and have our sales people do customer translations for us? Why are we happy or often unhappy with […]
The Building Blocks Of A Great Company: Business Values
There are many ways to run a business, many ways to develop the direction of that business. The strategy, and the tactics it will take to be successful vary from company to company. They say that the best way to start a business is to find a need and fill it. Obviously, this is true, […]
Random Acts Of Kindness
Getting caught doing the right thing Has this happened to you? Someone in front of you at the toll booth pays your toll? Gives you a good feeling doesn’t it? Or, you get your car serviced and the mechanic notices that your tires are low on air and takes the liberty to fill them […]
To Win, You Have To Have Courage
The more I work with companies the more I realize that all this talk about having courage and not being afraid to do the right thing when it needs to be done is true. From when it’s time to hire someone, or to reprimand someone or yes, the worst one of all to fire some […]
On Being A Leader
Do you ever sit back and wonder what kind of leader you are? Are the people who work for you inspired by you or are they there with you because you are the only game in town? Would they stay with you if another very similar company opened up across the street? Think about that, […]
If We Don’t Work Together, We May Not Work At All
We have a problem in this PCB industry of ours. We are so focused on beating the other guy, that we don’t spend much time working on how we can make our own companies better. In fact, we are always so focused on disrespecting our competitors that we would rather see them fail than succeed. […]