James Smith (deceased)
Advanced Electric Equipment Service, Inc.
On my trip home following the Marketing and Industry Awareness Committee Meeting last September, I began writing the first draft of this article. I had spent a few hours reviewing the “State of the EASA Industry” research update and had listened to the thoughts and insights of other EASAns who attended the meeting.
In retrospect, I realize I had done something that many EASAns from small service centers rarely have the luxury of doing. I took a block of time, without distractions, and thought about my business and its future direction.
The article I wrote in September is not quite the one you’ll see here. We’re all dealing with a drastically different economic reality today.
Take control of direction
As business owners and managers, the daily, sometimes hourly, emergencies get our focus and attention first. That’s the nature of a service industry. It’s so easy to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Thus, we don’t have time to think about the kind of changes we want or need to make in our business. Change is going to happen whether we want it to or not. However, we may as well take some control of its direction. The greatest benefit I gained from the research report is several clues of what will work specifically for my company.
Like many members, I’m in a small market. The research report has information about industries and customer types that I’ll never have. The industries I serve are few and getting fewer all the time. I’ve been at far too many auctions of my former customers. My remaining customers that grew in the past good economic times have certainly scaled back during the current economic downturn. For the information in the report to be useful to my company, I needed to apply it to my particular and unique business.
Where to start – where to go
One area in the report that may have been overlooked is the “Appendices.” The “Highlights” had the big picture information, but I needed to consider smaller steps I could take right now. It’s true that I need to know where I want to go. But more importantly, I need to know where to start. Because the information is broken down by customer size in the “Appendices,” it was easier to find the ones that fit the majority of my customers. By looking at the specific responses of what they felt is important, I knew what steps to take today that would allow me to sell them what they’d need in the future.
Over and over again, I found that there’s an increasing need for them to rely on their vendors to supply qualified technicians. They’re having the same problems we face: an aging work force and a lack of new people wanting to learn the craft. By continuing to invest in improving the skills and quality of my employees, including myself, I’ll always have something customers will need.
The next thing that became clear was that they value service, timeliness and quality much more than low price. I need to have the courage to charge enough to be profitable.
The greatest responsibility I have to my customers and employees is to stay in business. In a smaller market like mine, it would take a while for my customers and employees to find someone that could offer what I do. If I can’t charge enough to make a profit, I can’t stay in business.
My action steps
The steps I’ve taken to help position my company to better prepare for the future are:
- I bought a used VPI tank from a transformer manufacturer that moved all its production to Mexico. By having a larger VPI tank, I’m increasing the quality of all our work. I’m also charging more for this service and selling the benefits of VPI processing random wound jobs.
- I’m continuing to send technicians for factory and EASA training. We’re also cross training in house. I’ll continue to go to all the EASA meetings that I can.
- This is the year that I will actually put a new sign on my building. There may be some benefit in making it easier for my customers to find me.
Fellow members are the experts
I found Appendix 5 to be very useful. I highly recommend reading it. The greatest experts in our field are our fellow EASA members. You’ll find gems in what they say. Because all of our businesses are so different, the gems you find may be different from those I find. The greatest benefit I receive from my EASA membership is the valuable advice I get from listening to EASA members at chapter, regional, and international meetings.
Related Reference and Training Materials
Print
