Posted by Rick Denney on February 20, 2004 at 12:03:09:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Tuba Consumerism & Emails posted by Joe Baker on February 20, 2004 at 10:31:25:
The problem with your business model is that it is based on out-dated theories of what satisfies people who work (and who pay for work). It's based on the notion that people are driven by the revenue they earn, when most people who work are far more motivated by the need to be doing something productive and valuable in a pleasant and positive work environment. Only when workers are facing starvation does the former model fit, but that model is not appropriate for businesses in this country that cater to discretionary purchases. Businesses that depend on the earlier model may earn lots of small customers, but businesses based on the second model will have fewer customers who spend more, and with a higher margin.
Customers who are prepared to spend more money are also prepared to spend more effort working with those whose expertise and integrity are the best in the business, rather than those who provide the most convenience. The experience of buying from a top shop has value on its own. 200 years ago, the upper classes bought their furniture from the top makers such as Chippendale, even though they had to wait and perhaps endure lesser service than they'd have gotten from the local cabinet-maker. They did so because the quality of the product (and the cachet of working with a top shop) was worth more than convenience.
Our parents (that is, yours and mine--not the parents of many of our younger colleagues) grew up during the Depression or soon after, when the former model was dominant. They got their business values from that model, and think of those values as the "good-ole days" when everything was a buyer's market. But that is really more of an anomaly, and never applied to businesses that cater to products that are bought with discretionary money.
Rick "who has read up on Theory X and Theory Y" Denney