Friday, July 11, 2008

Why visiting Polycon 2009 is more important than ever

Business is tough. The traditional markets for our Mastercast engineered composites are in the doldrums. So what it the owner to do?

The owner is that vital contact to key customers and key suppliers alike. He or she is also the visionary, the strategist, chief business development officer.

There are many untapped markets out there where Mastercast engineered composites can be used. It requires some thinking outside of the box.

Often times, you brain needs a trigger to make the light bulb go of. That trigger could be what you see at your regional meeting, visiting another cast polymer plant. Or talking to suppliers over lunch when they share their travails with you and you discover a hidden opportunity.

In my humble opinion, the biggest mistake a Mastercast business owner can make is to retreat to the "spin pot" and put in the hard labor to replace the guy that he had to let go. Or to allow to have your cell phone become the customer service line by default.

The housing industry malaise will likely last through 2009. During the good times, we hopefully all put some money aside. This is the time to dip into the nest egg and work harder on diversification in products and markets so you are better positioned for the upturn. That would be hard to do if you box yourself into the "casting corner".

Polycon 2009 is the perfect forum for you to learn what your colleagues are doing to weather this perfect storm. Take the opportunity to rub elbows with industry leaders, suppliers small and large, your peers in the industry.
Work up a detailed plan as to what sessions you want to attend. When not attending educational sessions and the exhibit hall is open, make appointments with suppliers that you think may help you discover your next niche.

Polycon comes around only once a year, grab the moment!

Dirk De Vuyst
ICPA President 2009
Intl. Marble Industries, Inc
Woodstock GA 30188
Tel 770 928 2252 ext 223

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wearing your love for MasterCast TM on your shirt sleeves?

July 2 2008 was workday at ACMA. At 8am sharp, I was warmly welcomed by Patti Washburn and her staff and we got right to work.

On the way back, a fifty something young man nestled himself in the seat next to me. It was obvious that he worked for AMD, the microprocessor people that at times have made INTEL run a little faster. Indeed, Richard from AMD was sporting his company's logo on his briefcase, shirt pocket and on a cap he held in his hand.

After takeoff, he turned to me and, after the usual introductions, suggested that I must be working for a large corporation. Not knowing what exactly to think, I asked him why he felt that way.

"Well", he said, "your shirt pocket mentions your company name and logo, and that tells me you have guys got "IT". Our research has shown us that our customers view a shirt cum logo as the sign of a company that means business and that will take care of their customers".

He proceeded to tell how companies that were proud enough to display their name "on their short sleeve" could ill afford to be recognized in public and to be servicing their customers poorly at the same time.

Learning from this free advice, we are going to take this a step further. Currently, all staff is encouraged to have polo shirts or dress shirts embroidered at the local Hometreads store at Walmart. They provide the shirt they like to wear, Intl. Marble Industries, Inc pays the $8 for the embroidery.

We needed little incentive to return to the store, have the Mastercast Engineered Composites logo digitized and added to our shirts.

Let's do the math: there are over 1,000 Mastercast producers in the US; they employ on average 5 "front office" people; that would translate 5,000 logos leaving impressions 8-10 hours a day, not only at the office but also wherever you go on your lunch break and while running errands on the way home: the grocery store, the bank, the nail salon, etc... Not a bad investment.

Now let's all get to work to locate the 80% that have not yet bought into the concept, show the values of the ICPA and how we are working hard on positioning our product and brand name for the years to come.

Dirk De Vuyst

ICPA President
Intl Marble Industries, Inc
304 Bell Park Drive
Woodstock GA 30188
tel 770 928 2252 ext 223
fax 770 874 7540