Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

It’s Only Common Sense: Go the Extra Mile and Give Customers What They Need

We know it’s tough getting appointments. It’s even tougher getting people to answer the phone; once you do get that appointment or that phone call you run up against a stone wall composed of people who do not want to be sold. People are not only terrified of sales pitches, they hate them. If a salesperson comes anywhere near trying to get someone to buy something, the person he’s talking to will turn off his mental hearing aid in a snap!

This is not only happening in our business; it is happening everywhere. I just read a book called The End of Advertising: Why it Had to Die and the Creative Resurrection to Come, by Andrew Essex. The author—who is in advertising, by the way—discusses the death of advertising as we know it. He points out that, with all the ways we watch our favorite television programs, fewer and fewer people are sticking around for the commercials. He points out that even those Super Bowl commercials aren’t cutting it any longer.

Did you know there was absolutely no uptick in sales for the advertisers in the last two Super Bowls? Those companies who advertised, spending a combined $30 million on one big game each year, got literally nothing for their advertising dollars. Actually, the only company that made out was Budweiser, because after winning the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning said that he was going to drink a “whole lot of Budweiser.” And he meant it! He wasn’t even getting paid to say it. He just planned to drink a lot of beer.

So, if the big boys are facing diminishing returns from conventional sales and advertising, what are those of us carrying bags for our companies supposed to do?

First, don’t give up. There is always hope. Second, maybe things are not as bad as they seem because at least in our world, people are still using what we sell. The key is to sell something they need rather than to try to get them to want what we sell.

In other words, focus on exactly what potential customers need. A good salesperson will be adept at finding out what they want, and a great company will provide it. For those of us in the PCB industry, here are some of the things that our customers need now. If you and your company can provide these things, companies will take your phone calls. They will take you up on your request for a meeting, and they will notice and read and heed your ads.

Let’s get to it. Here are some of the most important needs your customers have:

1. Obviously, they need high-quality PCBs on time, all the time.

2. They need worry-free service from their PCB suppliers.

Now let's get to the good stuff:

3. They need PCB expertise. It’s not like years ago when our customers (OEMs) were the ones who were the PCB experts and they could tell us what they needed. Those days (and those experts) are gone, so most of the people we are dealing with don’t have a working knowledge of our products and technology. That’s something they need and it’s something we must provide if we want to sell them PCBs. We need to invite them into our facilities and show them how a board is built.

4. They need our expertise. They must know they can count on us to provide them with the technical knowledge in PCBs they are going to need to build their products both today and in the future. We can provide this to them with manuals, DFM guides, webinars and seminars, and lunch-and-learns.

5. They need partners. This is especially true of those companies that are building products of the future. These companies are sometimes working with immature technologies at best and not even invented yet at worst, and they need partners to help them get there. Partners must be willing to share in their mission with time,energy, and passion.

6. And finally, they need to work with companies they can trust—companies who are going to keep their information secret. They need to feel comfortable sharing their vision for the future without fear of exposure to the rest of the market until the time is right.

Selling printed circuit boards is no longer what it once was. It now requires a totally new level of cooperation, dedication, flexibility, passion and trust. The old sales model is broken; the new sales model is the only way we are going to succeed in this new world order. We must give our customers what they need…not get them to want what we sell.

It’s only common sense.