Remember when it was fun? Yes, the good old days always seem a whole lot better than they really were, at least in the rear-view mirror. But, looking back from these too-serious times of today, they probably were a lot better than we remember.
Here are a few stories from that somehow seemingly lighter and more carefree past:
From the ‘70s: I worked as a program coordinator (a glorified name for expeditor) for Maine Electronics, in Lisbon, Maine. This was in the non-computer days when we had to track every single layer, of every single board, by hand and write down the status in a black notebook. There were six of us program coordinators getting to work at 5 am so that we could find and status all our parts for the big meeting at 7. At 7 sharp, the meeting would begin.
There were six large cafeteria tables put together in a big conference room, and there still wasn’t room for everyone: supervisors, process engineers (methodizers, we called them back in the day) quality engineers, and salespeople all quietly listening as each program coordinator read off the status, program after program, part number after part number—literally hundreds of them. We lived in fear of the division president, who sat at the head of the table, stopping the read of the status every so often to scream at one supervisor or another, because a part in the supervisor’s department had not moved in three days! Heads rolled, tables were pounded, accusations were made, fingers were pointed, and wild threats were made about the various things that would be done to the guilty party’s posterior, ranging from “getting a new one,” to chewing it, to making it a new place for his head, to frying it, while a giant Maalox bottle was passed around the table. Oh, the good old days!
Or from the ‘80s, as the New England regional sales manager for General Circuits out of Rochester, New York: In those pre-FedEx days, I drove 200 miles a day from my home office in Bedford, New Hampshire to Boston’s Logan airport to pick up boards that had been sent overnight via US Airways, and brought them to Computervision in Bedford, Massachusetts. I’d then drop them off, visit the buyer, an extremely salty old guy by the name of Lou Cardillo, who would threaten me with what he was going to do to my posterior if my boards were late again, and then give me more purchase orders (we got POs every single day!) and the artwork films. I took those back to Logan Airport to send overnight to Rochester and then picked up more boards that had come in for Digital Equipment. I drove those boards to Acton, Littleton, Chelmsford, or Andover, Massachusetts depending on where they were located at the time. I dropped off the boards, went in to see the buyers, got my posterior threatened again (what was it with posteriors back then?), got more orders and yes, more artwork, and took it back to Logan. Then I’d go back home. Unbelievably, we were doing so much business with these two companies that my company did not want me getting any new business…can you imagine? Ah, the good old days!
From the late ‘80s and early ‘90s: There is nothing more challenging than working for a company that is in Chapter 11, and as it turns out, heading to Chapter 7. I’ve done it twice. General Circuits was eventually bought by a 26-year old would-be Michael Milken, who in true Milken fashion, milked it dry and then destroyed that once great company. I was the director of sales and marketing at the time and my biggest issue was, as you can imagine, keeping my sales guys invested and motivated. The second biggest issue was hoping that my company credit card would work at business dinners and checking into hotels when I was on the road; more times than I care to count it did not.
The very worst day of that entire sordid experience was the last day (which I didn’t know at the time) with the company—it was everyone’s last day with the company. I was leaving Rochester. I had a middle seat on the flight back to Boston and wanted to change it, so I called the travel agency (remember them?) and asked if they could call the airline for me and change my seat. Here is what the nice lady at the travel agency told me: “Do not change anything, do not talk to anyone, just take your ticket, and go straight onto the plane; if you stop and talk to any airline official, they will pull your ticket. Your credit card payment was just cancelled, in fact your company card has been cancelled!” So, I did what she said, and gladly sat in the middle seat all the way to Boston. Once I landed, my beeper (remember those) was going off like crazy. Every one of my sales guys was paging me. So, I had to find a pay phone (remember those?) to call each of my remaining sales guys, who all informed me their pay checks had bounced that afternoon and asking what I was going to do about it? Oh, the good old days!
Maybe they weren’t as good as all that!
Oh, one last thing. remember that Computervision buyer I talked about, Lou Cardillo? That crusty old buyer from the ‘80s? Well, I spoke to him on the phone last Sunday on his 98th birthday. We’ve known each other for over 30 years, and he’s still my best friend.
It’s only common sense.
