Times have been hard for everyone over the past few years, and keeping a business going has been a challenging proposition. As complicated as things have gotten, the principles that have seen many businesses through are simple ones.

Multiple Eggs, Multiple Baskets

Having a strong product mix is vital to a business’ ability to steer through the highs and lows that are bound to occur. Because we serve multiple industries here at O’Neill Engineered Systems, hard times for one industry didn’t spell the end for us. When new construction took a hit in ’09, there was a major reduction in the amount of projects we received from that sector. But at the same time, our university research division continued strong, allowing us to do the same.

Trust and Perceived Value

When times are tough, people hold on more tightly to their money. Then spend it only when they have to, and they make sure to work only with businesses they can trust. One of the most important aspects of establishing trust is by being accountable. Customers rely on you to do exactly what you say you will. If you can do that, and provide a product or a service that adds to their own efforts, then you’ve established value in the eyes of those customers.

In the noise control field, managing expectations are critical in establishing trust. Informing and educating your customer on how much noise can and will be reduced is critical. The assessments we conduct allow us to establish these expectations. Our combination of field experience and acoustic science ensures that we don’t mislead our customer.

When complications arise in any area of life, a back-to-basics approach is usually required to see things through. When it comes to business, quality and honesty will always be valuable commodities, and will help make your business a valuable asset to your customers.

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