Gasket Kit Business Holding it's Own

The gasket kit business is holding its own.  Hope all of you
are seeing enough business to say the same.  Nothing works
better than a recession to teach business people how to
run lean.

We find ways to purchase better components at better prices.
We have time to listen to customer feed back.  This outlines
new products, better packaging, and helps us to focus our
advertising.

No one likes economic downturns, and employers that have to
lay off employees or cut hours head the list.  I admit that
being a two-person operation is a blessing for me during
these tough times.  Because there is no payroll overhead
that can be cut, I need to look long and hard at inventory
levels and other costs.

One of the cost cutting measures that I was able to implement
is with CJ's credit card processing.  I was able to find a
rate that is much lower than what I had been paying.  Now
each sale will net a bit more than before.  The next measure
may be the scanning of customer invoicing and sending via
e-mail instead of paying $.44 for each invoice to be mailed.

I would be interested in hearing about other lean techniques
that have worked for you and your business.  After all, we are
all in this for the long run.  Anything that we can do to
help each other is a plus.

Jeff Kunkel
CJ Aftermarket