I recently talked to a board shop owner who had a customer visit from a large military OEM. There were four younger engineers in the group and they had never been in a PCB shop before. When they were invited to tour the facility, they were actually stunned at the amount of equipment, people, […]
We Have Met The Enemy And It’s Our Employees
Some of you are not going to like this column. I know that. But with all due respect what I am going to say here needs to be said. So, listen up and read this with an open mind. As I have been talking to company owners the last six months, all of them by […]
Listening Again and Again
Every now and then I feel the urge to write about listening. Yes, that great art, of not only listening but going the extra mile and hearing. I know that I have done a column on this subject before, actually maybe about once a year. But it still needs to be brought up, maybe for […]
Salespeople Say The Darndest Things
If we only had (whatever it is your company doesn’t have) I could double my forecast. Your product is your product, sell what you have, not what you don’t have. If we only had the spec or qualification we could double our sales, everyone is asking for it now. Same as the last excuse. Sell […]
Yes Virginia, Marketing Does Work Even When You Think It Doesn’t
I have to laugh when one of my customers says that his marketing doesn’t work. Does this sound familiar? “I placed an ad in 007 for three months and got nothing”, not even a phone call. Or this, “Yeah, yeah we did a newsletter once and I did not get a single order.” Or my […]
Keeping Your New Hire For Life
You have searched high and low, you have recruited, interviewed, selected, and negotiated to the point where you have your new employee and then finally you have put her through a formal new hire orientation and training program, you have assigned her a mentor and now she is a full fledged member of your team. […]
Employee Orientation and Training
Now that you have spent all that time and effort finding the right candidate the next step is to make sure she has a proper orientation to not only your company but the industry as well. I’ll preface this column to point out that this will be focused on electronics manufacturing and that this program […]
Working Remotely: The Future Is Here To Stay
Those of you who still cannot get your head around allowing some of your people to work remotely are limiting yourself. If you are stuck on having people in your company offices fulltime, you are truly limiting yourselves when it comes to hiring the best people. Of course, there are line workers who cannot work […]
Hiring That Key New Employee: Closing The Deal
You have done your homework. You planned, searched, found, vetted and interviewed and finally you have the right candidate. You have the right person, the person who you feel is perfect for the position. Now it’s time to close the deal. It’s time to make that offer, negotiate the compensation package, and bring the person […]
Be A Connoisseur Of Talent
Tom Peters still has it. In doing research for the best way to hire good and talented individuals in these tough times, I went to my library and found a copy of Tom Peters’ book Professional Service 50 published over twenty years ago in 1999. Even now twenty-three years later Peters still has it right. […]