On Business: Quality and resilience
Over to DLW:
Having covered definitions, attitudes and planning in my last two blogs on resilience in business, what comes next?
Successful enterprises are successful for a reason – they don’t just happen. It isn’t (in my experience) random, luck or chance.
It is because they are different in some way that can be hard to pin down.
I often ponder this and usually trace it back to someone doing something that they enjoy doing and taking it to a new level. They are either already good at it or have worked hard to become good and they can then deliver something that is noticeably different to their competitors and similar sized enterprises.
What does different mean here? It means better. And better means better quality. Often this comes across just by talking to the people involved. Those who either started the enterprise or work in it, either as owners or employees.
Quality is different. People will often pay more if you present real reasons to do so (and of course they have the means.)
Long-term success fundamentally comes from repeat customers as well as new customers joining along the way. We all want lifetime customers who will talk to others, spread the word and and almost do the marketing for us.
I have shelves and shelves of business books that I rarely look at now but a few phrases stick in my mind.
‘People remember quality long after the price is forgotten’
I am convinced that people often go to bed thinking ‘that meal was fantastic’, or ‘that product does exactly what it is meant to and has added something to my day/home/life.’ Paying a higher price for something that does something exceptional works.
‘Buy cheap, buy twice!’
There has to be a reason why something is far cheaper than the competition. Even in the unlikely event that a very cheap product has been fantastic but cheap, the business is probably not a resilient one and it won’t be there in the future because they aren’t thinking long-term.
I was once told that there are two obvious ways to run a successful business – either charge more and sell something that exceeds expectations or find a way to undercut everyone and make something that is the cheapest.
‘For resilience, don’t pitch yourself somewhere in the middle.’
In the middle, I think, you can be easily undercut or easily squeezed by a competitor just being a fraction better or a fraction cheaper.
And to be stuck in the middle means you always have competitors breathing down your neck, because it is easy to cut corners and go cheaper. And even good marketing isn’t the answer alone because people won’t buy twice if something isn’t as good as your PR says it is.
Trying and succeeding to be the best means there is clear blue water between you and your competitors. I loved rowing as a youngster – it is the best and a measurably long term sport where you need training, fitness, skill and commitment to achieve excellence – but when a rowing crew works together and makes the boat ‘sing’ you can feel and hear the bubbles under the hull as a team works together to achieve more than the sum of its parts. That clear blue water between you and the other boats means you and your team are succeeding.
This doesn’t just apply to food but, for example, (another interest of mine), British cars of the 1920s too. They were built to a standard of excellence that you just don’t find often in a mass-produced world. Not just the high-end Rolls and Bentleys, but Sunbeams, which I am a big fan of. In the 1920s, factories were competing to make a better car, and it wasn’t until the 1930’s onwards that their focus turned to making a cheaper car. This means that my Sunbeam from the 1920s still manages tough Welsh hills in 2024.
But back to the common element between old cars, rowing and successful, resilient small businesses. They all focus around people who care. People who care for their cars, people who care about what they make, people who care about striving for excellence. That care shines out when you talk to them in person.
Thanks for reading these articles and if anyone wants to provide feedback or request thoughts on any aspect of business (I’ve experienced many ups and downs and usually learn from both ) I’m happy to talk about 40 years of mistakes and learning from them.
