A lot of companies talk about their core capabilities.  Custom Components has many.  Two of our greatest strengths are fabrication and powder coating.  As we like to say, "we can build anything", and then we can also paint it in an environmentally friendly way.   We can provide full design, engineering and fabrication of aluminum and stainless steel, including laser or water jet cutting, forming, bending and welding.

Once the fabrication process is complete, we introduce our electrostatic powder coating capability.  All products receive a pretreatment that ensures that the electrostatic powder coat products that you receive from us will stand the test of time.  We use Spraylat Newlar™ fluorocarbon based eco-friendly powder coatings that meet AAMA specs and offer 5 to 20 year warranties.

Our powder coating process emits zero volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and produces no hazardous waste, allowing us to stay true to our commitment of pursing environmentally sustainable initiatives and reducing our impact on the environment.

If you have a project that needs expert fabrication or if you already have something built that requires painting, please contact us.  We have the capabilities to supply your needs.

Click here to see the process

A while ago I attended a seminar where a very wise man said, "Remember this, never again will you have a long term competitive advantage in product or price." As I said, this was some time ago with very different market conditions. Today the marketplace has changed with extremely intense competition, in comparison. Those in our industry are finding, that because of the decreased number of available projects, they are forced to cut prices and margins to get any work and keep their doors open. They soon find themselves participating in the "no-win" game of price competition. Why "no-win". Please refer above to my opening statement.

How do you say I don't want to play this game anymore and make it work? You have got to sell value - not price. It's scary and not easy, but it's the long term solution. In survey after survey, over the last thirty years, price always comes up sixth or seventh in importance in the purchase of a product or service. Then why does it always seem to come up? Number one: because you haven't established the value of your product or service, and number two, it's the easiest aspect to focus on. But do your clients really want the cheapest they can get? I doubt it. As another wise man once said, "the bitter taste of poor quality lingers long after the allure of a cheap price fades." What they want is a good or fair value for their money.

To establish that value in the client's mind don't focus on price. If you do, the client will too. Focus on what you or your company can do to fulfill the client's needs or solve his problems. Most people will be more than willing to pay a fair price if you can solve their problems. Secondly, if your price is too low, the quality of your product or service will be suspect. In a recent survey of our own client base, price was a distant fifth in importance after quality, responsiveness, on time delivery and problem resolution.

Finally, people buy from people they like and trust, regardless of price. Establish relationships with your clients that puts them first, and watch your value and profitability soar.

Dave Janosz

Marketing Manager

Custom Components Company

Email marketing is still one of the most under-utilized and misunderstood marketing tools ever invented. Nearly every day, there are articles in business publications and websites that share misinformation and misleading information in regards to email marketing.

Even with all of the technology and social media platforms in existence, email still plays an important role and acts as a gateway to most if not all of the social media sites. Without an email address, would-be users cannot gain access to certain sites or cannot use the full functions of sites.

Almost every transaction you make online requires that you share an email address in order to complete your transaction. Whether your goal is to make a purchase or download free software, most website owners will require you to share your email address with them.

Email is integrated into our lives. It's on our cell phones and most paper forms that we fill out these days. So, email is not going any where any time soon. We'll be using email for a long time to come. There hasn't been any technology to come along to replace it.

This gives businesses an advantage in that email still offers another medium or channel for them to reach their leads, prospects and customers.

This leads us to discussing how your business should be using email in your day-to-day operations:

1. Lead Generation: There are almost no businesses that can't use email in some capacity to generate leads. For example, if your business is a house painting contractor, you could offer a free report titled something like "Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have Your House Painted Every 7 Years." And, the only way your prospect could get the report is by signing up via email to receive the report. You could have the prospect either sign up via a form on your website or simply by sending an email to your email Autoresponder account.  Read more

It's not the economy. Global access, technology, and sustainability are among the trends changing traditional notions of the client relationship.

The past three years have been the most difficult for design firms that any of us can remember, and we're not out of the woods yet. Many firms took an immediate hit in the fall of 2008, losing significant backlog nearly overnight, scrambling just to stabilize their companies, and dealing with nervous clients, anxious consultants, stressed banks, and fearful employees. Other firms were fortunate enough not to take an immediate downturn but experienced difficulty replacing lost work through 2009 and into 2010 as markets worldwide struggled to find solid ground. And a few firms, good firms with strong reputations and proud pasts, did not make it.

By 2011, though, it seemed that most design firms had reached an equilibrium somewhere between holding their own and growing slowly. Most of us are making a profit but not what we'd like to be making. And a few firms are doing just fine.

Is this the new normal we've been anticipating? Are we doomed forever to struggle with roiling markets, perpetual debt crises, financing problems, and brutal competition in an industry plagued with low demand and low volume?  Read more