While the United States still leads world in innovation, American manufacturers are faced with doing more with less to compete in the global economy.\u00a0 They must achieve higher productivity with fewer people and lower profits.\u00a0 What can manufacturers do to survive, succeed and thrive in the intense global economy?<\/p>\n
There are hundreds of books and articles with recommendations on how manufacturers can succeed and grow in the global economy.\u00a0 Innovative strategies are key to success.\u00a0 Let\u2019s focus on the following three strategies:\u00a0 purpose, process, and promotion.<\/p>\n
Purpose <\/strong>– a clear vision of the reason for the existence of your company, an understanding of the need you are looking to fulfill and the solution, the Distinct Competitive Advantage (DCA) of company\u2019s products or services, the target audience you are serving, and the internal business model and guiding principles of the company.<\/p>\n Process <\/strong>\u2013 adoption of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma principles that seek to eliminate waste through all aspects of the organization and process and focus on the production and delivery of products directly associated with customer orders.<\/p>\n Promotion\u00a0 – <\/strong>use of most cost-effective and productive marketing and sales methods and channels to market<\/p>\n According to Michael Treacy\u2019s book, \u201cThe Discipline of Market Leaders,\u201d best in class companies must choose one of the three following types in order to be able to fully optimize key company support systems:<\/p>\n How well a company performs, or even survives, depends upon how that company focuses on meeting the markets to which it is trying to sell.\u00a0 As a manufacturers\u2019 sales representative for over 25 years, I know how important marketing is to the growth and success of a company.\u00a0 Businesses cannot succeed if they don\u2019t meet the needs of the market.\u00a0 Manufacturers often fail because they embrace a product-driven strategy instead of a market-driven strategy.\u00a0 There\u2019s an old story that if you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t true!\u00a0 You first have to let the world know you have built a better mousetrap through marketing, and you have to make the product easily available to them through the right sales channels.<\/p>\n Most small to medium-sized manufacturers don\u2019t put enough emphasis on marketing because they don\u2019t really understand what marketing is and don\u2019t have any marketing experience.\u00a0 Most small to medium-sized companies can\u2019t afford to have a marketing or sales manager.\u00a0 The owner of the company tries to do sales at the same time he\/she is managing the day-to-day activities of the company.<\/p>\n So what is marketing?\u00a0 It is everything a business does to create customers for their product\/services.\u00a0 Everyone in the company is part of marketing, and marketing begins in the mind of customer.\u00a0 A business should never stop marketing.\u00a0 What\u2019s in it For Me (WIFM) is a universal law of marketing.\u00a0\u00a0 There are no marketing rules that apply to every type of company, and there are no quick fixes or \u201cmagic pill\u201d that will work for every company.\u00a0 All marketing is a gamble \u2013 you can\u2019t accurately predict the results.\u00a0 There are three basic steps to effective marketing<\/p>\n Every company needs to address these three areas in some way, but any given company will need to focus on one or more of these methods in order to survive or thrive.\u00a0\u00a0 As Brian Tracy\u2019s said in his book \u201cThe Discipline of Market Leaders\u201d \u201cNo company can succeed today by trying to be all things to all people.\u201d<\/p>\n You and your sales team need to be able to describe what it is about your product or service that is unique or different.\u00a0 This is called your Differential or Unique Competitive Advantage (DCA).\u00a0 In other words, the reasons why customers would want to buy or use your products or service.<\/p>\n You need to be able to describe your \u201cbusiness identity\u201d in 25 words or less (called an\u00a0 \u201cElevator speech\u201d).\u00a0\u00a0 For example, my business is ElectroFab Sales, a manufacturers\u2019 sales rep agency, and my business identity elevator speech is:\u00a0 \u201cWe help companies select the right manufacturing processes to make parts for their products from the companies we represent.\u201d\u00a0 The key is to find a market in which your product and\/or service can be a leader.<\/p>\n An effective DCA always develops out of an under filled or unfulfilled market need.\u00a0 Examples of DCA thrusts are:<\/p>\n If you are having trouble determining the DCA for your business, ask your customers questions about what they like best about you company\u2019s products and\/or services.\u00a0 Ask them what they look for in a vendor\/supplier and how they decide which company to choose.\u00a0\u00a0 Compare your products or services with those of your major competitors.\u00a0\u00a0 It would be helpful to have a consultant or someone outside of your company do a comparative matrix of your products or services.<\/p>\n If you still can\u2019t determine your company\u2019s DCA, you would be wise to hire a marketing consultant to help you identify what is unique about your company and its products and\/or services.\u00a0 You may even need help restructuring your company or redesigning your products to create a competitive advantage.\u00a0 If you do not have a competitive advantage your sales people can easily describe, you are dead.<\/p>\n Once you have an accurate understanding of your target markets and have determined your DCA, then you can choose the best marketing methods to use.\u00a0 The following are some of the best low-cost marketing methods:<\/p>\n The direct mail marketing methods of flyers, letters, brochures, and catalogs don\u2019t work as well as they once did, and people don\u2019t often take the time to view the newer CDs and DVDs.\u00a0 A two to four minute video on a website has become more effective.<\/p>\n An Internet presence via a website has become crucial way to establish credibility as a company.\u00a0 I am surprised I still meet entrepreneurs that don\u2019t have a website and have a gmail mail or yahoo email address instead of one connected to a company website.\u00a0 It\u2019s well worth the money to have a website, even for very small companies or professional consultants.\u00a0 Electronic brochures and newsletters can become effective tools to use if they are concise, easy to read, and contain useful information.\u00a0 Even though attendance at trade shows has dropped in the last few years, there is no substitute for the opportunity to meet face-to-face with a prospective customer and have them see and touch your products or even see a live demonstration of how it works.\u00a0 Telemarketing is most effective when it is used to make \u201cwarm\u201d calls to follow up on show leads or keep in regular contact with regular customers and key prospects.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t have any idea how to utilize social networking for your company, there is an abundance of training available now to fit everyone\u2019s schedule.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s manufacturers must utilize innovative strategies to succeed and grow.\u00a0 The days are gone when manufacturers could have equipment and people sitting idle.\u00a0 American companies who provide the level of delivery, or quality, or customer service that got them by in the past will not survive, because customers can get that from Chinese vendors for a far lower price.\u00a0 American manufactures are now in a struggle for their very survival.\u00a0 The strategies covered in this article are based on an excerpt of the chapter in my book, Can American Manufacturing be Saved?\u00a0 Why we should and how we can,<\/em> on what manufacturers can do to not only \u201csave themselves,\u201d but also prosper and grow in the competitive global economy.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Michele Nash-Hoff is President of ElectroFab Sales and can be reached at michele@savingusmanufacturing.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While the United States still leads world in innovation, American manufacturers are faced with doing more with less to compete in the global economy.\u00a0 They must achieve higher productivity with fewer people and lower profits.\u00a0 What can manufacturers do to survive, succeed and thrive in the intense global economy? There are hundreds of books and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/savingusmanufacturing.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
\n
\n
\n