At the height of the Industrial Revolution, the most powerful businesses
were the factories that managed to churn out the greatest quantity of goods at
the lowest cost.
Much has changed since the
Industrial Revolution. There are still businesses that find success by focusing
on quantity over quality - Walmart chose to prioritize low prices, and with
over $400 billion in annual sales, they make more gross revenue
than any company in the world - but those businesses are the exception to
the rule.
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| Sidd: Quality Trumps Everything |
To be the next Walmart, you
would need to be your own supplier. Cutting out the middleman is the only way
to offer the lowest prices and still turn a profit. You’d need trucks,
warehouses, and distribution centers, and you’d need to hire all the people it
takes to run that network. Startups simply can’t do that. They don’t have the
capital or the connections to access those kinds of resources.
What startups can do, though, is
offer better quality than their competitors. That doesn’t require you to set up
your own infrastructure. You just need some industry know-how and a team of
talented people.
I’ve witnessed the power of the
quality-first approach first-hand. I’m Sidd Pagidipati, and as an entrepreneur,
I’ve started several successful businesses. Allow me to use my experience to
explain exactly why quality trumps quantity:
Stand Out From The Competition
About half of all startups fail in their first four years. Business only survive past
year four when they figure out how to make potential customers have a positive
association with their brand. You must be remembered as better than your
competitors.
Quality is more impressive than
quantity. Offering a marginally better price on your products and services than
your competitors will go unnoticed by most customers. Price, after all, is just
a number. Every business tells their customers that they offer great value.
Value is a somewhat abstract concept, while quality is something customers can
see for themselves. It allows you to stand out.
Make Marketing Easy
Of course, every business wants
to be associated with quality, even those that take the low-quality/low-price
approach. Those businesses are forced to get quite creative with their
marketing to make that impression, and these marketing efforts often come
across as hollow and end up being ineffective.
But when you genuinely have
quality on your side, all you need to do to make that impression is tell the
truth. There’s nothing more persuasive than the truth.
Attract Top Talent
In any industry, there are only
so many top performers to go around. When you convince these top performers to
work for your company rather than one of your competitors, it gives you a
serious advantage.
Having an association with
high-quality will help you make more sales, and it will also help you convince
the most talented people in your field to join your company.
You see, top performers are
competitive people. They take their jobs seriously, to the point of tying their
overall personal worth to the status of their career. They want to be the best;
they want to work for the best. If you are the best, they will work for you.
