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The average Formula One racecar driver earns about $10 million per year. That elite group of drivers traditionally moves up from the ranks of a larger pool of Formula Vee drivers. In contrast with the Formula One drivers, the average Formula Vee driver earns less than $60,000 per year. Aside from the mountain of cash, supermodel girlfriends and celebrity status, the difference between a Formula Vee driver and a Formula One driver is the ability of the Formula One driver to consistently drive a car a couple tenths of a second per lap faster than the Formula Vee drivers. That's it. For those couple of tenths of a second, a driver can ring the cash register to the tune of an extra $10 million per year!
The flooring business, while being (some might argue) less sexy than Formula One driving, is no different in that subtle improvements can be the difference between those at the top and the rest of the field.
Those in our industry who, day-in and day-out, do just a little bit better than their competitors are the ones who consistently find themselves at the top.
Small Things Here in L.A.
In Los Angeles, in addition to the legions of women who decided they would magically look better if they plumped up their lips to look more like a grouper fish, we have multiple hardwood floor suppliers. These distributors sell many of the same products for virtually identical prices, yet one or two stand out above the crowd. As with a Formula One driver, it is interesting to observe the subtle differences that make one supplier more successful than another. The answer is simple: It's the small things.
Things as small (and large) as promptly answering the phone with a cheerful tone, remembering your name, getting your order right (the first time!), having everything you need in stock and delivering on promises are the things that separate the best hardwood floor suppliers.
And by the way, the best floor suppliers in Los Angeles have substantial room for improvement, which leaves the door wide open for an even better supplier to come along and take market share—by doing just a little bit better.
What I Discovered at the Expo
I attended the 2014 NWFA Expo in Nashville and was impressed by the quality of the show and the commitments made by the individual exhibitors. When you consider that exhibitors spent thousands of dollars shipping products to Nashville, staffing their booths, buying airline tickets, paying for hotel rooms and meals, and a hundred other related expenses, I was astounded by how little these same exhibitors did to follow through and capitalize on the investment they made.
During the Expo, I carefully walked past every exhibit looking for products, services and machinery that might be helpful to my business. There were roughly a dozen exhibitors to whom I gave my business card and asked them to follow up with me after the Expo. Of those dozen requests for followup, only three exhibitors bothered to call or email me after the show.
That means 75 percent of those people who invested thousands of dollars to be in Nashville were not hungry enough to pick the low-hanging fruit sitting right in front of them, ripe for the picking!
What this dismal statistic highlights is simple human nature: Lots of people are lazy.
What this dismal statistic highlights is simple human nature: Lots of people are lazy. The good news is this makes it much easier for those who are willing to attend to the details and create their own success. A relentless attention to detail is a virtual guarantee of success.
Those people who complete most of the race, then just lose interest or throw in the towel are the ones who allow the best to shine even brighter.
Woody Allen may have been wrong when he started a relationship with his stepdaughter, but he was right when he said, "Eighty percent of success is just showing up." What Woody did not say is that the other 20 percent is paying attention to the small stuff.
For Us Contractors
For hardwood flooring contractors, success is also in the details. Those who want to be recognized and financially rewarded as the best will continually ask themselves:
• Do we show up on time, every time?
• Do our vehicles project success, or do our work trucks look like Clark Griswold's brother-in-law abandoned them?
• Is our estimate the most thoughtful and complete one our prospective client will receive?
• Do we email daily updates about work progress?
• Do we send thank you notes?
• Do we promptly return phone calls?
• Do we immediately resolve potential problems?
There are dozens of these details that the most successful among us will attend to. No single one will make or break us. But collectively, being relentless about each one will add up to being better than the competition. And being just a little bit better will give the decisive edge to the one who works a little bit harder and a little bit smarter.
Let's Be Like Sharks
The unhappy news for those who get lazy about the details is that someone who is a little bit better at attending to the details will seize the opening left for them. Let's face it, sharks get great press. Whether it is because sharks have a great publicist or just because the Discovery Channel needs to fill a week a couple times a year, sharks have mojo. We all know how proficient sharks are at moving forward, identifying prey and sniffing out feeding opportunities.
Whether you are a manufacturer inspecting your factory, a distributor contemplating growth or a contractor walking through a job site, each one of us can learn from the stars of Shark Week: Always move forward with eyes wide open, identify every opportunity, then ruthlessly seize upon it.
For the other 75 percent of you, thank you for the gift of your laziness—you stopped reading 10 paragraphs ago and made life easier for those who choose to win.
One final thought: The top Formula One driver earns about $30 million per year or triple what the average Formula One driver earns. The difference between the top driver and the average driver is a couple hundredths of a second per lap. The closer one gets to the top of a profession, the smaller the distinctions between the best and the also-rans. Be excellent.
