The Pillar Surplus Moment

Staying Competitive in Your Industry Consistently asking questions keeps a business on its toes and creates the drive for an answer. The question, “How can your business stay competitive?” leads to so many other questions like, “Who is your competition? What makes you different? Can you expand what you offer?” Establishing who your competition is, can provide guidance to figure out what makes your business different. It also helps one observe the repetitive behavior of competition to back-up your future strategic planning. Though, GREAT businesses are not predictable and are always analyzing the path ahead. Analyzing information already obtained is also a good way to know which way to approach when it comes to expansion in a business. When expanding, what you offer can separate you from your competition. Your business should be organic and ever-evolving. Break it down to your employees, are they good at what they do? When bringing in talented personnel, your busine...

The Value of Preventative Maintenance The primary goal of maintenance is to make sure things are operating at a satisfactory level to avoid failure. All technology needs some sort of maintenance at a point in time, whether it be your vehicle, tractor/machinery, heating and cooling systems, or even just a toaster. I have personally seen preventative maintenance not be prioritized at another place I’ve worked. When the program was not prioritized, our toaster broke down and later on short-circuited the rest of the equipment within the store.   After the toaster, it was the coffee brewer, then the water pumps, then the water heater, one breaking down after another. It felt like there was a new problem every day. Luckily, the store eventually went back to normal after 2-3 weeks and after multiple expenses... This situation brought on many inconveniences for us employees and a few guests. The Preventative Maintenance Program creates habits to help maintain a successful bus...

After Reading “Eight Major Upcoming Industry Trends—And How to Prepare for Them” (Forbes, 2018) The other day I was looking for industry news that could educate me and create an interesting post for Blogger. I was led to the article written by Forbes about upcoming industry trends, reminding me that way we communicate is always evolving. All of the upcoming industry trends will strengthen the field of marketing (yay for me), advancing relationships with customers and sales increase. The “Eight Trends”, presented by Forbes’s Communication Council are: 1. Convergence of Brand and Performance Marketing* 2. Ads Used to Promote Industry Changes 3. Increased Focus on Experiential Marketing* 4. Using more Marketing and Sales Automation 5. Re-targeting and Programmatic Advertising 6. Content Marketing* of Industrial Brands 7.   Advocating for Diversity of Thought 8. Changes in Customer Data Collection and Use So, what does this mean for businesses? The changes...

Why Do We Blog? The Benefits Whether you like blogging or not, its popularity still stands. Blogger is simple and efficient but technology itself isn’t so much.   When I did some research, blogging was said to be a great way to stay connected when so much continues to change. But there were lists and lists that came up of how many other great things a blog can do, at a low cost. Every two to three weeks, I try to write Blogger post consistently, but why? Finding this answer is something our fellow readers and myself might find interesting to know. Blogger is a more detailed interaction with people, compared to other social media. Pillar Surplus loves to engage and create relationships with our customers and this social media site along with our newly active Facebook is one way to start. We have written previously, relationships build trust and trust equals a newly founded customer confidence. Along with leads and long-term results, the Blogger traffic can easily ...

The Key to Customer Confidence  Many factors contribute to the construction of a company’s customer confidence. Enforcing these factors into business does have large importance because customer loyalty, revenue, brand, and competition all rely on customer confidence. Customers are the running blood of all business… So, without their confidence, is your company even alive? Luckily, confidence is something that can be lost but easily gained. You should be seeking feedback, maintaining relationships, transparency, have goals beyond profit and ease of payment.  From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday to accomplish these additional tasks, we assist customers through phone and email. Our employees are eager to foster these relationships with quick response and undivided attention while assisting the concerned customers. Satisfaction will grow and trust will be gained when maintaining relationships becomes one of the priorities on your business’s list. Another way to ...