Built to Last?

Awesome article

A very interesting topic. We all should aspire to build for the long term. The challenge is that not only the auto industry, but nearly all of the business and consumerism world is not interested in longevity, but use and dump for products...and other things. It should be noted that the above incident with the auto happened in the 60's. How often is that attitude found today? We dispose of everything from BIC pens to autos, to employees and businesses today. They are all to be consumed and disppsed of. It takes a BOLD change of thought to consider otherwise in this business world. Let's all be BOLD in this regard.

I work within the IT technology field. Many exec's and sales mgrs think short term. Here and now, there is not tomorrow. How do I build a long term business in a short term thinking environment? Than the questions begs, how do I lead my customers to lasting and long term thinking and decision making? I am swimming up stream.

I believe that our consumer driven society is trained to \"consume\". But with that often comes innovation. What if ATT was still intact? Would we still be using rotary phones? What if we were convinced that MS Dos was still the answer? Bill Gates once said that no one would ever need more than 512k of memory... I used to work for Motorola in the 80's selling 2-way radios to small businesses. This market pretty much went away with the advent of cell phones. In an environment with fast technological change I believe that there can be 2 types of purchase decisions. Short term based on inexpensive items that are intended to be replaced either due to abuse or technological change, or more expensive items with better quality where the item will continue to meet the needs of the client over the long term. When was the last time you got into a 60's muscle car? It can be a lot of fun, but I wouldn't want it to be my everyday driving vehicle. I believe that a \"better\" avenue to take on building for the long term is the infastructure of our business and the core values and purpose that we live by and run our business by. If we don't own our own company, we still own the way we do business.

Wow....how powerful was Larry's last line....\"If we don't own our own company, we still own the way we do business.\"

You guys have once again put in some excellent comments. Larry offered a good key for building long term by suggesting \"that if we don't own our own company, we still own the way we do business\". That was strong. Going back to Len's question about how to lead your customer into thinking long term in a short term environment... There first of all needs to be a distinct disadvantage to the short term thinking for long term thinking to have an advantage. If for example, I was very thirsty after walking 5 miles in the hot Arizona sun at 115 degrees and I had a choice between two brands of bottled water, one was local for 50 cents and the other imported from the Swiss Alps for $2. I wouldn't care as long as I could get some refreshment and if I didn't have a predisposed preference, I would probably by the 50 cent water. There are times the quality really doesn't matter much as long as it meets minimum requirements because the term of use is so limited. That is rarely the case for business. If it were me, I would ask questions to first of all understand how important the acquisition is and why it's important. Fully understand the importance of the benefits the buyer hopes to realize, then ask what happens if those benefits are not realized? I would also ask the buyer if they had ever made a buying decision based on price in their personal or business life at any time that they regretted. You will likely be told \"yes\". Then ask them to tell you the story. Then ask what would happen if making the decision this time to save a few dollars resulted in a similar experience? There are legitimate times that it doesn't matter. Your job is to find out when it matters and to whom. Sometimes thy buyer is so focused on price, but the owner is more concerned about value which is why it's important to build a relationship with the various buying influences (economic, technical, user, coach). Hope that helps. Blessings on you guys!