I’ve been concentrating on listening lately. I mean really listening, not doing what I usually do, which is to wait for the person I’m talking with to finish talking so that I can tell him all the great thoughts I was formulating, while he was talking. It’s not easy to listen, we are all so […]
YES! Finally, The State Department Shows Its Teeth About ITAR
I love it! A good friend of mine sent me this article he received in an email announcement from the law firm of WILLIAMS MULLINS. Read it and weep ITAR offenders! Law abiding companies rejoice! Check this out: State Department Announces Another Major ITAR Enforcement Case and $30 Million Penalty By: Thomas B. McVey On […]
The “We’re Behind Quota Already!” Emergency Crash PCB Sales Plan
So the year has started badly. You thought all that start of year pent up demand would have you rocking. But sales are thin and the funnel is pretty darn dry. You’re beating on your outside sales team and they are doing everything they can with their customer base. Or worse yet you don’t even […]
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 […]
Getting Your Money’s Worth From IPC Apex 2018
Here we go again, you’re heading down to sunny (hopefully, it seems to rain every time I’m there!) San Diego to seek your fame and fortune at IPC Apex 2018. Without a doubt you are investing a great deal of time and money (hotel rooms are about the price of a Fiat!) and you want […]
8 Reasons To Fire Your Principal
Sometimes a rep has to do what a rep has do to. Okay, so now it’s your turn. We have talked enough about making sure that you as a rep make yourself invaluable to your principal. We have gone on ad nausea about the various ways that reps disappoint the companies they represent. So now […]