Okay, it’s that time again, time to take a peek into the future and see what is happening, and about to happen in our world. This time, these peeks into the future come from an excellent new book called Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving Today’s Big Disruptions, by Mark Penn. Author Penn, has […]
How To Get – And Keep – Independent Sales Reps
For years now I have been working with reps acting as the liaison between them and the circuit board shops I work with. During that time I have seen the interest the reps have in working with board shops diminish as quickly as the market for fax machines. Most reps seem to have lost it […]
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 […]
50 Reasons We Don’t Need Marketing And Sales
Here are some of the dumber things I have heard from people about marketing and sales: I think I’ll place one ad in a trade magazine do you think that will be worth the money? I sent out a hundred sales letters and only received ten responses and five orders. We decided to make this […]
Great Business Lessons From Television
I have always said that I am suspicious of anybody who does not eat meat or does not own a television. I am especially suspicious of those who say they don’t watch television. I am not sure what kind of brownie points they think they are getting for not watching TV or what they […]
PCB Designers Should Know How a PCB Is Built
Yes, I know I have said this before, but I hate the idea that some people consider the printed circuit board a commodity. That this electronic component is nothing more than a “green plastic card” a platform for the almighty components. Many, not all, designers, pride themselves on their strategic ignorance of the printed circuit […]
More Dumb Stuff You Should Never Say!
There is never a shortage of dumb things people say. In fact, no matter what is going on in our business, good or bad, up or down, scary or comforting, there is always somebody somewhere who will say something dumb about something. And I’m not even talking about the current political atmosphere where a collection […]
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. […]
Peeking Into The Future: The Future Is Here Now!
I like to read anything I can get my hands on, when it comes to predicting technology of the future. I have been doing this since discovering Alvin Toffler’s ground-breaking book Future Shock, decades ago. Since then, I have read several books predicting the future, and so many of the things they talked about in […]
The Future of The North American PCB Industry Is Up To You
No matter what happens in the world, success is up to you There are about 230 boards shops left in North America and out of those about 175 of them are at $10 Million or less and out of those about a 100 are at $5 Million or less and out of those 25 are […]