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...

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...

What it’s like Working at Pillar Surplus “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out,” (R. Coiller). From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Monday through Friday, my fellow co-workers consistently have hard work running through their veins. The business’s friendly service and our nicely-priced quality parts keep Pillar Surplus on its toes. When offering a variety of items, there are many steps when it comes to inventory. Workers have to gather part numbers from each part, to be documented on research forms for future use. Then they need to be counted and then photographed. Next, more research is done to collect general information and average pricing, so they can list the part on the website, Craigslist and/or eBay. Inventorying can get really in-depth but brings convenience to the customer’s table. When taking these steps, information on the parts becomes transparent. Customers know exactly what they are buying and view the condition of the product before purchasi...