Von Gayle Towell
In early November, I had the chance to ride along with our East Coast Regional Sales Manager, Lauren Porto. We spent a week in Florida meeting with distributors and reps and talking customers through real production line challenges.
When you think “sales ride-along,” you probably picture hard pitches, scripted talking points, and a lot of pressure to close. That’s the stereotype, anyway. But that isn’t Lauren’s approach. Instead, I got to see how she turns plant tours, hallway conversations, and quick parking lot emails into long-term partnerships. The goal was for customers to trust AIM not just for solder, but for solutions.
Solving vs Selling
Lauren never walks in the door and starts with a product pitch. Instead, she begins with a straightforward conversation about reality. She asks how things are going with their current soldering materials, whether they are using AIM products, competitor products, or a mix of both. She wants to know what is running well and what has changed recently. And she asks whether there are any new board designs, customers, or specifications on the horizon.
From there, she gradually moves the conversation toward challenges. Are there known problem areas? What defects are they are watching closely? Are yields that are not quite where they need to be? Are they worried about future changes, like tighter cleanliness targets? Do they have reliability expectations, or are they navigating the possibility of moving to lead-free for certain builds?
Only after she understands the full picture does Lauren start talking about potential solutions. Even then, the tone doesn’t shift to “selling.” It stays focused on options.
She might explain how AIM can help consolidate materials, or how a particular alloy might improve performance while saving costs. She might mention services they were not aware of, such as dross reclaim, that can help them capture savings.
But the invitation is always the same: if this direction makes sense to you, we can support you through an evaluation. It is collaborative and practical, not transactional.
Common Customer Challenges
One of the biggest themes of the week was solder paste consolidation. AIM’s M8 was usually at the center of that discussion. Many customers were managing a patchwork of pastes—a different one for each end customer or product. This complicated inventory and process control. One customer told us their previous supplier recommended a different specialty paste for each challenge. They had one for void reduction, a different one for more complex boards, etc. But after evaluating M8, they found it matched or outperformed all of those niche products while allowing them to run a single, stable material.
Indeed, we are proud of M8 as a high performing, multi-purpose solder paste. It’s available in both leaded and lead-free alloys. As a no clean paste, it lets customers skip the cleaning step. But at the same time, for those who must clean any residue, it remains one of the easiest to clean no cleans on the market. It has a wide process window as well as a long track record of excellent performance across a wide variety of applications. But most of all, it solves problems.
For customers in military and aerospace, there was also a focus on assurance. They wanted clear guidance on when RMA versus no clean is appropriate. There were questions about what auditors and end customers expect to see. There were questions about how cleanliness and reliability requirements apply. And they wanted to know what a future move to lead-free might look like.
In those meetings, Lauren’s approach stayed the same. She took time to understand the real environment and constraints, answer what she could on the spot, and documented the rest for follow-up with AIM’s technical support and R&D.
That same mindset guided conversations when customers raised issues with current products, including ours. Instead of getting defensive, Lauren dug into profiles, board designs, defect types, and process changes. She then carried that information back internally. The message was consistent all week: we’re not just here to place material; we’re here to make sure it works, and customer feedback is one of the most important tools we have.
Our Partners in the Field – Distributors and Reps
Another dimension of Lauren’s role that stood out is how much time she spends with distributors and representatives. Many end users experience AIM through these partners, and the structure is designed to give customers multiple ways to work with us.
For some, it makes the most sense to buy directly from AIM, especially for large or highly specialized programs. For others, working through a distributor offers clear advantages. They can avoid minimum order constraints, rely on local stocking, and simplify logistics. A number of customers operate under vendor-managed inventory arrangements, where the distributor monitors usage and ensures product is available exactly when needed. In every case, the goal is to make access to AIM’s products as straightforward and reliable as possible.
Behind the scenes, communication flows constantly through this network. Distributors and reps stay in regular contact with Lauren and other AIM team members. And importantly, every end user of AIM products has a direct path to technical support when they need help. That is where the company’s “solder + support” ethos becomes very tangible: it is not just about what is in the jar or on the spool, but about the expertise and responsiveness wrapped around it.
“The People Who Help Solve My Problems”
One particular comment from a customer captured the essence of everything I saw that week. We had just finished a visit where we discussed their current materials, explored upcoming challenges, and outlined a path forward that included follow-up from our technical team.
As we were leaving, the customer said, “AIM is where I go for the people who help solve my problems.” They didn’t say AIM is where they go for solder paste or pricing. They specifically called out the people and the problem-solving.
A Win-Win Relationship
In the end, the formula is simple. When our customers have processes that run smoothly, inventories that are manageable, clear answers to technical questions, and confidence in the support behind the products they use, they win. When we help them get there and earn their trust and partnership along the way, we win. That is the kind of relationship AIM aims to build—one visit, one conversation, and one solved problem at a time.
