The Thomas Blog

Green Manufacturing: The Business Benefits Of Sustainability

A few years ago, terms like “going green” and “eco-friendly” were all the rage for businesses. And while those words aren’t quite as buzzworthy today, they are still worth quite a lot to the people that really matter to manufacturers — B2B buyers.

More major players are driving toward a sustainability goal, like McDonald's who plans to use 100% recycled fiber-plastic packaging at every one of its locations worldwide by 2020. What this means for you is the increase of product options in demand and opportunities to tap into a new market and modernize your business.

How To Meet The Needs Of B2B Industrial Buyers

No matter what your role is — sales, marketing, operations, or leadership — you have a lot to accomplish.

So do your buyers. 

By understanding what your buyers have on their plates, you can more easily accomplish one of the most important things on yours — generating more leads. Here’s what you should know to meet their needs and create more meaningful connections to win more business.

Customer Delight: How To Ace The Last Phase Of Inbound Marketing

Buyers often encounter different challenges every day, and each phase of the buying process has opportunities (using inbound marketing!) for suppliers like you to position yourself as the best partner. 

Inbound marketing is defined as the data-driven approach to marketing that attracts people to your brand, engages them, and converts them to lasting customers. The approach is multi-channel and accounts for where people are, and how they want to interact with you using the main driver of quality content. It allows you to bring visitors into your site through various forms of channels like blogs, email marketing, and social media.

Unfortunately, a lot of marketers don’t even consider this last element of inbound marketing after the sale is made. That phase — customer delight — is perhaps one of the most important of all.

Opportunities For Business Growth During The Summer Slowdown

Every year, thousands of manufacturers around the country shut down their plants and facilities for a few weeks in the summer. They do so for a variety of reasons — to allow for vacation time, to take care of deferred maintenance, or to retool for the second half of the year.

While these activities are certainly important, too many manufacturing companies let the summer slowdown distract them from one of the most important activities of all — generating new business.

5 Risks Of Exporting Manufactured Goods — And How To Avoid Them

With tariffs and trade impacting the supply chain, a lot of the discussion has focused on the importing of goods and services. However, it has also sparked a renewed interest — and intensity — in exporting.

As standards of living continue to improve throughout the globe, foreign companies have more buying power than ever before. Couple that phenomena with the rise in global supply chains, and exporting represents one of the best opportunities for industrial companies to grow.

How To Make It On Your Industrial Buyer's Shortlist

As you know, industrial/B2B buyers looking to establish a long-term relationship with your business may vet you quite thoroughly. This could include visiting your facility, checking your finances, talking to customers and more.

However, before they get to that point, today’s buyers prefer to evaluate suppliers anonymously, then create a shortlist of potential partners before contacting them for further vetting.

Of course, evaluating you anonymously as they create their shortlists means learning as much as they can about you online. This blog post will help you make sure your online presence doesn’t have any holes that leave you short of making those shortlists.

Top 6 Benefits Of Local Sourcing

In today's increasingly global business landscape, it's no secret that many manufacturing and industrial businesses maintain supply chains that stretch all over the world.

However, what may be a secret is just how much procurement professionals would prefer to source locally instead.

Top 3 U.S. Manufacturing Challenges And How To Overcome Them

Is the glass half empty or half full? It’s an age old question, and there’s no right answer; it’s all about perspective. How about this question: Does the U.S. manufacturing industry have challenges or opportunities?

American manufacturing stands at a critical point in its long history — and how industry leaders view and react to the changing landscape will influence its future. As technology, demographics, and economic climate shift, manufacturers must innovate in order to stay competitive. Manufacturing in particular is positioned for domestic growth and, more than ever, industry leaders must guide their organizations strategically. Let’s take a look at some of the issues facing the industry through the lens of both challenges and opportunities.

10 Tips For Growing Your CNC Machining Business

Starting a new business can be a challenging endeavor, especially if the entrepreneur is entering a crowded market with large, well-established competitors already in place. Small CNC machine shops face hurdles similar to those of other small businesses, and, like their non-industrial counterparts, have the same potential for securing contracts and growing within the industry despite these obstacles.

Here are some tips and suggestions that may help in establishing or expanding your small CNC shop.