Everything I ever needed to know about business, I learned in less than 10 minutes at the age of 16.
I was a junior in high school when I ‘accidentally’ signed up for a business course titled “D.E.” I thought I was registering for Driver’s Education, but this class was Distributive Education (aka, DECA, now called Marketing Education in 3,700+ high schools throughout the U.S.)
I would have immediately transferred out if the teacher, Mr. Davies, hadn’t been so very different from any other teacher at the school. Davies had very thick pop-bottle glasses, slicked-back, wavy, black hair, and wore a sports coat and a tie every single day. (Students joked that no one—not even his wife—had ever seen his neck.)
On the first day of school, instead of starting class by taking roll and introducing himself, Mr. Davies opened with a phrase that has been burned into my brain for 40+ years.
“Unlike Communist countries like China and the U.S.S.R., and the socialist countries that comprise Europe, America is a capitalist country that is founded on the Free Enterprise economic system. In America, efficient businesses succeed and the inefficient ones fail.”
After that sober enlightenment washed over us for a few minutes, the kid seated behind me raised his hand and asked, “So then, how is a business supposed to be efficient?”
Without hesitation, Davies beamed at him through those thick lenses and with a gentle, but confident smile, responded, “It’s simple, but not easy. Just get the right product (or service) to the right place at the right time and the right price and promote it to the right prospects in the right way. And if you treat these customers right, you will be very successful.”
In the blink of an eye, Davies reached deep into my heart and changed the course of my life forever. I remained his student for the next two years, and his friend until his untimely passing in 2005. I will always refer to him as the greatest teacher I ever had. (There’s not even a close second.)
THE 7 IMMUTABLE RIGHTS OF BUSINESS SUCCESS IN AMERICA
A lot has changed since 1974. Our government continues to push its way into the U.S. economy to where it’s not nearly as free to enterprise as it once was, and many inefficient businesses and organizations are being rescued from their bad decisions and inefficient practices by that same government.
That being said, I still firmly believe that a business can and will be successful in America if it can
- get the right product or service
- to the right place
- at the right time
- at the right price
- and promote it to the right people
- in the right way
- …and treat their customers right!
Very few—if any of the successful businesses I’ve studied over the past four decades have ignored and/or failed to consistently improve on each of these 7 immutable rights.
Likewise, most—if not all of the failed businesses I’ve studied over the past four decades have tried to cut corners on maintaining one or more of these 7 rights. (However, the vast majority of those that fail do so because they’ve profoundly failed on more than just one.)
YOU’D BE PROUD OF ME, MR. DAVIES
A few years ago, I designed and built a self-service car and dog wash located one mile from my home in Golden, Colorado. Although I’ve had a speaking and consulting practice since I left public education in the early 80’s, I’ve learned more about operating a business in the past 30 months than I have in the past 35 years of studying and researching other people’s businesses.
I’m proud to say that Camelot Car & Dog Wash has been tremendously successful, more than doubling its original projections and surpassing sales and service records among all other similar car washes in the Denver-metro area.
Davies’ 7 Rights still hangs proudly on the walls of my office today as a constant reminder that the only way my businesses will remain viable is if I continue to strive to offer the right products and services at the right place at the right time and the right price and promote it to the right prospects in the right way, and that I treat each customer in the right manner.
Is there another guaranteed path to success in America?
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NOTE: I wrote this poem as a tribute to Mr. Brent Davies – and to the thousands of Career and Technical Education Teachers in America who are preparing teenagers for life beyond high school.
