Years into my law practice I had to endure financial hardship.  My income from professional services for an entire year after payment of operating expenses and staff was $750. I wasn’t the only one suffering.  I had clients who for example were either unable for exceedingly long periods to sell properties listed for sale or who had to sell at a substantial loss. Naturally it followed that as a servant to those clients I should be subjected to the same unpleasantry as they. When I chanced to discuss the matter casually with senior counsel I proffered the suggestion that I was mistakenly overcharging for my services to which he unhesitatingly replied, “Let the shit go down the street!” At the time I thought his lapse into the vernacular was no more than a social nicety.  I have since learned otherwise.

The uncomfortable reality is that life has its ups and downs. It requires little scientific credential to support the proposition that business – no matter what – likewise ebbs and flows. The answer in circumstances of decline is not to give away one’s goods or services. There is attributed to Peter Ferdinand Drucker (Austrian-American management consultant, educator and author) the saying, “Do what you do best and outsource the rest”.

Drucker was a believer in decentralization of management. He saw that many leaders try to take on everything in a demonstration of power or a means of maintaining control, under the assumption that only they can accomplish a task correctly.

For the small business operator this seemingly esoteric economic mantra translates simply into the recommendation to hand off anything that isn’t core to your business so you can focus on what matters most. I and others have further interpreted the thought as what is sometimes called “niche marketing”; that is, the business of promoting and selling a product or service to a specialized segment of a market.

Let me be clear, there is nothing wrong with marketing the least expensive product or service if indeed that is the desired scope of what you do. It is however grossly miscalculated to seek to sell the best for the least. The ambition is fraught with self-evident error – at least, that is, for those of us living in the real world.  I am afraid the operation of the capital markets is still largely governed by the truth that you get what you pay for.

When I was confronted by the economic decline affecting me and others, I first attempted to surmount the difficulty by advertising. It proved a complete waste of time and money. It was something I had never done and something which to that point in time was completely unusual in the “sale” of legal services. In fact to this day, I hold fast to the theory that the people advertising legal services would never be my first choice.  The reason? Small business continues to be driven primarily by word of mouth. It is quite a different story for example for the sale of manufactured items that are mass produced where the purchaser knows the quality of the item and the only dispute is the price at which the agents are compensated. Similarly it is yet another story for hand made, tailor made, custom made or bespoke products; or, professional advice for the particular needs and requirements of a client. Yes, there are always boiler plate or “knock-off” alternatives some of which can be suitable but the obligation then becomes that of the client not the merchant.

The temptation to eliminate particularity and detail is sometimes grossly abused by the rush to adopt the latest technology as though convenience and ease of production were the answer to it all. It is not. Very often underlying the technological wizardry is a stream of cautions and qualifications which effectively reiterate the original more critical development of the product. I am convinced that one of the key themes to the global economy is nothing more glamorous than insurance which has the initial appearance of protection and cost savings but which upon examination in the case of loss is fraught with obstacles. Insurance is nothing but a gamble – hardly the prerequisite for quality. It doesn’t require much intellect to understand that insurance companies are not in the business of paying money.

All this is to say that there is no easy way around the provision of quality services or products. I am assuming for purposes of my rhetoric that one is devoted to providing the best of whatever it is that one does.  If it is otherwise, then I am talking up a tree; but if as I suspect you (who have continued to read thus far) are devoted to a superlative ambition and product then it only makes sense you should not waste your time doing anything else nor should you pretend to embrace the perversion of selling it for less than it is worth.  As blunt as it may seem there are times when one must “Let the shit go down the street!” Otherwise you are ultimately doing no favour either to yourself or to your client.

Keep in mind as well that there are many people whose interest is only in quality. It insults those clients to suggest that they are getting a deal if it is at the price of the quality they demand or are seeking. Obviously this isn’t to suggest one should gouge; rather, provide a good product for a reasonable return. Once again often the only way to achieve the goal is to “Let the shit go down the street!”

There will always be someone somewhere who offers to do what appears to be the same thing for less, that is the nature of the free market economy.  When however it is apparent that the discrepancy between the product and profit is unmanageable, then it’s time to jump ship.  Don’t kid yourself. But neither should you presume you haven’t the possibility of a niche market which you can service for the mutual satisfaction of both parties.  Life was never meant to be a tasteless endeavour.  From my own experience with contractors, doctors, lawyers and accountants I have learned the possibility of satisfaction exists without distortion or pretence.  There is no need whatsoever to pretend that what one does is beyond attainment.  And we all know that long after the price is paid the only thing we’ll recall – whatever we paid – is the quality.