If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly. No, not a misprint! AND it can make you good money
This tool goes hand in hand with “perfection is the enemy of profit”
It’s not about doing a shoddy job or giving poor value to your customers. It’s not about ‘everything’ being done badly, some things need to be done perfectly by definition. For example, I want my brain surgeon to do the job perfectly.
What it is, is a great way to get a new perspective on your profitability and marketing efforts.
It’s not new either. So if you have not heard this twist on the “if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing well” you might be surprised that we have been discussing it since at least 1910.
The idea was said to be first expounded by Gilbert Chesterton and is reportedly widely used out of context. Chesterton believed that amateurs and generalists could be defended against professionals and specialists, however this may well be out of its original context too.
No matter the origins of the idea, as business people we often need to look at issues concerning our dealings often from several perspectives and this provoking notion is always a good starting point.
Any manufacturer will tell you that the products they produce could easily be improved. This is true for everything from soft drinks to super computers. Let’s consider your favourite software. Have you ever installed a Microsoft product first version that was bug free? The programmers are smart enough to fix them, that’s not the issue. How many times a month do various software products ‘update themselves automatically? So why publish something that is part of your reputation, part of your brand, that is essentially defective? The answer is of course, millions of dollars. Wait costs money. As long as the product still presents a value proposition, it’s always worth trumping your competition, or taking what you would have earned earlier rather than later. Does anyone remember their first XT computer with 8 kilobytes of ram and a 20 megabyte hard drive? The 40 megabyte hard drive was available at the time and it was easy to double your RAM. IBM just thought getting a cheaper product to the market faster would be better for their customers and better for their bottom line. Getting to the market early with a substandard but cheaper product can build product awareness and actually create a need Especially when the product is new territory.. Who really believes that the iPhone 2.0 was not already a done deal even before the iPhone 1.0 was released?
What have you got on the drawing board? What secret profit have you got waiting for production that you are hanging off because it’s just not perfect yet? Everyone has a few pet projects that to them, look like a badly done job, but to a customer, if that represents a value proposition, you are missing out and so is your customer.
You owe it to your customer to think about “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing badly” however you owe it to yourself not to use it as an excuse retrospectively.
Ask yourself some questions. Is it good enough as it is? Would I buy it as it is? Will my customers still get good value? If you can answer positively then go for it.