Quality Wisdom.... do we sell value or price????

When times are tough everyone tries to find business and they find different ways to create business. Being cheaper is number one. Price has become the new selling point and it will probably continue until we realize that the pie of business we all share is not as large as it once was. With all of the layoffs and companies going out of business the fact is it impacts the amount of furniture, boats, house and anything else sold in the US. What should we do? Quality Counts and we have to get back to what is important. American consumers will have less money to spend and when they spend it they want the best products for the best price. So, when times are tough cutting corners will not help you compete in the long run. The US is known for quality products,but how are we supposed to sell quality in this economy? That's the challenge manufacturers face: persuading discount seeking buyers to pay a premium for top-of-the-line goods. It's not so easy. But giving up quality to compete is the same as going out of business. We have to bring better values with the best price. People aren't generally afraid to spend. It's just the amount they spend and what they spend it on that changes. Recession narrows the market, that makes quality more important, not less. I am hopeful that the manufactures in the US for any industry will bring the Made In the US label back with Quality and value. We once had this and we now have to rebuild our manufacturing base in the US. We took two of our Germany leathers (Bison and Masquerade)and brought the price down in order to offer a higher-end leather at an aggressive price to compete with products that are of lesser value in the market. It is my hope that our customer will see that this is a value and they will start to sell the value and quality when they present product this fall.

Get back to talking about quality and craftsmanship. The Art of building products with quality and care seems to be a forgotten story. Getting focused on selling furniture from quality and craftsmanship will help sell more furniture. Companies like Stickley and Hickory Chair have not lost focus on selling the craftsmanship through training and education. Product reputation is key to their success. Let's think about the Quality of all of the items we buy or make. It will help us change the world.