We had people open our door, look in, and say, “Oh this is just engraving!” They would then close the door and move on. Then we opened a retail gift store to market personalized, engraved, gifts. It also… and perhaps more importantly … expanded our view of who we were and what we did. In fact it did give us the opportunity to bid on, and win, some projects we wouldn’t otherwise have seen. We felt that would help our customers understand what we did. So a few years into our operation we decided to change our name to Creative Engraving & Machining. In fact, this was an application the machine’s designer seemed unaware of at least he had never communicated that part of the machine’s abilities to us. We could actually manufacture some small products. We had the ability to do more with it than just engraving. What they helped us realize is that our engraving machine is actually a light industrial mill. It turns out that by doing that, our customers quickly helped us see that the way in which we viewed ourselves was much too limiting. We sold lots of stuff, and met lots of people. We took our machine and raw materials to fairs and shows. We felt the name communicated who we were and what we were all about.ĭuring the first few years of operation we went on the road. We perceived our equipment, its abilities, and the products we produced as unique in the engraving field, so our business started life with the name Creative Engraving. After all, that’s what we did, and still do, for that matter. When we first started our business we purchased a mechanical engraving machine, so we thought of ourselves as engravers. If that’s the case, then what happens when we add a new process? What do we really do? What do we share in common? How Our Business Evolved We are engravers, or sandblasters, screen-printers, or embroiderers, etc. Some of us define ourselves by the processes we use. Do you offer any of these things, and if so, where do they fit? What do all of these things have in common? There is nothing wrong with these names if you plan to limit and focus your product offerings - but, maybe you shouldn’t.ĭo you make trophies, trophies and plaques, or are you in the awards business? OK, then how about gifts, jewelry, advertising specialties, rubber stamps, signs, identification tags, etc. In fact, many have chosen names like, (ABC) Signs (XYZ) Trophies (Home Town) Awards (Your Name Here) Stamps etc. In our industry, many of us have defined our businesses by the products we make. These companies do so to broaden the public’s concept, as well as their internal perception, of what their business is. Why do this? For the same reasons that car manufacturers have redefined themselves as vehicle manufacturers, and finally transportation companies or the telephone company has redefined itself as a communications company. Sometimes our customers have challenged our thinking, sometimes others in the industry have, and sometimes we have. Over the years Judy and I have done this a number of times. It seems that every so often we are forced to examine who we are and what we’re doing. The first step in evaluating your business, or for that matter any business you may consider starting, is to define or re-define what your business is. The second is a macro-view: what’s going on in the industry and how should we respond to change? Are there new technologies that provide opportunities for growth? Are there emerging technologies that will impact how we’re doing things today? Are there opportunities for change that will make us more efficient? Are there new processes we should be exploring? The micro-view – analyzing our business Did we miss opportunities? Were our customers and/or prospects looking for something we didn’t offer? What services were popular? What services may have not been so popular? How can we better serve our customers? what has happened within the business over the past year. Over the years, we have always found it useful to evaluate our business in two ways.
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