What do Brad Pitt, Anna Kendrick, Gillian Anderson, Britney Spears, Matthew Perry, Mayim Balik, Mark Hamill, Chris Pratt, Daniel Radcliffe, Robert Pattinson, and David Duchovny all have in common? Think about that for a minute…or a million years and you will never get it. Okay, give it? They are all “AFOL’s” …no not awful (my […]
Never Get Mad At A Customer
There is nothing dumber you can do than getting mad at a customer. What is the point? These days when it is harder than ever to get a new customer and even harder to keep that customer amidst the barrage of competition coming for all sides there is nothing more counter-productive than getting mad at […]
Sales Is All About Trust
Building trust with your customers will make them customers for life No matter what else you do for your customers, you have to build trust. If you can get your customers to trust you they will stay with you for life…yes, even if you change companies. Over the years and in many columns, we have […]
Working From Home
With things being what they are, we all need to get more intentional in what we are doing, especially those of us in sales. We’ve talked about how we are all hunkered down, and how we can’t get out to see customers. We’ve also talked about what we can do in the meantime: Communicate through […]
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 […]
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? […]
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 […]
Don’t Give Your PCBs Away!
Look I know getting business is hard. I know that you’re biggest problem is always having enough business and I certainly know that most of our customers pride themselves in buying the cheapest circuit board that money can buy. But still that is no excuse to give away your boards. You have got to make […]
The Best Companies Earn Their Higher 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 […]
What Goes Around…
This column is meant for those companies 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 […]