Fabricating a new sales approach

The metal fabricating industry has changed pretty dramatically over the past 25 years. Fabricating technology is faster. 3-D modeling is now commonplace as a part design tool. Lead times are now measured in days instead of weeks.

Meanwhile, the sales approach for many small to medium-sized job shops remains the same. This approach involves waiting until the current batch of customers boosts their orders or working the phones and calling the same old contacts when business gets slow. Many fabricators have failed to change their sales practices as the rest of the manufacturing world has advanced forward at a rapid pace.

The next step could involve hiring a full-time sales person. This could be a dramatic change for a business that has always relied on word-of-mouth to attract new business and, frankly, doesn’t know a ton about successful sales practices. But having a knowledgeable person knocking on doors that have been previously ignored is an intriguing investment.

These three tips can help fabricators navigate that hiring decision.

1. Have a Sales and Marketing Plan

It makes all the sense in the world, said Ron Quinkert, senior business solutions manager, Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, but that doesn’t mean that fabricating companies do it.

Quinkert, who has helped dozens of manufacturing businesses with 50 to 150 employees formalize their sales and marketing approaches, said a plan can begin with a simple question: Who are we going to do business with? The answer provides the overall goal of establishing working relationships with these companies on the target list.

From there, the fabricating company can decide on the messaging that will help to convince those targeted customers to do business with them. In what type of work do we specialize? What fabricating capabilities do we have? What type of value-added activities do we offer to customers? How easy is it for the customer to do business with us electronically?

That messaging then has to be shared with the intended recipients.

“When people are looking at the website and marketing material, such as email postcards, that will give people a reason to believe that they may want to do business with you,” Quinkert said.

This sales plan provides the foundation for the new hire. The individual can come up to speed on the fabricator’s capabilities and goals rather quickly and focus on landing new business.

2. Be Flexible

In February 2014, Dan Aronson, president, P&A Metal Fab Inc., wanted to hire a new outside salesperson. Following up on a reference, he hired a recruiter who would vet potential candidates.

Aronson wanted a person with sales experience and knowledge of the metal fabrication industry. He also prepared a document explaining just what P&A Metal Fab was and outlining sales goals and expected revenue growth. At least, that’s how the search started.

When it came down to the final two candidates, Aronson said he went against his early criteria. One of the finalists was a sales professional from the industry, and the other candidate had experience in selling bicycle components to small bike shops. He had more mechanical aptitude than experience in metal fabricating. Aronson hired the latter to be his new outside sales representative.

“In his off time, he liked to work on cars, so he was hands-on. He also knew how to weld,” Aronson said. “When I took him through the shop for a plant tour, I took him to our BLM tube bender. He noticed the camera on it and how it looked for an etch mark on the tube to know how to clock the part before bending it.

“He had a really good feel for the business,” he added.

The late Dick Kallage, a lean manufacturing expert and Improvement Insights columnist for The FABRICATOR, once said that this approach can work for a job shop, even if it may not be the typical approach.

“Usually a salesperson must have a basic technical background and training to represent a job shop’s value proposition properly,” Kallage said. “But this doesn’t necessarily mean the person needs technical mastery of metal fabrication.”

When Aronson got to the point where he needed to make his hiring decision, he focused on the candidate’s personality as much as anything.

“It was going to be the right fit with our internal team and our customers,” he said. “You can teach the other stuff. What I can’t teach you is how to be good at sales and have the right personality.”

Of course, a metal fabricator also has to have the technical talent on staff to close the deal, but before that can happen, a salesperson needs to get the door open.

3. Keep Track of Sales

Anyone in manufacturing is familiar with the refrain “You can’t improve what you can’t measure.” It also applies to sales.

A new salesperson needs to have an idea of just what the sales goals are, and that they will be held accountable in meeting them. Quinkert said that he always advises clients to have quarterly sales goals, so they can stay on top of whether their investment in sales and marketing is paying off. If the sales experiment is going nowhere, the company can end it quickly.

“Fail fast and fail cheap,” Quinkert said.

Aronson said that he tracks sales and has a good idea of the impact his sales-person is making. He’s expecting bigger things in the future now that the outside sales representative has familiarity with the local market and the fabricating business.

“We need a local face in our local market. We relied on people just walking through the doors for years,” he said. “That just wasn’t growing sales.”

Got to Grow

Quinkert stressed that growth is a necessity in achieving long-term success for any manufacturing business. Too often, he said, companies are lulled into a sense of satisfaction because they are involved in hot manufacturing markets and enjoy good relationships with a few large customers. When a buyer leaves one of those companies or a customer has a new edict to chase the best price for fabricating services, that success can turn into panic very quickly.

“Those companies that are promoting their business, following the sales plan, and keeping track of where they are, are growing,” he said.

And that goes for the metal fabricating companies looking to hire a salesperson or just looking to modernize their sales approach. The goal is to grow the business.

“Don’t wait. If you aren’t growing, someone else is taking the business. They are growing, and you aren’t,” Quinkert said.

Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center, 888-414-6682, www.the-center.org

P&A Metal Fab Inc., 503-655-2389, www.pametal.com