Mike Andes argues that repeatable systems beat superior craftsmanship and pricing. He lost a deal to a faster competitor despite offering better work at lower cost, and points to McDonald's consistency as proof that standardized processes win every time.
It is a wake-up call when people that you know you can outcompete with them on price, you can outcompete with them on the quality of the service, the care for the customer, but they still beat you. Why? They have systems. Systems and processes that are repeatable and they constantly are able to just consistently deliver on those promises. You're like, well, I'm gonna be the fine dining, 5-star restaurant that every single dish is custom. Or are you gonna be the McDonald's that every single time the burger looks the same regardless of if you're in Japan, China, or the US? The burger, looks the same, and everyone rags on that 'cause like fast food and McDonald's is so bad. Okay, look, one of 'em has billions of dollars, the other one struggles with one location. And so if you want to be able to build a business that runs without you, if you want to have processes and systems that can actually beat all the people that are so into the craft of doing the, oh my quality's the best, I have the best work ever, you could very well beat that competitor if you just have systems and processes. Because that's what happened to me. I did better work, I had a better price, and still someone beat me because they had better systems to get the estimate to the customer faster.
