When was the last time you sat around with your team talking about how you could produce better products and services for your customers? I mean doing things better, making the customers experience extraordinary and putting the “wow” factor in your products. I would guess never. We are all so busy just trying to meet […]
Listen Up Or Lose Out
Listen up or lose out, is not only the title of this column, its not only the title of a great new book I just came across, but it’s also the best advice that you can give anyone no matter what their field of business is. And, of course it is especially cogent advice for […]
Who Is The Customer…Really?
Great question that. If you buy into the golden rule, not that “who has the gold wins” rule, but the real one, “do unto others as you have them do unto you”, then just about everyone you deal with is your customer, and yes you should treat everyone as a customer, because that is the […]
Where Will We Be In Five Years?
A friend of mine got me thinking the other day when he asked me what I thought the North American PCB industry would look like five years from now. That’s an intriguing question isn’t it? A question that I decided to really think about for the next few days. Certainly, I knew already that the […]
Great Leaders Do These Things
I once had a boss who wanted to sit in his office all day, never participate in any meetings and then ask us, his managers, to write long tediously detailed reports and give them to him so he would know what was going on. In short he wanted to know everything we were doing without […]
The Perfect Customer
If only… If only our customers understood us, Oh, what a wonderful world that would be! We have spent a great deal of time in this column talking about the perfect sales person, and the perfect fabricator and the perfect customer service person, so I thought it would be interested, and only fair, to write […]
Time Tested Methods That Cause PCB Companies To Crater
I know it sounds pretty brutal but hey I have to use any method I can to get your attention, because the fact is if you don’t change your ways you will go out of business in the next twelve months. Don’t get me wrong, there are opportunities out there, more of them than there […]
Kindness Is A Killer App
“There is only one rule I know of and that is to be kind.” – Kurt Vonnegut And I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Vonnegut. Anything else is a complete waste of time. Fighting and feuding with people is not only counter-productive but exhausting. Lawsuits are detrimental to your health. Holding a grudge is like drinking […]
What To Look For In A Business Partner
When you struck out on your own and started your rep firm you had to decide just how large you wanted to firm to be. Many people just strike out on their own and go solo for a while. After a time once the company has successfully launched they might want to find an appropriate […]