Monday, November 21, 2011

Slow season? Really?

As we move into the holiday season, our business is supposed to slow down.  Traditionally, this is the time of year that we prep for the new show season in January and clean the shop.  We find building maintenance jobs to keep our employees busy and suggest that hunting season is a great time for a vacation.  However, we are too busy to sweep and we are hiring to keep ahead of the current orders.

How did this happen?
Thrilled, that is what we are.  Crazy, happy dance, thrilled to be this busy.  We are shipping manual and automatic machinery at a faster pace than any previous year.  We have enough potential orders to keep us running until the show season kicks off after the Rose Bowl.  But, how exactly did this happen?

Everywhere we read, the economy is not growing.  Michigan has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.  Banks are tight-fisted and not loaning to small businesses.  We should all be depressed.

Brown Manufacturing is not depressed.  Jubilant, comes to mind.

I can truly say that the reason we are busy is that our customer service is outstanding.  Daily, we receive calls and letters of thanks for taking care of our customers.  Our products have a reputation of reliability and our sales staff takes phone call after phone call of quality, free product support.  That kind of commitment to customer satisfaction does pay off.

Is that all?
I can say that customer service is not what sells products.  It is, however, what keeps customers.  Sales is all about hard work, getting in front of customers and coming up with real solutions for their problems.  That takes time and effort.  It also takes well thought out products.  Brown Manufacturing does all that.  Our people are constantly thinking of new ideas that will help screen printers grow and increase profits.  Our people are on the move 24/7 connecting with our customer base.

Being Thankful.
We are thankful to those who stick with us.  Both as employees and as customers.  With employee dedication and customer loyalty, Brown continues to grow.  We are continually thankful for all of that.