What do you do?

By Gary Weldon (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

I...

take ideas and craft them into products that make life better.

take raw materials and turn them into parts for... well... everything.

work hard daily behind the scenes without fanfare or fame.

help inventors’ dreams become reality.

move technology from the laboratory to your home.

am a vital part of my local, state and national economy.

am one of twelve million.

invest, employ, sell, design, engineer, purchase, finance, service, manage, program, process, machine, mold, fabricate, extrude, weave, press, coat, assemble, test, package, ship, install and much more...

I... am a manufacturer.

From Either/Or to Both/And

By Heather Martin (Innovative Interchange Associates)

Do you find yourself stuck in either/or land a lot?

Remember—polarizing ideas is the surest way to maintain the status quo. If you stick with what you've always thought, and the other guy sticks with what he’s always thought, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

The next time you hear yourself saying things like, “We tried that before and it totally failed. I’m not trying it again,” try the both/and approach.

Work with the other person to discover how your ideas are connected. Take a few minutes to find at least four positives about the idea you’re inclined to shoot down. Then imagine how they could lead to a solution you might never have thought of on your own.

Using Marketing for More Effective Recruiting

By Debbie Wanamaker (B2B Marketing Consultants, LLC)

Business is starting to pick up. Money is becoming more available. Optimism is growing.

Companies are starting to hire.

Or at least trying to hire. . .

In some industries we've come full circle to “pre-recession” times when jobs are available but there aren't enough qualified people to fill them.

In a shortage economy the companies with the best marketing & sales strategies win - whether it's winning those new customers or recruiting those key employees.

You will improve your odds of securing loyal employees who have the type of personalities that will fit well within your organization if you follow the basic steps of strategic marketing in your recruiting efforts:

Customer Service in the hills of West Virginia

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

While the big storms were hitting Ohio and the East Coast on Friday, June 29th, my family and I were vacationing in South Carolina. We watched the TV news reporting wide spread power outages. We talked to family back home who checked on our house and said everything and everyone was o.k. Not worrying about the storm, we headed out about 9:30am Saturday morning for our 12 hour drive home.

Immediately we hit a bunch of traffic and saw several wrecks and accidents and by the time we hit Virginia, we had lost at least 2 hours! About 10 miles South of West Virginia, heading North on I-77 my sister-in-law texted my wife Erin and said to get gas while we can because there are wide spread power outages! Several of the exits that my in-laws had gotten off on had no power and if there was a station with power (or a generator) there were lines of 25 to 30 cars at each pump!

The Power of a Regional Trade Show

By Angelina Erbaugh (DRMA)

Whether you call yourself a manufacturer, or a supplier to manufacturers, or a supplier to suppliers, you are—first and foremost—a business. And you’re in the business of selling… and marketing… and networking… whether you call it that or not. If no one knows about you, no one can buy from you. So in today’s business environment, when you have so many ways to market your business, how do you know what to spend your resources on?

For show-and-tell items like manufacturing, trade shows are a great option. At DRMA, that’s one of the main reasons we took over producing the Advanced Manufacturing Technology Show a few years back… as we recognized that trade shows continue to be a big part of the manufacturing industry, and we wanted to keep one here in Dayton, as a convenient, cost-effective place for manufacturers to sell, market, and network in our region.

We know there are a lot of national or highly-targeted trade shows out there. We study them. So, as we started prepping for this year’s show coming up October 24 & 25, we looked back on the success of past AMTS shows and asked ourselves some questions… to make sure we’re still on the right track. What makes AMTS different? What value are we bringing to our region, when there are so many other national trade shows for our manufacturers to choose from?

New Business Connections with the DoD

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

Do you have extra capacity?  Do you manufacture any components for the Federal Government?  Do you want to do work for the DoD?  Have you even looked at it?  It is true that there are a lot of opportunities to make decent money off of Federal contracts, but there are also pot holes along the road.

Federal Government procurement is a beast all on it’s own with a lot of policies and procedures needed to win contracts.  Well, the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Association is sponsoring an event to help you find opportunities and to navigate your way through the maze of red tape.  The event is called “New Business Connections for Ohio Manufacturers” and is being held on Thursday August 16th.  Their will be a variety of speakers at this event discussing both the current and the future manufacturing needs in support of the Department of Defense (DoD).

Perspectives from Local Government: Property Taxes

By Keith Kline (City of Dayton)

During an election year, there is no avoiding the topic of taxes. In Ohio, property taxes are just one part of a complex system that provides funding for roads, schools, libraries, police, parks, and more. We all want lower taxes, of course, but we also have to pay for the programs and services that keep our country running. However, there may be opportunities for you to lower your property taxes both now, and in the future. 

For example, if your property taxes are too high, then it may be because your facility has not been appraised appropriately. Every three years, your County government is required to asses your property value. They hire an independent appraiser to review each property and determine the fair market value for the next tax year.

Change Management

By Heather Martin (Innovative Interchange)

Change is easy- if you understand how hard it is.

Once you’ve made up your mind to form a new habit, you’re more likely to succeed if you are prepared for the four phases of change:

1. Uninformed optimism: This is the stage in which the idea of getting up every day at 6 a.m. to go running sounds like a piece of cake.

Where Do we live, anyway?

By Steve Staub (Staub Manufacturing Solutions)

So, you’re from around here, but you're on an airplane flying from LA to Atlanta and the guy next to you asks, “Where you from?”. How do you respond? Do you name the city, county or township that you live in, risking that this person most likely has never heard of it? Do you say Dayton, Ohio (which might be more recognizable) or possibly The Miami Valley or maybe Southwestern Ohio?

Recently I asked a friend of mine who lives just north of Lima and he said that he lives in Northwestern Ohio and that he does live in the Miami Valley but he does not live in the Dayton Region! Wow, that was a long answer! So here is a quick question for you… are we the Dayton Region, the Miami Valley or Southwestern Ohio? What do we call this place where we live and work?

We considered this when we founded MadeInDaytonBLOG.com and frankly there are good reasons for choosing “all of the above”. Let’s take a look:

Going Green in Sales

By Roger Wentworth (Sandler Training) 

The word green in our society today has become a household term. The term green is used all across the globe as a reference to living in a way that is environmentally friendly by reducing waste, using less energy and minimizing our carbon footprint.  

So how can we go green in sales?  By minimizing the energy required to close business.  At the core of this concept is qualifying.  Qualifying at every step of the selling process minimizes waste allowing the process to stop when the minimum requirements of qualification are not met.  In other words, turn off the light and close the door, a scary concept for salespeople that are afraid to turn down business.  But in reality, they are not turning down business, they are working smart, going green. 

So, how does disqualifying create efficiency in the selling process?  As an example, a salesperson told me last week that she was at 95% of her annual goal at the end of June and that she had disqualified more people this year than ever before.

O’er the land of the free...

Free from government tyranny and oppression.
Free to live out our dreams.
Free to pursue success in a free market.
Free to serve and to help others.
Free to invent and innovate.
Free to achieve our God-given potential.

We have been given a precious gift, this freedom. One to steward faithfully with courage, respect and honor.

We hope you have a wonderful Independence Day celebration!

Sincerely,

The MadeInDaytonBlog.com Staff

(Due to the holiday, we will be publishing our next article on Monday, July 9th.)