Letter on the Third — October 2019
Dear Datamax Family,
How do we set out to be the Most Valuable Partner (MVP) to those we serve? I think it starts with the value we bring onto the playing field.
It was in 1982 or 83, and I was out selling. Walking into a particular prospect’s office one afternoon, I couldn’t help but notice a bulletin board with a quote on it near the secretary’s desk. It read:
“It’s unwise to pay too much, but it’s unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much you lose a little money, that is all. When you pay too little, you sometimes lose everything, because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do. The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It can’t be done. If you deal with lowest bidder, it’s well to add something for the risk you run. And if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.” – John Ruskin
I thought to myself, “wow, that’s pretty dang good.”
After several back and forths with this prospect, he was still trying to get me down on price. And then, I remembered that quote. I told him to please hold one second. I walked out of his office and pulled the quote off the bulletin board, brought it back into his office and read it to him, word by word. Then I said, “this is the kind of company that Datamax should be doing business with. They truly understand value!”
He shook his head, knew he’d been had, and soon signed a contract with Datamax.
I kept that quote around for a long time, because it says a lot about our philosophy and the way we want to do business. We rebranded it and used it in our marketing. We referenced it often during the creation of the Little Blue Book. In short it’s this, in my opinion: You’ll never satisfy the customer if your entire value add is based on price.
In this month’s Rave Review, you’ll read a lot about being an MVP: What is the philosophy behind it? What are some of the demonstrative things we must do to earn such status? And, finally, we’ll celebrate instances of recent MVP Performances from our own. But I’d ask you to take to heart Datamax Philosophy #2 from the Little Blue Book: “To compete with honesty, trust and value, not simply on price.” Understand, too, that the same value proposition applies to you, the employee: We pledge to respond to your career needs and aspirations; to create a culture where you feel your role is integral to our overall success; to provide enormous value for you professionally.
In closing, any sports fan knows that MVP performances often occur in the fourth quarter, when the game is on the line. As we kick off our own fourth quarter here, bear in mind that this is one of the busiest times of the year for us. It’s up to each one of us to present what our real value is to our customers. It’s crunch time. Let’s continue to compete with honesty, trust and value. Let’s put on an MVP Performance. The Best is Yet to Be.
Your Raving Fan,
