"Who is the competition on this project?", I asked our estimator, circa 2005.
The answer wasn't what I expected to hear: "Just a small guy that rents his equipment, nobody to worry about."
I replied, "You know, that comment describe ME 'to a T' thirteen years ago, and 𝐰𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
And that was true -- 13 years before this conversation, I had left HE Sargent and started Sargent & Sargent with my brother, Shane. It was a hardscrabble start, and -- you guessed it -- we had to rent all that equipment. But 13 years later we bought HE Sargent.
My comment wasn't intended to humiliate him, just to drive home a point.
It was at that time I printed the Mark Twain passage from 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑡 𝑌𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑒𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐴𝑟𝑡ℎ𝑢𝑟'𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑡, and had it framed for all the estimators in the office.
A couple recent posts, one from James Starbuck and one from Garrett Moss, both have gotten me thinking about the above exchange, and how we can get comfortable -- sometimes TOO COMFORTABLE.
In James's post, he mentioned visiting China and the equipment being built there. In the comments was a lot of chatter about Caterpillar Inc., and how it feels like they're making us work harder to defend their place in the market (because of their exorbitant pricing), versus being the raving fans we really want to be.
In Garrett's post, he mentioned being dismissed by a company several years ago, then growing his business several times their size, while being badgered by them to change his website.
Many Goliaths have either ceased to exist, or have become husks of their former selves -- Bethlehem Steel, Kodak, just to name a couple.
This has all reminded me that customers will work with you (and 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢, some), as long as they don't resent how much they have to defend you.
It's also reminded me that dismissing anyone's potential as a competitor could come back to haunt you in a very big way.
Sometimes the worst swordsman in the world can take you by surprise.
#investinginpeople #sargent #sargentesop #buildalifewithus
Thank you! I am excited to be a part of the team!