06-18-2018
Remember when it was fun? Yes, the good old days always seem whole lot better than they probably really were, at least in the rear-view mirror. But, looking back from these too-serious times we live in today, they probably were a lot better than we even remember.
View Story06-11-2018
Laurene Powel Jobs, wife of Apple Co-Founder and CEO Steve Jobs, was once quoted describing how her husband and legendary designer Jony Ive would spend hours discussing corners. Yes, that’s right—corners.
View Story06-04-2018
During a normal commercial flight, a pilot only touches the controls of the plane for less than three minutes. The rest of the time, the computer called “autopilot” is actually flying the plane—yes, including landing the plane. Pilots have to undergo periodic training so they will not forget how to fly. How many phone numbers, including your own, do you know by heart? Or do you use smartphone settings to remember them for you?
View Story05-28-2018
Of all the challenges we face in the PCB industry today, the most challenging is staffing. It is getting nearly impossible to find good people. This is especially true for engineers, quality people, and management. Most of the good ones have either retired, changed careers, or gone to work for our suppliers. Some have even gone to work for our customers.
View Story05-21-2018
I’ve been concentrating on listening lately. I mean really listening, not doing what I usually do, which is to wait for the person I’m talking with to finish talking so that I can tell them all the great thoughts I was formulating while they were talking. It’s not easy to listen.
View Story05-14-2018
There is a huge grocery store in Ohio called Jungle Jim’s International Market. From what I hear this is the most interesting grocery store in the world! And that store has the best restrooms in the world. They pride themselves on their clean restrooms.
View Story05-07-2018
I love it! A good friend of mine sent me this article he received in an email from the law firm of Williams Mullins. Read it and weep, ITAR offenders! Law-abiding companies, rejoice.
View Story04-30-2018
A few years ago, I worked with a client that won and then lost 30 customers all in the span of 10 months. They had bought the customer base of a company that was going out of business.
View Story04-23-2018
Board shops are continually criticized for asking too many questions, often losing orders because they asked too many questions. But fabricators often have no other choice, because they receive incorrect or incomplete design data. Back when OEMs had their own in-house board shops, designers all knew how a board was built. But many PCB designers have no idea how a board is built, because they have never set foot in a board shop. If your fabricator calls with a question or three, take the call, and maybe take a tour of the facility too.
View Story04-16-2018
Experts estimate that we spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars acquiring new customers. When you think of all the money we spend on marketing, advertising, trade shows, websites, salespeople, and their travel and other expenses, you know these experts are right.
View Story12-26-2017
How many times have you felt something in your gut that you know to be true, but there is no good way to prove it? You just have a sense, a feeling, an intuition, that you’re right, but there is just no way to prove it. So, with that in mind, here are 20 things that I have learned over my too many years in this business, but I can’t prove that they’re true. I just know they’re true.
View Story12-25-2017
Here we are again. The beginning of a brand-spanking new year—2018! Who would have thought we would make it this long? But we did, and the North American PCB business is still alive and kicking.
View Story12-12-2017
Yes, quality is everything, and it is in everything a company does: from the way you answer the phone, to the way you present your quotes, to the way you package your product, to the way your salesperson looks and acts, to everything large, or small, that your company does for the customer.
View Story12-11-2017
With EMS companies, its becomes more important than ever to stand out from the rest of the crowd. So many EMS companies are vying for business that if a company wants to be truly successful, it has to come up with ways to distinguish itself. The question becomes how to do this. With that in mind here are 10 things that EMS companies must do to be truly outstanding.
View Story12-04-2017
Whether you are in the business of board fabrication or board assembly, the fact is that you are not building your own products. You are building your customers’ products, which means that you are in the business of helping your customers be successful.
View Story11-20-2017
The good news is that more PCB companies then ever before are finally figuring out that they need some marketing. I have seen this trend rise in the past few years, where once it was a rare EMS or PCB company that did marketing, to now where we are seeing more companies than ever getting involved.
View Story11-13-2017
Two weeks ago, I discussed PCB customers who were not happy with their vendors’ performance and last week looked at things from the other side of the issue and why PCB fabricators have a hard time being good and productive suppliers. Both sides had a lot of complaints about the other side and not much good to say. This week, in the interest of seeing a problem and solving it, we are going to talk about what we should do about it.
