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Are You Right, or Dead Right?
June 23, 2009 |Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Many flex circuit and rigid board manufacturers were founded and run by people with technical backgrounds in that product. This is due to the way our industry was born, and how it has evolved. And despite Wall Street's invasion of the industry in the 1990s, many of these "techies" are still around as owners, presidents and in various senior management positions at some of the largest companies.
One of the common instincts of this group--when faced with the complex nature of the documentation of today's PCBs--is to overclarify one's understanding. Not to mention that engineering types love to hear themselves explain a complex technical issue. (No offense here to all of my good friends who are flex circuit engineers. You know that, in my heart, I am one of you too.)
One area where this propensity for verbosity can become a problem is in the early stages of the sales process with a new potential account. By this I mean either the casual RFQ or the point after which the sales people have made contact with the account, identified a need and engaged the customer as interested in pursuing a relationship with your shop.
No matter whether the opportunity relates to a new design or an existing part fabricated at another vendor, the customer wants to hear what you as the new potential supplier can do for him. This is what the sales people have been telling him all the while, which resulted in their becoming interested and created an opportunity to meet for a technical discussion.
I like to think that the sale is really made at this point. So far, the sales people and the customer have followed a typically scripted dance which involves known quantities: The sales people tell them that their company can solve their problems and the customer says that they are looking for the best value and a technical partnership. The first technical meeting is the point where the customers prove their commitment, which results in their buying or not.
So, this is not the time to tell the customer what cannot be done or what is wrong with their drawing and/or design. Attitude is everything at this first technical meeting.
If you go into this meeting with a techie who quickly tells the customer that his design cannot be built and his drawing has major problems, you are not going to earn the customer's respect. Most likely you are talking with the very persons who created the design and drawings, and this can be taken as a personal attack.
Now don't get me wrong--it probably is the case that their design is totally wrong and their drawings and documentation are incorrect. You are right to have assessed this. But if you walk out of the meeting without the customer's respect--and consequently no subsequent business--then you are, as I like to say, "dead right."
How do you address the shortcomings in the customer's situation? You must point out the deficiencies in a soft way, merely as "challenges" and "cost drivers," and be prepared to explain why they are not preferred. Then, offer viable alternatives. Of course, this requires preparation. You must be familiar with their design and their use of your flex or rigid boards in their system.
In today's fast-paced, book-and-burn side of the business, the technical meeting is the RFQ. Not a face-to-face meeting, but an electronic (e-mail) request for quotation. The quote response is the first thing that your company sells to a potential account. The quote response is extremely important because it is a direct reflection of your company. It needs to be on time and professionally formatted. It certainly should not be an attack on the customer's documentation.
This doesn't mean that you have to agree to requirements that you cannot meet or are impossible for anyone to meet. But, if you load up your quotation with lots of exceptions, your bid may not even be considered.
You want to do two key things:
- Include notes that indicate that you have carefully reviewed all of the customer's submitted material in support of the RFQ. You can do this by clearly indicating that your concerns are "clarifications" and not "exceptions."
- Include a disclaimer note that allows for further discussion should the customer become interested enough to proceed to an award. Something along the lines of "accepting the order after review of all procurement documentation." Each case, of course, will be different.
Let me be clear: I am not advocating deception or misrepresentation. But all "techies" involved at this point must understand what the casual RFQ or first technical meeting is really all about. It is an opportunity for the customer to assess how your company does business. It is not an opportunity to tell the customer how much you know about flex circuits. Seriously.
You want to keep the potential customer engaged. The key lies in segregating the customer base. Not all customers are the same and not all quotes are the same. Your better, long-term customers will be more receptive to exception verbiage. I propose a system of categorizing the customer base and treating each company differently as appropriate.
As long as you're going to be right you might as well win the business too. Otherwise you are just "dead right."
Al Wasserzug is director of business development at Vulcan Flex Circuit Corporation. He can be reached at alwasserzug@vulcanelectric.com.