It always amazes me that the same people who claim to be building the best products on the market today are also the ones who want to buy the cheapest ingredients they can. Think of your customers, how many of them have told you this… “We are building the best Missile, MRI, Automobile, Computer than […]
Putting Together Your Team
What do the Boston Red Sox, The New England Patriots, and the Chicago Cubs all have in common? Besides all being winners (and my three favorite teams) they have won by building teams synergistically. By that I mean they build teams by putting the team in front of individual players that way making the team […]
Book Review – We Are Market Basket: The story of the unlikely grassroots movement that saved a beloved business
A book review from Dan Beaulieu: We Are Market Basket: The story of the unlikely grassroots movement that saved a beloved business By: Daniel Korschun and Grant Welker A business book that reads like a novel How many times does a business book read like a novel? Actually it read more like an adventure story. The […]
Elevating The Conversation With Your Customers
So we all think we are doing a pretty good getting to know our customers right? We think because we know what market they are in and what they build and have some sort of idea of what they need we are in pretty good shape right? Well I hate to break it to you […]
Let’s Talk Leadership
Do you ever sit back and wonder what kind of leader you are? Are the people who work for you inspired by you or are they there with you because you are the only game in town? Would they stay with you if another very similar company opened up across the street? Think about that, […]
Book Review: The Inventor’s Dilemma: The Remarkable Life of H. Joseph Gerber
The Inventor’s Dilemma: The Remarkable Life of H. Joseph Gerber by David Gerber Copyright 2015 Yale University Press Pages: 400 and Index This is the story of the man who changed our industry. Everyone in the PCB industry should read this book. All of us who have heard about, talked about, and used “Gerbers” for our […]
What Do Your Customers Really Think Of You?
As always, it’s all about the customers and more importantly, it really gets down to what your customers think about you. I want you to really think about this for a minute or two. What do your customers think about your company? What do they think about how you do business? Would they recommend you […]
We Have To Work Together Or Else!
Two shopkeepers were bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other, and they would spend each day keeping track of each other’s business. If one got a customer, he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said, […]
Book Review – Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and other Difficult People
A book review from Dan Beaulieu: Leading the Unleadable: How to Manage Mavericks, Cynics, Divas, and other Difficult People by Alan Willett This is the book you’ve been looking for…even if you don’t know it. I approached this book with a bit of trepidation. I wasn’t sure what this was going to be about. But […]
Selling Value Is Always Valuable
Looking at the title of this column, you might be saying to yourself, “Thank you, Captain Obvious,” but stop and think for a minute. What can you offer that goes way beyond the product itself? What can you offer that will get your customer thinking beyond price issues? What do you have to offer that […]