Editor's Note: Selling Success in the PCBA Industry

Estimated reading time: 1 minute

I am neither a salesperson nor a marketing person, but over the course of my editorial work, and through speaking to technology and systems providers in the electronics manufacturing industry, I have learned a few things when it comes to sales and marketing, namely, the importance of collaboration, positive relationships, and technical knowledge. For example, sales and marketing teams must work together to make sure deals get closed and contracts are awarded.

I don’t know if this can be considered a marketing/selling process, but in numerous media panel interviews I have attended, the sales and marketing guys are almost always together. The marketing executive gets us editors interested in the company or the technology that they are creating—so that we attend said media event— and the sales guys sell the idea to us, so that we write a good story about their technology.

Another thing I have learned is the importance of creating and maintaining a good relationship. Many a time I have joined clients (in my previous work) to visit their customers to write customer success stories. In my observations during these visits, I saw that both parties enjoying a genuinely good relationship—almost a friendship—and not just the obligatory vendor-customer relationship.

Editor's Note: To read this entire column, which appeared in the December 2016 issue of SMT Magazine, click here.