Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

It's Only Common Sense: Do Something!

Editor's Note: To listen to Dan's weekly column, as you've always done in the past, click here. For  the written transcript, keep reading...Things are not what they used to be. Years ago, many companies were accustomed to having the right amount of business...just by existing. They had an ongoing customer base and revenue source that was just...there. Companies had the right amount of business they needed, or wanted, and never had to worry about it.

Unfortunately, this is no longer the case. With attrition and offshoring and companies going out of business or going to CEMs for their total PCB packages, no PCB company can ever again count on having the right amount of business without doing anything. That ship has sailed.

In recent times, especially in the past year, more and more companies are finding themselves behind the proverbial eight ball when it comes to sales. They just don’t have enough sales to sustain the level of business they need to remain in business, never mind be profitable.

These same companies seem to be paralyzed when it comes time to doing something about this. They've gotten away with ignoring their sales and marketing effort for so long they no longer know what to do.

Companies become stuck in neutral when it comes to what direction to take next. Some spend weeks (if not months) deciding if they should do anything at all. Others are frozen when it comes to actually hiring a salesperson--just not sure what they should do. Some companies are not even at the point of addressing who they should hire, but, rather, are stuck at deciding if they should hire anyone at all.

Others companies waste time trying to convince themselves business will just come back if they wait long enough. Well, guess what? These companies will have to do something--they must get proactive if they want things to improve. They must get out there and sell something to somebody new or their business will die. Heck, their business is already dying--they must do something right now if they expect business to live another day.

For those of you who want to do something to up your sales effort and increase your sales, here are five things you can do right now to get your sales effort on track:

1. Make sure you're getting all the business you can from your remaining customers. Call and talk to them about increasing the amount of business they're giving you.
2. Call on former customers. Review why they left you. Call or visit to see what it would take to rekindle the relationship.
3. Target new customers: Get yourself a good database; create an ideal customer profile that will help you establish the kind of company you should be targeting; and contact them in some way. Call, send a newsletter, or make an offer they can’t refuse--whatever it takes to lure them in. (You should have noticed by now that the first three suggestions all have something to do with contacting people. You have to either call, e-mail, or, better yet, visit these people and get them to do business with you).
4. Hire a salesperson. This can be a direct person, an independent sales representative, or both. You must hire salespeople if you want to get your business back on track. I have to warn you that good salespeople--especially independent reps--are getting harder and harder to find so this is not always an easy thing to do. One solution is to develop a hybrid package to make representing your company more appealing to good reps. A hybrid package gives a good rep a monthly stipend as well as commissions (at a reduced commission rate) so that the he has some money coming in while looking for more business for you. This type of compensation system can really pay off by creating a win-win situation for both of you.
5. Develop of plan of action for completing each of these steps. The plan doesn't have to be fancy--just a plan of action with dates and assignments to make sure that you're on track to get things done in a timely fashion.

And, in the spirit of underpromising and overdelivering, here's one more: Measure everything you do. Always measure any project you're working on. Keep track of everything you're doing. Note what works and what doesn’t and act accordingly. This is the best way to know whether or not your plan is working

Look, this is certainly not a list of everything you can do, but it's a start. If you’re interested in having a set plan that you can work from, contact me through this column and I will send you a step-by-step plan.

In the end, remember that the most important thing to do is to do something. Don’t sit their cogitating or worrying while stuck in the throes of analysis paralysis--do something! By doing something I can guarantee you will make something good happen. Its only common sense.