At the beginning of this school year, my oldest daughter started band. All the parents with an interested 5th grader gathered in the gym for the introduction from the band teacher. He introduces us to two different companies that we could purchase or rent our child’s instrument from. Then he said “okay, go.” The gym turned into mad chaos. Everyone was trying to get in the front of the line to get in and out as fast as they could. I just sat there dumbfounded.
I was trying to figure out how everyone was choosing which instrument supplier to use. I asked one fellow mother, she said, “I just ran up to the closest one.” Another dad who had chosen the other supplier said, that he went to school with the owner’s son. So, I still had no real answer. You might think, just choose one already. But I thought if my girl goes and plays this instrument from 5th grade on up, I want to make sure the company I choose is an expert at what they do!
When we entered the gym, they had handed us a packet of information. In that packet, there were two flyers, one from each company. One was an amazing looking brochure. That company took the extra time to look professional and spell out all the details of what they offered and how the partnership would work. The other company had a sheet of paper that must had been typed out at least 50 years ago and then copied over and over again. Some of the type was even hard to read!
Can you guess where I went? I went with the company that took the time to make their company look presentable, with not only their brochure but their table graphics and displays. Yes, there will be people out there that know so and so and you won’t gain their business. And then there will be the ones that just use the first one they run into. But the rest of us. We are looking for the expert! Be the expert. Make your company look good in all areas of your business. Don’t let anything leave your business without giving it the professional look!