Coronavirus hits the world’s economy and with it takes the 3D printing industry into uncertainty times. 3D printing hardware and software companies, resellers, materials manufacturers, service providers and end-users are wondering when things will go back to normal and business will pick up again. Until then, what can we do to make the best of our time?
As an optimistic person, I’m seeing in the foreseeable future the turn around point from which slowly things will start get better. I have no educated guess if it’s a matter of weeks or months, but at a certain point we shall go back to the race in full force. Now is the time to do all the things you had no time to do in ordinary days. This could help you fill in some important blanks now, and benefit from it later. Here are four examples:
Investigate new 3D solutions
We all been there: saw an interesting product at a trade show or had the time to dedicate no more than 10 seconds to read an article about it, but never had the time to really dive deep. We were eager to investigate more, but were just too busy with our daily tasks. Now is the time to make your thorough research - visit 3D printing media sites to read articles about a specific product or technology, and visit 3D companies’ websites to learn more about their solutions and offering.
Set conference calls to discuss future opportunities
Any progress you can make now remotely, will save you valuable time later. No matter if you are looking for future business alliances, get detailed specs of a product, a price proposal for a product/service you plan to purchase/order, or hire a new person for your organization, now is the time to move things forward, as much as possible. Since very little amount of people are traveling these days, there shouldn’t be any problems finding the time for it.
Participate in webinars
In the past few days more than several companies are shifting their focus to digital marketing, inviting prospects to register and join online webinars. If it's a 3D software solution you could enjoy a long online demo and have enough time to ask your questions, if it's a 3D hardware solution you could get more technical, and if it's a service you plan to use in the future, get a better understanding how it works and what could be the possible contribution to your business.
Reevaluate your business strategy
Life is a race with small pauses here and there. No matter if you are a business owner of a company, or an employee that is responsible for executing R&D, marketing or sales plans, now it the time to reevaluate and replan your strategy and goals, and the ways to get there. Many great ideas pops up when we are not working, but doing something else rather then work, or just talking to family and friends.
These are not easy times but if we adopt a positive approach and make the best of our time, it may possibly payoff later on.