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It’s Only Common Sense: Five Things CMs Can Do to Get Business Now

Everyone is struggling to fill their factories these days, as the fight for more business heats up. In years past, contract manufacturers had a good solid base of customers they could depend on year after year. Many were satisfied to pick up a couple of customers a year as their base remained stable; however, all of that has changed. For one thing, attrition has set in. Stuff happens, companies go out of business or change direction, have their products built overseas or get acquired and somebody new and more powerful is making their contract manufacturing decisions.

Contract manufacturers have to find new and innovative ways to capture more business. And, as we have been talking about the last few weeks, finding new contract manufacturing opportunities is a much more intense process than selling bare boards, for example. Winning new EMS customers is a much longer and more arduous process, one that takes more planning, persistence, and patience. This means that if you want to increase your business, you have to start early—so early, that you won’t even feel you need new customers when you begin. Or, a better idea: Never stop in the first place.

Working with CMs over the years, I am always surprised how many of them managed to keep their companies full, with little or no real sales and marketing efforts. When I’d ask how they got their business, they'd say it was word of mouth, or just a good reputation, or a good base of a few solid customers.

But now things have changed, and many CMs are out there looking for new business. If you are one of them, here are five things you can do to kick-start your sales and marketing effort:

1. Get your name out to the marketplace. No one is going to buy from you if they have never heard of you. Develop a good marketing and branding plan that includes social media and implement it immediately. Tell your company’s story. What are you good at? Why do your customers like you? Why should potential customers work with you? Make sure you get some of your good, longstanding customers to vouch for you. Get their testimonials; these will be the most effective and powerful part of your marketing plan. Remember, you have over 1,000 competitors out there and you have to be outstanding.
2. Offer quick-turn to new product introduction companies. Quick-turn assembly services are in demand right now. Your customers want to be able to get their initial products very quickly, and they are willing to pay for this service. Often, they will provide you with the complete kit and you just have to assemble it. I know that many of you don’t like to do this because of lost revenue on the parts, but be patient; offering this service will pay off in the very near future. Your chances of getting the production business go up tenfold if you have built the prototypes.
3. Be willing to collaborate with other companies. There is always strength in partnerships. Instead of being limited by your own brick-and-mortar capabilities, be willing to extend a hand of partnership to other CMs who cannot do what you do, and to CMs who can do what you cannot, because together you will be much stronger and create a much stronger offering to your customers. There are many large CMs, both domestic and offshore, who are looking for smaller and more flexible CMs to collaborate with, to use as their new product introduction partners. Seek one of those and partner with them. It will be good for both companies.
4. Find some good independent sales reps. And I mean good ones. Make sure they have business at hand that they can bring you. Good reps can bring introductions and RFPs, but they cannot bring you the business. You are going to have to win the business yourself. Good reps can bring you the opportunities, which is what they are paid to do. Find two or three very good reps and then treat them like part of the company, part of the family, and they will deliver for you.
5. Pay attention to your customers. Go out of your way to always give them spectacular customer service and they will love you for it. They say in most businesses it costs about $10,000 to acquire a new customer, but I would suspect that it takes even more of an investment to win a contract manufacturing customer, so protect your investment at all cost. When you finally win that customer, do everything you can to keep him.

And one more—always underpromise and overdeliver, right? Never stop your sales and marketing effort. Keep it going, week after week, month after month, year after year. Always be improving, getting better at it all the time, and in the end, it will pay off.

It’s only common sense.