View Story11-06-2017
I ended last week’s column with a group of designers from a high-tech company asking me the ignoble question, “Why do all PCB shops suck?” And, I promised I would not only address that question but also explain why there are two sides to that story.
View Story10-30-2017
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.
View Story10-29-2017
I recently received an e-mail from a good friend at a top milaero company. Here's just one snippet: "Why do I have to call and ask, 'Where is my stuff?' If it were just one board shop, I would say good riddance and move on. But it is almost universal among our supplier base that late deliveries only get discovered when we ask. Again, what the heck? With the continued decline of the supplier base, one would think that customer service would get better. So, why not?"
View Story12-27-2016
OK, so now it’s your turn. We have talked enough about making sure that as a rep, you make yourself invaluable to your principal. We have gone on ad nauseam about the various ways that reps disappoint the companies they represent. Now we are going to switch gears and put that proverbial shoe on the other foot and talk about when it’s time for you to check out, and tell your principal, “Adios, amigo.”
View Story12-19-2016
We all know that companies must grow or they will die. The same thing applies to rep firms. You must keep growing your business, adding new customers, and increasing your sales.
View Story12-12-2016
If you’re a rep, the best way to be successful is to have your principals love you. Sad as it may seem, I almost never hear principals bragging about having a great rep. In fact, instead, I hear horror story after horror story about how reps aren’t doing anything, they are not bringing in the right stuff, they are hard to find when they are being signed and even harder to find after they are signed.
View Story12-05-2016
If you want to stand out as a rep company, you must get your name out there. The good news is that practically zero rep companies ever pay any attention to marketing their companies. This means that any company that invests a little time and money in marketing will stand out, and it’s not that hard to do.
View Story11-28-2016
You’re tired of working for someone else. You have a bunch of customers who just love you and would probably follow you wherever you go. And you want to sell more than what your company has to offer; you no longer want to be restrained by the limited capabilities of one company. And then there's the money...oh, the money. You want to be a rep. Are you sure? Read on.
View Story11-21-2016
Has there ever been a more nebulous qualification than ITAR? It’s one of those topics that everyone has an opinion about, but no one really understands. To some of us it’s a game with ever-changing rules, and to others it’s simply a hurdle to overcome. And for others, it is something to ignore altogether. Speaking of ignoring it, some large companies have been ignoring ITAR restrictions for years, flying right in the face of the DoD.
View Story11-14-2016
To successfully sell your products and services, you first must figure out who wants them. To do so, you should develop and implement what I call an ideal customer template. This requires an honest evaluation of what you do. You should first understand exactly what it is you’re selling, and then analyze who you’re selling to right now so you can identify your ideal customers.
View Story11-07-2016
You may have been a director of engineering in your previous position before moving into sales; maybe you’re a full-blown technology guru. But the minute you switch over to sales, your credibility is immediately challenged. Tough and unfair as this may seem, it’s true. The reason for this is simple: If you have the word “sales” on your card, people assume you are trying to sell them something and will do anything to make that sale. Here are five guidelines for successfully selling high technology.
View Story10-31-2016
Managing a sales team is just like managing a sports team. You strive to put the best team on the field and then manage them to greatness. It means dealing with all the team members as individuals, figuring out how to handle each of them, from the prima donnas to the underachievers and rookies. Then you must bring them together as one cohesive unit that will work together towards one common goal of winning the game, or making forecast.
View Story10-24-2016
Have you been to Best Buy lately? If you have, you’ve seen a store that is going to go out of business, sooner than later. And it’s a shame, because it doesn’t have to happen.
View Story12-28-2015
Because of some of the major consolidations that have taken place this past year, especially one company in particular, this is also good time to be looking for direct sales people. And because so many companies are merging, there are going to be some great sales managers looking for work. Yes, folks, there are going to be some good ones out there looking, and they’re yours for the picking.
View Story12-21-2015
If you hire and manage salespeople, you need to have them write up a weekly report for you. Actually, they need to do it for themselves, because one of the true tenets of reporting is that the report is at least as important to the person writing the report as it is to the manager reading it. I am talking about a good and thorough accounting of what the salesperson has accomplished in the past week and what his plans are for the coming week.
