With multiple seemingly conflicting variables keeping electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers on their toes, now is the time to implement greater consistency and structure in sales and marketing.
While inflation and other factors have all dramatically impacted the U.S. economy throughout much of 2022, one thing remains constant: demand for electronic devices. This demand reaches across multiple industries, with significant need in medical devices. The need is not purely for medical purposes, however. EMS companies have been tasked with increasing the speed of innovation; providing greater data analytics; and increasing device performance, durability, and longevity.
Conversely, EMS companies — like many other manufacturing businesses serving other industries — have been hampered by pervasive supply chain and logistics setbacks, with lead times reaching a year or more in many sectors. Strong demand with a weak supply is not an ideal situation, as many have come to find over the past year. And with looming concerns of a recession, demand itself is in an unstable situation.
To make matters more complicated, the average age of electronics industry workers (particularly when it comes to sales) is on the upper end of the 40-50 range. While this segment has time before hitting retirement age, they’re more established in their careers than Gen Z and are less likely to consider change where it’s needed. But that’s the key: change is needed to position EMS for success in today’s complex world.
At first, EMS sales and marketing leaders might think they need to hire fresh talent or implement a new solution in-house — incurring significant cost and time in recruitment, training, and technology in order to bring this change about. Fortunately, that’s not the case. Outsourcing electronics marketing services and sales support is a far more productive, impactful, and cost-effective avenue. Let’s explore why.
Why Outsource Your EMS Marketing and Front-End Sales Support?
Take a page from the startup’s playbook: leaders need to be laser-focused on growth. They achieve that by off-loading virtually all tasks that aren’t growth-related. Prioritizing work that moves the needle forward allows them to do exactly that. Unfortunately, many EMS sales and marketing leaders are saddled with work that isn’t growth-focused.
Sales team members in particular often deal with account management and service issues, requiring their time and attention when it would be better prioritized on customer acquisition efforts. While they might be tasked with these responsibilities as a cost-savings measure, they will end up costing the business more in the long run. Less time for sales means less time for revenue generation. (Note that this impacts upselling to existing accounts, too.)
Early sales efforts are another drag on resources as well. Prospecting and nurturing are important processes for filling up the top of the funnel, but consider their impact on your sales and marketing team’s time. The lack of sales and marketing sophistication is a common concern in manufacturing companies, which means your team is spending more time doing this upfront work when they should be focused on closing qualified, high-value, high-probability deals.
As a manufacturer, you’re already well aware of the division of labor concept — but have you considered how it can be put to work in the sales and marketing function? Outsourcing electronics marketing services and sales support is essentially the same philosophy: you’re allowing your team to do what it does best, while a reliable partner handles upfront marketing and sales tasks. This sets your team up for greater success in that they’re focusing only on opportunities that are the most qualified.
Achieve your sales goals more effectively: Learn more about the division of labor concept and how you can put it into practice.
How an EMS Marketing Services Provider Adds Value
Rather than have your sales and marketing team manage an end-to-end function replete with time-consuming tasks (that oftentimes they may not have sufficient experience or time to handle), outsourcing this function helps you to:
- Build stronger prospect lists consisting of the most ideal opportunities
- Nurture those prospects consistently until they’re ready to talk to sales
- Develop impactful marketing programs based on proven strategies
- Expand existing marketing programs by leveraging third-party experts
- Use more sophisticated technologies without the expense or training
- Increase the accountability and productivity of your existing sales team
- Immediately leverage methods for measuring and reporting performance
The end result is a more consolidated and structured EMS marketing and sales process that keeps your team focused on high-value work that drives growth. Whether your electronics company is busier than ever and needs a more structured process for moving prospects forward or is looking to prioritize sales opportunities that better align with what’s in your wheelhouse, now is the time to implement the change your business needs in order to realize the growth you’ve been looking for.
Athena has been partnering with EMS companies for years to help them increase sales and marketing performance while achieving significant, measurable goals. We combine outbound sales best practices and a proven approach with inbound marketing to position your business where customers are already looking for your services — and it works. Check out some of our EMS case studies here. If you’re ready to put a proven approach to growth to work for your EMS business, our team is ready to help.
Get in touch with us to learn more about our process and how it’ll work for you.