We’ve talked about add-on services here, here, here , here, here and here. (phew!) It’s apparently very important to us, to you and to your businesses. But … what if we stop for a second and looked at this from another perspective. What if you only did one thing, but did it really, REALLY well?! I know everyone gives 110% cleaning windows, but what if you only cleaned windows and made it your life’s goal to be the best dang window washer in the entire universe – ever! Not sure where I am going with this?
If you live on the west coast (AZ, CA, UT, TX and NV), you know what In-n-Out Burger is. For the rest of you, it is a fast food joint. Well, that seems almost like an insult to say. They serve hamburgers and they have a drive-thru – that’s about where the similarities to the average fast food joint ends.
They have five items on their menu. F-I-V-E. Hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries, shakes and pop. That’s it! Crazy, right?! Not if you’ve ever eaten there. You see, they do everything from scratch. They grind their own beef from real chuck (no junk, no fillers). They hand leaf the lettuce. They make their own buns from real dough. They peel the potatoes and hand-make the fries right there, in the store. Seriously. It is good stuff. In fact, they happily tout the fact that they …
don’t even own a microwave, heat lamp, or freezer.
But wait … it gets better.
They hand make each item you order AFTER you place your order. Nothing is pre-made, pre-assembled, pre-baked, pre-anything. You can tell. You can sooooooo tell! The stuff is the BOMB! The line is out the door and the drive-thru is worse. But, you know what? No one cares! I have overheard people bragging about how long they waited for an In-n-Out burger like it was a badge of honor.
I think one of the best quotes about this family-owned company (yup – they refuse to franchise because they do not want to lose control over quality) is from the president of Synergy Food Consulting Group Inc., Dean Small, he said,
They are experts in their area because they are highly focused.
Maybe we could all learn a lesson from them.