View Story12-14-2015
Everybody knows you can’t visit customers on Monday. And forget Friday. And you know that Wednesday is never ever a good day to visit customers, right? One guy told me that in New England they don’t like seeing vendors in the summer, so there is no reason to even try. Everybody in New York takes August off, so that’s out. If you've ever said any of these things, you don't really want to be a salesman.
View Story12-07-2015
Before you spend your hard-earned dollars on advertising, make sure that you know what you want to say and how you want to say it! Make sure that you know just exactly what message you want to get across and, finally, make sure that your ads are going to move your customers to do something. Here are 10 guidelines for developing a solid advertising campaign.
View Story11-30-2015
Twitter is the fastest way to get the word out about what's happening at your company. If you hire a new employee, buy a new piece of equipment, or develop a new technology, Twitter will reach the widest audience. If enough people retweet your post, then your Tweet can go viral, driving a bunch of people to your website. How else can you do that, old-timers?
View Story11-23-2015
I recently came across a terrific book on customer service by Flavio Martins. Win the Customer: 70 Simple Rules for Sensational Service is filled with new and innovative ideas and strategies for improving your customer service. I thought this would be a great time to pass on some of the more interesting, pertinent and instructive ideas from the book. And our industry needs all the customer service help it can get!
View Story11-16-2015
Demand for sales training is on the rise lately. People are realizing that the number one problem for any company is a lack of sales (as if you’ve never heard me say that before!). So now individuals and companies are looking for ways to gain more customers, and of course the very best way to do that is to make sure that your sales team is operating on all eight cylinders. That is, they must be fully trained, armed, and prepared to get out there and win more business.
View Story11-16-2015
No matter what books you read, the important thing to remember is that in the end, the salesperson is the one who makes it happen. You can read all the sales books in the world, attend all of the seminars and webinars that money can buy; but in the end, it’s the person in the mirror who has to have the ambition, the passion and the diligence to make it happen.
View Story11-02-2015
Ask yourself this: Are your staff members allowed to think? Some of the new management techniques can encourage team members to leave their brains at the door. I know that my friends on the other side of this argument will strongly disagree, but I am going to stick to my guns on this one. When you start measuring every single step of an operation to the point where you are measuring minutiae, trying to save every half second of time on the manufacturing floor, you are squelching the very creativity that you claim to be encouraging.
View Story10-26-2015
Start being more productive with your time today by removing the tasks that are not dictated by someone else. Plan your days ahead of time. Get in the habit of laying out your work week, and do so two weeks ahead of time. Make appointments with the tactical scrutiny and planning of a U.S. Army general.
View Story12-29-2014
Ask yourself: Are you the kind of leader you would want to follow? Are you proud of the way you lead your people? Are you proud of the way you carry yourself? Are you proud of the way your people react to you?
View Story12-26-2014
PNC Inc. specializes in working side-by-side with visionary engineers and buyers in the high-frequency RF/microwave, audio, defense, and medical industries to create solutions for ever-advancing concepts and designs. Columnist Dan Beaulieu recently sat down with President Sam Sangani to learn what he has to say about being one of the industry's leading PCB suppliers.
View Story12-22-2014
"I know this sounds pretty brutal, but I have to use any method I can to get your attention: If you don't change your ways, you'll go out of business in the next 12 months," writes columnist Dan Beaulieu.
View Story12-18-2014
American Standard Circuits' Vice President of Business Development and Technical Sales David Lackey is the company's resident guru when it comes to flex, rigid-flex, and military technology. Columnist Dan Beaulieu recently sat down with him to discuss the technology and its importance to ASC's growth and industry growth in general.
View Story12-15-2014
If you want to be successful you must do a forecast. You must understand your customers, their buying habits, and their ordering patterns. To predict what your customers are going to do next year you must know what they did this year and the year before that.
View Story12-08-2014
To be great you must to be unreasonable. You must be the one to expect more from yourself and those around you than most are comfortable giving. You must get off your butt, get out of your comfort zone, and make things happen that no one thought possible.
View Story12-01-2014
Who needs Harvard Business School when everything you need to get a full-fledged MBA can be found on your television set? That's right, everything you need to know about business is available with the click of a remote control.
