Nothing happens by accident anymore, especially when it comes to sales. It used to be so much simpler; you’d buy a good directory, circle those companies that would make good prospects, call them, set up a meeting, go see them and if you did a pretty good job in that meeting you’d get a quote […]
Embrace Change/ Embrace Success
“I always wondered why somebody didn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody” Lily Tomlin Oh, that dreaded word “CHANGE” I have seen companies go out of business, rather than change. I have seen people suffer from all kinds of physical ailments, rather than change. I have seen whole marketing plans get […]
The Game Of Sales
Managing a sales team is just like managing a sports team. You strive to put the best team on the field and then manage them to greatness. It means just like a sports team you must deal with all the team members as individuals figuring out how to handle each of them from the […]
Getting Your Customers To Sell For You: A Step By Step Plan
Getting your customer to brag about your company, and your services, is the best form of advertising that there is. You can tell people how great you are until you’re blue in the face and you might get someone to listen, but get your customers to brag about you and everyone will listen. The trick […]
What The Heck Is Wrong With PCB Shops Making Money?
In a recent column I talked about board shops making money and how upset our customers were at the very thought of their board shop vendors making money. Many times over the years I have heard our customers complaining bitterly about how much money we make. They seem to think that all the shops […]
APEX 2020: A Great Time To Kick Off Your Marketing.
Here we are again. We’re just a week away the IPC APEX Expo in San Diego. This is our time, this is our show, this is it, time to get together with everyone else in the industry and get a quick overview of what’s going on out there. No matter what your year has been […]
Are Your Customers Speaking For You?
Most people will tune out when you tell them how great your company is. The will even turn you off if you spend too much time talking about all of the great things your company can do for them. And they will practically throw you out of their office when you start to pull the […]
The Paid Audition
I read recently that 48% of all customers feel that the most critical time for a company to gain their loyalty is based on the first order. So, half of your customers are going to decide if they want to keep working with you based on that first order. Man, is that pressure or what? […]
Selling On Price Is A Losers Game
If you prospect for price you are going to get price oriented customers. You are only going to “buy” your way into an account and yes, you are going to set the precedent for the life of that account. So says Mark Hunter in his classic book High-Profit Prospecting published by Amacom. And allow me […]
PCBs, PCBs, Everywhere You Look!
It was the holidays, and everyone was out buying presents and gifts. A great time of the year! On Christmas morning as we sat by the roaring fire and opened our gifts, I started to count the number of printed circuits we received. For twelve people, 65 gifts had printed circuits in them. Just our […]