A prospective client was discussing his company’s overseas office and its (lack of) results. He said:
“We had a husband-and-wife team doing sales, they weren’t expensive, and they weren’t productive.
In one of our latest podcasts (see above), I discuss how quality and great service equal value and that means the company has a competitive advantage. The above sales team didn’t provide value and they’re now gone.
The same applies if a business makes a product, provides a service, is in hospitality. You don’t have to look any further than Boeing to see what happens when quality suffers. On the flip side, look at Apple, Microsoft, Tesla, and others.
One of my favorite testimonials of all time, from many, many years ago, is, “The value I received was not in the hours of help, but in the quality of help.” The couple mentioned above fall into Tom Hopkins’ definition of sales being the lowest paid easy work there is (and the highest paid hard work).
No matter what your business, or when buying or selling a company, it takes hard and smart work to provide quality and a high level of service, which is what sets you apart from the masses.
“Don’t ask the barber if you need a haircut.” Warren Buffett
