In today’s highly competitive world, the lowest priced merchandise with so called outstanding product delivery and service is advertised on TV, the Internet and newspaper. So why does it take companies several attempts to deliver the goods on time, undamaged and as it was presented to the consumer?

Case in point: I ordered a five burner free standing range and a four burner range showed up. I upgraded my office furniture only to discover that the computer desk was damaged upon delivery and the replacement unit was also damaged. Which leads me to my beautiful driveway, made from the most expensive concrete pavers known to mankind. Because of the tumbling process, the concrete pavers developed hairline fractures along their sides and tops. After the first freeze-thaw process this past winter, the corners of the pavers were falling apart. We were led to believe that concrete pavers were strong and would perform well in the harsh New England weather. Well, they did not and they are being replaced.

What is happening? It seems to me that there is never enough time to do the right thing the first time, but there seems to be plenty of time to fix, replace or reorder material again and again! Someone once told me that the difference between doing something correctly as opposed to cutting corners is about 20 minutes. I know that in today’s world those precious 20 minutes could be used to delete several thousand e-mails about erectile dysfunction or take a call from a telephone company wanting you to switch to their service from whom you switched last month!

How much time would it have taken for someone to recognize the difference between a four burner stove and a five burner stove? Probably less than twenty seconds. I know, it sounds like I am ranting like a typical homeowner who complains about how business is conducted today. But if this is the typical way that the American consumer is handled, what a great opportunity we have as professional designers and builders to elevate the process. The thought of returning someone’s call is mind numbing. Telling someone that you do not know what they are looking for, but that you will research and try to solve their problem before calling them back maddening!

I challenge each person that may read this blog to commit to what you say, say what you mean and mean what you say! I would be very interested to hear what happens to you and what happens to the people you might affect. If you respond to this blog I will commit to writing back to you, and you know I will.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 31st, 2007 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Joe Dellanno. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.