3 Reasons You Won’t Want to Miss Manufacturing Day

It’s finally here: manufacturing day. What’s the big deal? Well, if you’re in manufacturing, then every year you probably spend at least a little time fighting off bad press – especially if you’re in an unpopular industry. The general public will be there, and this is an excellent opportunity to dispel myths about what happens in your niche. It’s also a great time to tell your story and network.

Sharing Your Business’s Story

Every company has a story. This is your chance to tell it. Tell it to potential clients. Tell it to other industry professionals. Odds are, everyone has preconceived notions about what it that you do. And odds are, they’re wrong. For example, a company that manufactures industrial fans might have an image of being a stuffy, boring, rather mundane company. If that company is Big Ass Fans, then there’s a huge disconnect between the perception of what a fan company ought to be and what it actually is.

In this example, Big Ass Fans has an image that’s radically different from what you’d expect from an industrial manufacturer. They’re not stuffy at all. Somehow, they’ve managed to make fans fun and exciting. Imagine that. Do you have a story that can smash preconceived notions about what you do?

Networking With Other Companies

Let’s say you’re in the banding industry. You make components for steel band equipment and tools. Would you benefit from networking with a company like It Straps On, Inc? Possibly. The truth is, you never know who you’ll find or what benefits there are to mingling until or unless you get out there and do it.

Maybe the next person you talk to is a purchasing agent looking for a new vendor because they’re very unhappy with their current one. No, they’re not going to advertise it, and it’s impolite to lead in with a sales pitch, but a casual conversation about what both of you do might push the conversation in that direction.

Gather business cards, get names and phone numbers, and make friends. Networking also boosts confidence in what you do. By regularly networking, and pushing yourself to talk to people you don’t know, it helps increase your confidence. You get more and more used to speaking with people and this is important for future growth. You have to be comfortable selling not just your product, but yourself.

Getting New Ideas From Other Industries

Some of the most valuable ideas won’t come from other companies in your industry. For example, there’s an old saying that, often, companies in the same industry tend to rip each other off in their marketing and sales strategies – each company producing a “me too” concept. The whole time, everyone is getting dumber because the best strategy is being watered down each time it’s copied.

Customers in the industry start seeing the same marketing message, with varying degrees of professionalism and form, and they become desensitized to the message of the whole industry. Ads become less efficacious. Everyone suffers.

Instead of going down that road, see what you can learn about product development and deployment, marketing and sales, and even management, from other industries. Usually, this is a lot easier than prodding people in your own industry because there’s no competition. An industrial fan manufacturer, for example, has little to fear from a company that makes glue or printer paper.

Jane Davies is an event planner. She loves writing about the top events around the world on business blogs.