Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It’s Only Common Sense: Stop Limiting Yourself

Figure out what your customers want and give it to them. It's really that simple.

To succeed in business today, especially a custom business where you’re making products based not on your designs, but the customers’ designs, you have to be flexible. You have to listen to what your customers want and what they are going to need tomorrow, and customize your offerings to meet those needs.

This concept is pretty straightforward: You are in the business of providing your customers with the products they need, with the products that they have designed so that they can produce their end-products. It’s not rocket science. Well, in some cases it is, when you consider our business. So it’s important we don’t niche ourselves out of the market.

Winning new customers is a long, time-consuming and expensive process. You have to invest thousands of dollars on every new customer you obtain. Then, once you have that customer you have to do everything to nurture your relationship with him, and you have to do everything in your power to keep that customer. The better you are at this, the better your company will do. The more long-lasting customer relationships you have, the longer you will succeed in business.

So then, why would you not grow with your customers? Why not do everything in your power to provide these customers for life with everything they need?

And once again we get back to understanding what your customers’ needs are today and what they are going to be in the future and then adapting your company’s offerings accordingly.

This means asking them to share their technology roadmap with you. This means asking them to share their future plans for their future products with you. This means asking them what they are going to be looking for from you as a supplier in terms of quality, technology and other special capabilities in the future. If you are willing to do this and if with great honesty, sincerity and credibility you can express to your customers that you are in fact willing to do this, they will be happy to work with you, helping you to set up your company to work with their company in the future.

This means that whatever direction they are heading in, you will be there for them.

In the future, if they are going to need boards with very fine lines, you are going to be there for them.

If they are going to need flex and rigid-flex boards, you are going to be there for them.

If they are going to need boards with CTE materials, you are going to be there for them.

And if they need something that is impossible for you to provide, for example, large volume orders at the best value possible, you, their PCB expert provider, will find a source for them. And if you have a been a true partner, they will want you to handle that source. Since you’re selling service, credibility, trust, and solutions, there is nothing wrong—in fact there is everything right—in providing your customers with all the solutions they need, even if you have to sub out the ones you do not directly provide yourself.

If you can do all of these things, if you can offer your very good customer-partners a complete one source solution, you will succeed. You will have customers for life and you will become your industry’s “go to” supplier for all of their PCB needs.

And here’s an added bonus—just a little secret here for you to consider: No one is doing this at this time. We are all so niched out that we are limiting ourselves in terms of what we can provide, or should I say, what we allow ourselves to provide to our customers. There are many cases right now where customers, particularly the high-end customers, are looking for someone to handle all of their PCB needs. They just want someone they can rely on to handle their product for them.

I warn you, these high-end customers are the world's game-changers, they are very demanding, and their needs are hard to keep up with. In some cases, their board requirements are beyond what most board shops can handle, but I don’t look at this as a show-stopper, but rather an opportunity for a good open-minded board provider to instill itself as their board supplier. This board provider will act as their true partner into the future, and do so with great patience, deliberation and endurance. Find a way to meet the customers' needs and help them to create the products that are actually putting a dent in the universe.

Those PCB companies who are willing to do that are going to be around for a while, joining these companies of the future.

Its only common sense.