View Story11-24-2014
I love watching the future unfold right before my eyes. I've been on a technology kick lately--reading everything I can get my hands on about new and exciting innovations. I came across a piece in this month's copy of Wired that really blew me away.
View Story11-19-2014
Enough is enough: It's time for us to take our industry back. I think we can do it. We have more than a good chance of earning our way back.
View Story11-17-2014
Columnist Dan Beaulieu comments, "Enough is enough: It's time for us to take our industry back. I think we can do it. We have more than a good chance of earning our way back. As Thomas Friedman would say, the world is flat and things have equalized. We can now make our move and ensure we get the PCB industry in this country back up and running."
View Story12-30-2013
As 2013 comes to a close, Columnist Dan Beaulieu takes a look back at the past 12 months and reflects on what's happened, evolving trends, and what both mean for the coming new year.
View Story12-23-2013
While Christmas shopping this week, Columnist Dan Beaulieu writes, "I spied the future, something we've all heard and talked about for the past couple of years at the end of one of the aisle. It's called 'The Cube' and it is the first 3D printer I've ever laid eyes on."
View Story12-16-2013
I'm done with passwords. I just don't care anymore; take anything you want from me. It's just not worth it. If you want to sneak into my house and steal $2.99 movies from my Apple account, do it! If you want to go to my audible account and steal a book, then be my guest--have a ball.
View Story12-09-2013
In the past month I have heard no less than three times about companies asking--demanding--that their PCB suppliers take 20% off the price of their boards. Not just the new part numbers, mind you, but the part numbers they've been building for years. Really?
View Story12-02-2013
A company's story explains what the firm does, what it stands for, why it's different from other companies, why it's better than other companies, and why people should choose its products over competitors.
View Story11-25-2013
I was horrified to read in the papers the other day that the FAA is about to cancel its ban on cell phone use during flights. Soon we'll be able to make calls while the plane is flying, which means we are about to lose the last bit of silent sanctuary the world offers us.
View Story11-18-2013
Columnist Dan Beaulieu writes, "We do the same things over and over again expecting different results. Very little thinking is done outside the box in our industry; this is something I deal with all of the time."
View Story11-11-2013
Like some of you, Dan Beaulieu knows that social media is something that he needs to get involved in, but just doesn't know how to get started. One book can solve his problem, and yours.
View Story11-04-2013
There are all kinds of reasons why we lose customers--it just happens. Should you just forget about these lost customers? Assume they are long-lost orphans and move on to greener, pastures? Dan Beaulieu says to do everything you can, whenever possible, to bring them home.
View Story10-28-2013
Where do you rank as a salesperson? Are you doing the best job you can? Whether you have been in sales for 20 days or 20 years there are things you should always be doing to ensure you're performing at a maximum.
View Story12-31-2012
There is a great deal of renewed interest in American board fabricators and, interestingly enough, those most interested are as we say in Maine, "from away." European companies are particularly interested in buying into the American market.
View Story12-24-2012
Kudos to IPC for trying to raise awareness when it comes to International Traffic in Arms (ITAR) regulations. The association recently hosted a workshop with the country’s leading defense contractors in an attempt to educate them about ITAR in terms of PCBs.
View Story12-17-2012
A great company takes everything it does seriously. It considers everything important, from the way they answer their phone, to the way they handle customer issues, to the way they package and ship their boards.
View Story12-10-2012
For the past couple of weeks, Dan Beaulieu's been talking about the rep/principal situation which, these days, he says is as polarized as the Republicans and the Democrats or the rivalry of all rivalries--the Red Sox and the Yankees. But now, he says, it's time to declare peace.
View Story12-03-2012
Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, a French critic, journalist, and novelist, once stated, "The more things change, the more they stay the same." When I look at our industry Karr's observation seems shockingly accurate.
View Story11-26-2012
Dan Beaulieu answers questions from his readers: How do I make the rep/principal relationship work? How do I create a successful partnership between these entities? How do I change things around so that instead of hating board shops, reps love board shops?
View Story11-19-2012
For the past couple of years, I've noticed that it's much more difficult to get independent sales reps interested in selling for board shops. One of my offerings, a task that is becoming my least favorite, is trying to find reps for shops. My fee for this is getting higher every year because it's getting more and more challenging.
