A Mantra For Business Owners From Buffett
Gary Van Sistine, Business Intermediary
Living in Green Bay, we are often reminded of Vince Lombardi’s words to his players when they were falling behind and looking a bit disorganized. He met them in the locker room, held out the pigskin and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.” In other words, remember the basics.
Recently, Warren Buffett spoke at an event honoring the 20th graduating class of New York City’s LaGuardia Community College’s 10,000 Small Businesses program. Like Lombardi, Buffet drew attention to the basics of a successful business with these words of advice: “Never stop thinking about how to delight your customer. Not to satisfy your customer, but to delight your customer. And when you wake up in the morning, start thinking about it. During the day, think about it. At night, think about it. And then dream about it.”
As many business owners are starting their 5th, 10th, 20th or even more years of serving customers, they should remember this. If customers remain their first priority, then their companies will maintain a solid performance record and look really good when the time comes to sell.
And, as many entrepreneurs take their first steps toward business ownership this year, they might want to hang Buffett’s words on the wall…as a mantra, “Delight our customer, not just satisfy them.” Success will follow.
As 2017 begins, I’d like to wish every business owner and owner-to-be, a prosperous new year.