This column is meant for those customers who need printed circuit boards but don’t want to communicate with the PCB shops directly. It’s meant for those customers who believe that a PCB is just a thin piece of green plastic that anyone can build. This is for those companies who feel that the board shops […]
The Best Companies Command The Best Prices
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 […]
How Do You Know Your Board Shop Is A Good One?
Characteristics of a great board shop I have worked with well over one hundred PCB shops over my twenty years as a sales and marketing consultant. Some have been well run while others, well not so much. But, over that time I have been able to observe and differentiate the great ones from the ones […]
The World’s Worst Sales Person
Stay away from this person at all costs! During the course of writing this column I have always focused on great sales people. What their characteristics are; what it takes to find great sales people; how to incentivize them, how to keep them motivated and how to make sure they are kept happy, inspired and […]
A Small Rant: Get Over Yourself And Hire Some Salespeople
Man, how many times I am going to have to say this? For those of you loyal readers who have been checking out this column for years I apologize in advance and won’t blame you if you want to sit this one out because you’ve read it all before right here and yes too many […]
Six Game Changing Trends For The New Year
As we start preparing our companies for a new year; 2019 is just around the corner, and smart companies are already deep into their strategic planning for the new year. It is important that we look at all trends that 2019 will bring and develop our strategies around these trends. If you’re not already planning […]
Respect Your Board Builder
Do you know how to buy PCBs? Do you know how a PCB is built? Do you know the difference between a great PCB supplier and a mediocre or lousy one? Are you one of those companies that hate buying PCB’s, hate even dealing with PCB shops, equating them to dealing with your local DMV, […]
Hey Kids, Listen up! (Some Advice For Millennials)
Don’t you love getting advice from grey beards like me? I bet you can’t wait to hear our war stories abut the good old days, right? I’m sure you just sit there and listen politely until our backs are turned and then your eyes just about roll out of your head. I know, I know, […]
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 […]
Ideas For The Future
Last week I talked about some of the trends we are following into the future. Most of these came from an excellent book by Mark Penn and Meredith Fineman titled Microtrends Squared: The new small forces driving today’s big disruptions. What should be of interest to all of us is how these changes are going […]