View Story11-12-2012
Poor salespeople also find a way to make themselves feel better for failing. They choose to believe what they see in the news. It's as if they hear about a recession and think, "Aha! That's why I'm failing; that's why I can't win any business." But when I talk to successful people, they don't even discuss such things.
View Story11-05-2012
"DAM" thinking occurs when a person feels it is more important to push his or her own agenda than it is to contribute to the success of the company's agenda. A person or company with this type of thinking will end in failure.
View Story10-29-2012
The time you spend in preparation can be as important (if not more) than the time you spend selling. It's all about selling. Here are 10 things you should be doing on those days when you’re not on the road in front of customers.
View Story04-18-2011
No, I don't think Jack Welsh could run a board house. He would have a hard time dealing with the challenges that we in the board business face. First, he would have to face his own people. Then he would have to deal with cash flow. For the first time, he would know how much it costs to hire that admin. And he would have to pay bills on time.
View Story03-21-2011
The events in Japan quickly became very personal for Dan Beaulieu last week. His son, Damon, a teacher in Morioka, Japan, gives his first-hand account of the events that followed the record-breaking earthquake and tsunami that changed an entire country.
View Story01-17-2011
If you want to be successful in sales you have to know your customers. You have to know what their needs are, what problems they face and what they consider a good vendor.
View Story01-04-2011
Multilayer Technology has seen some good years and some tough years. But while other companies chose to hunker down and merely weather the recession's storm, Multilayer chose to enhance the firm's technologies and capabilities. The company recently achieved AS 9100 certification, and management continues to plan technology upgrades.
View Story08-16-2010
This week, Dan Beaulieu gives you the cold, hard facts: Success in sales is entirely up to you. That's right, success or failure all depends on only one person--you.
View Story03-15-2009
Do you want to find some great representatives? Its not easy, but Dan can tell you how in this week's new column. This weeks is a must-listen: Listen for the free offer Dan mentions inside!
View Story03-02-2009
The key to success in the current economy is winning new customers. Current customers are ordering less, so you've got to grow your customer base. American companies are realizing that they have to look out for one another if things are going to improve--creating a new sense of nationalism in this country.
View Story01-19-2009
Companies need business now more than ever, but many are actually canceling sales travel! Dan Beaulieu has a serious problem with this senario. Sales travel is essential to the health of your company--it also lets your customers know that you're still alive and kicking. Be assured: There is business out there for companies willing to make a show of force and go after it aggressively.
View Story10-13-2008
You can have a great product and still not succeed in this industry. This week, Dan offers three economical and effective ways during these tough times to get the story of your products out to the rest of the world.
View Story08-26-2008
Its that time of year again--if you're going to have a successful 2009, you'd better start working on it now...right now. This week's edition of It's Only Common Sense tells you how to get prepared for a successful 2009!
View Story08-11-2008
Dan Beaulieu asks, "What are we going to do about always going for the lowest price at any cost?" The real cost of going for the lowest prices are real--very real, indeed. The customer may always be right, but when that customer insists on the lowest priced product, at the expense of quality, then that customer is not putting out the best product possible.
View Story02-11-2008
Want to get the most from your sales team? Listen to this week's "Its Only Common Sense: How to Motivate Your Salespeople" and find out.
View Story12-10-2007
Why do we refuse to buy into a great solution to our problems even when it's staring us in the face?
View Story11-27-2007
Are you the best salesperson you can be? If not why not...its your choice.
View Story11-19-2007
Do you hate cold calling?
View Story11-14-2007
Listen to this week's It's Only Common Sense column from Dan Beaulieu "
View Story10-29-2007
o you think the web site takes care of everything? That you no longer need a brochure? Think again my friend.
View Story10-22-2007
Some companies are old school and losing while other companies are new school and thriving
View Story10-15-2007
The world is changing -- are you ready?
View Story10-08-2007
Learn how to succeed in making your business plan work.
View Story09-10-2007
Want to hire great reps? Dan Beaulieu takes the mystery out of finding and signing the right sales reps for your company.
View Story04-09-2007
Listen to Dan Beaulieu's column ths week. Beware the bad guys. Be careful, be very very careful, if that job offer seems too good to be true...it is...
View Story
