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Stuck, are you? No matter what you try you just can’t seem to increase you business. You have to fight like hell to even get a quote and then, when you get it, there always seems to be someone who has a lower price than you do. You think you are doing all the right things. You are visiting all of your old customers to see if they can give you more business. You call them up, you visit them, you do whatever it takes to get them to increase their business and you are just not getting anywhere. After a while you are so discouraged that you are almost ready to give up. If you don’t increase you business soon you are going to have to lay off some people and you know that if you still don’t get more business you are going have to stop postponing the inevitable and close up shop forever. Something that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago is now just around the corner. “How did this happen?” You think, “What did I do wrong?”

For years, whenever business slowed down it always came back. Sooner or later the economy would get better, those low balling board shops would screw up, the customers would come back, and we would steady ourselves and things would get back to normal. Only this time it’s taking too long. Actually, this time it is just not happening and you are getting less and less sure that it will ever come back.

Look, these are scary times. These are times like no other you have ever faced. These are record breaking bad times and what is most scary, I hate to tell you, is that although the world will right itself, things will settle down, things will get better, but they will never be the same again. Once the economy, and then our industry, rights itself things will have changed, permanently, and there will be a whole new set of rules. A new world order and thus a new industry order to deal with. And if you go around thinking that you can always do what you always did and succeed, you will fail. I can guarantee that you will fail. Unless you adapt. Unless you take a good, clear look at the new cards you have been dealt and find new ways to play those cards. So, let me take a few minutes and show you how to play those new cards.

Change is your friend

The first thing to do is embrace change. Yes, I know that you hate change, we all do. Well, get over it. Hating change is old school. Embracing change is the secret to succeeding in the new world because change is what is going to always be happening from now on. Especially in the next few years as we all learn to adapt to the new economy. As people around you, your customers and your competitors, try to find a way to succeed in our changed world, they are going to change the way they do things. If you don’t do the same you will be in trouble. So be an innovator, look around you, see the way things are and then try to find new ways and tactics to deal with these changes. It’s very simple, actually. The new economy is going to be based on the future, not the past. Sure, we got here through the past and, of course, the past made us what we are today, but you have to be able to move on. The world is ready for new things. Your market is ready for new things, new strategies, new offerings, new ways of selling, new ways of branding, and you have to be ready to think about them, develop them, and apply them to your new market situation.

It is no longer enough to build a great product. It is taken for granted that you are building great circuit boards and delivering them on time. Of course you are. Do you assume less when you buy something as basic as a light bulb? How about something more complicated, like a TV. You just assume they are going to function. You do not want to even think about it, right? Then what makes us think that we are going to be able to send out circuit boards that only work 95 percent of the time? No, those days are over. So let’s make the assumption that you have that under control. You are building great product, as is everyone else. Oh, and one more thing, you can forget about those test and tooling charges. Those days are over as well. No more separate charges, get over it (but that’s for another day, another column).

Now, service will be the backbone of your success. You will have to create your brand, you will have to develop the ideal “buyer’s experience” that includes not only the basic product, but also how beneficial it is to deal with your company—from your ads to the way you answer the phone, to the sales experience, the ordering experience and the product experience, right down to the way you package and ship your products. In other words, your success will depend on how good you make your customers feel about dealing with you and buying product from you.

So, in the next few years, starting yesterday actually, you are going to be faced with the challenge of developing your brand and your customers’ experience as an integral part of that brand. Some people are doing it already. Are you? If not, then you’d better get started, right now. It’s good strategy.

*A special bonus from The Strategist! This is only the beginning. Starting Monday, February 15, check out Circuitree.com for a vital branding tip a day for ten days from Dan Beaulieu, The Strategist. From developing your company’s branding story, to making customers feel that you are irreplaceable, you will be able to enjoy ten days, ten steps to branding your company.