Secret Sauce

I was at the gym yesterday talking to a friend of mine named Joey. Joey owns a Dairy Queen and several commercial buildings. We talked about business, banking problems, etc. Joey then asked "How is B&L doing?" I told Joey "YTD we have closed 300% more new business then 2008". Joey looked at me like I was nuts and then he asked "How the hell have you guys done that?"

Great question. I answered Joey by listing several factors including:

1. With the economic downturn, B&L recognized a fundamental change in the way metal casters do business. Metal casters must do more with less and stick to their expertise, making castings. 24 months ago we recognized this change and released several new products to help customers "stick to their knitting."

2. Innovation is our life blood. This is for all facets of our business. We are always looking for ways to help our customers do more with less resources. Purchased Castings, Schedule by Heat, the 1st and only complete Tooling Module available are all examples of the our endless Innovation quest. Innovation goes beyond software but into training (at your request, we can record all training classes to be used by you at a later date), implementation (creation of Implementation Managers, Task People, File Conversion Specialists), etc.

3. Truly, our customers are our greatest asset. Yes, they direct the future of software and services. But many do more than that. I just found out this morning that Sivyer Steel hosted a B&L prospect for a demo. We knew nothing of this meeting until yesterday when the prospect called us for more information! Fred Wile, President of Southern Cast Products did a demo for Glidewell Foundry last year. Glidewell is now a B&L customer. Recently we landed Grede Foundries. What helped us win the job was our reputation. Several managers had worked in B&L foundries and insisted Grede drop SAP for B&L solutions.

4. We are an open company. Our President lists his e-mail and phone number for any and all customers and prospects to call with any questions. We also publish each and every new customer. This is truly priceless. Others software firms claim to be busy (with no proof) or recycle old wins trying to generate publicity. We are proud of our new customers and aren't afraid to display them in an open and honest manner. In fact, we have another one and as soon as Jerry passes me the paperwork we will make the announcement!

5. We've invested $100,000's in customer support. We hired three support desk people that all they do is answer your questions. We have a comprehensive CRM system where we track all implementation projects, enter questions and receive downloads. All of this without charging additional fees.

And the list goes on. I told Joey all of this and then told him I expect several more new accounts before the end of the year. He rolled his eyes and said something about low margins on ice cream cones.

That's it for now. Take care and see ya' down the road.