Happy 2012 to Everyone!
I was mildly tempted to make this blog entry very political as it seems that the Republican primary is taking up more than 50% of news media; however that did not seem very professional, and I did not want anyone to mistake my personal views for TransTech’s or Fandstan’s . . . so I decided to just stay out of it. What I will say is that, I’m not quite sure why we are voting on a Saturday here in South Carolina. I don’t recall ever having voted on a Saturday. It will be interesting to see if a Saturday voting day increases or decreases voter turnout (if that can even truly be calculated).
Our new year is already off to a busy start here at TransTech. I spent the first week putting the finishing touches on a rather hefty order to AKAPP. AKAPP is one of our sister companies located in the Netherlands. They manufacture and sell a number of power transfer systems for lighter duty manufacturing and industrial applications. I have mentioned our Delta Star Conductor Bar Line several times, but those systems are designed for heavy-duty manufacturing and industrial applications (think steel plants). The AKAPP systems present us with an opportunity to enter the lighter duty manufacturing and industrial markets. Before Christmas, I did an analysis of a three-year-sales history in an effort to create an order that will allow us to stock frequently used AKAPP items so that our sales force can have more confidence in the availability of products while they are selling. We were able to finalize that order at the end of last week, and I look forward to receiving it. Jos Baars at AKAPP has been very helpful, and it has been a pleasure working with him. I am looking forward to interacting with him more in the coming months. I will be keeping tabs on the AKAPP product line (mainly the AKAPP Multiconductor) to make sure that we are stocking and turning over inventory appropriately (I am very thankful that I took the Product Management course that I mentioned in a previous blog post).
In the meantime I will be doing some market research to determine some good markets to enter, as well as developing some strategies for entering those markets. Part of my research is going to require some travel to current and potential customers, so I will leave on February 7th for a whirlwind two-week trip along the west-coast. In spite of being away from my family for an extended time (which is always difficult), I am looking forward to getting out in the field to see some applications of our products. In March or April, I plan to go to Europe to actually visit AKAPP. Lastly, I have supplemented the reading list that I mentioned in one of my first blog posts with two books about Market Research. I have found both quite helpful. The first is called The Market Research Toolbox: a Concise Guide for Beginners by Edward F. McQuarrie. The second is Marketing Research Kit for Dummies by Michael R. Hyman and Jeremy J. Sierra. This is a very extensive field, and I think that most of TransTech’s research will be “secondary research” (which basically means that I will be doing it). McQuarrie’s book has been extremely helpful as it deals with the issue from a B2B perspective and gives a good deal of emphasis on “qualitative” research (which, by its very existence, is distinctive from “quantitative” research, and is, therefore, hard to . . . well . . . quantify . . . but is valuable nonetheless).
In addition to this travel and some extensive secondary market research, I have a number of other things on my plate for 2012. First, I have been pricing and prioritizing a number of promotional items to better equip the sales department for their visits. I have had a couple of really good ideas for promotional products which I hope will be unique, professional, and help drive business (I think they will be especially popular at trade shows . . . so be sure to visit our booth if you are coming to a trade show we will be participating in). A couple other big projects on my plate for this year include the development of a CRM and a website revamp. Overall, this year is already filling up quickly . . . and we are only 11 days into the year. Yikes!
Well, this was a little shorter than my last posts, but, as I said, there’s a lot to do! TransTech as a whole is very busy with filling Pantograph orders, shoegear orders, OCS orders, and a myriad of other products. So, I’m signing off for now. I’m sure that I will be posting again soon.
–1/11/12
