The Age of the Stone Fab ‘Order-Taker’ Is Coming to an End
The days of stone fabricators effortlessly taking orders are over. In today’s competitive market, tracking sales performance is key to growth. Learn the must-know metrics to transform your team—from close rates to client engagement—and discover why measuring sales is your next big opportunity. The future belongs to fabricators who evolve from order-takers to sales leaders.
Sales Are Down 25%
Sales down 15-25%? Don’t just hire more salespeople—focus on your loyal clients. Take them to lunch, ask how you can help, and really listen. Strengthening these relationships not only builds trust but also reveals opportunities to innovate. One client doubled their monthly sales this way! Discover what your top customers need.
Troubleshooting Made Easy: 4 Steps to Improve Production Efficiency
Ever felt like everything is going wrong and you’re not sure where to start? When your production isn’t running at speed or your machinery keeps breaking down, it can quickly feel like that. It can be frustrating – and expensive. Guess what? You’re not alone. Many of the world’s top manufacturers struggle with these same […]
Sustain Your Sales: How to Make Sure Your Top Customers Stay Your Top Customers
I don’t want to be an alarmist, but the warning signs of a potential recession are all around us. While we all hope it doesn’t come to pass, you need to be proactive just in case. Building a sustainable business model before any downturn happens is the smart play. If an economic downturn does occur, […]
Stone Fabrication in the Age of the Great Retirement: Adapt or Be Left Behind
We’ve all seen Help Wanted signs popping up everywhere. For years now, we’ve had trouble finding enough people. Unfortunately, it’s likely to get harder due to the significant number of people retiring. Baby Boomers have hit retirement age, and they’re calling it a career in record numbers. Pre-pandemic, about 3 million Boomers retired annually. Post-pandemic? […]
A Two-Pronged Approach to Dealing with Staffing Shortages: Practical Advice that Works
Hiring is hard, especially when you’re looking for skilled workers. At the start of 2022, 91% of businesses said they had a difficult time finding skilled workers. A year later, more than three-quarters of companies surveyed say the skilled labor shortage has gotten even worse. As an example, one of the most challenging jobs to […]
Sales Process: 5 Ways to Improve with Fewer People
Without sales, you’re dead. It’s HARD. With the labor shortage, it’s close to impossible to find sales people, and a real challenge to keep the sales funnel full. So, how can we get more done with less? The incredible downpour of new orders during COVID is starting to come to an end. How do we […]
Profit: An Unavoidable Side Effect of Measuring Your Business
In my early 20s, I was a supervisor for ConAgra Foods. We made Snack Pack pudding. One thing I’ll never forget is the sweet smell of the chocolate and vanilla puddings. But besides learning how to make pudding, I learned a lesson that would change the way I worked: Measuring your business makes you more […]
Making Sure Your Shop Machinery Doesn’t Have You Running in Circles
Uncertainty right now is a real thing. We’re still recovering from COVID and we’ve just had the second- and third-largest bank failures in history. We have no idea what the fallout is or how the economy will perform moving forward. Regardless of what happens, you still need to run a strong shop and get the […]
Find Out Why Employees are Leaving To Keep Them
Losing great employees is painful for your company, and it might result in bottlenecks, missed sales, or reduced morale. Worse yet, the labor market is tighter than in 70 years, making finding a replacement challenging. You need to find out why an employee leaves and then use that knowledge to keep your other employees around. […]