Crippled CEO Blog #145: They sell more than they buy

Crippled CEO Blog #145:

Dr. Robert Lyons invented and sold the only pool alarm that I’ve ever been a fan of — the Safety Turtle. It features a wrist band the child wears that sets off an alarm inside the house if it gets wet. 

My company, Life Saver Pool Fence, offers these alarms. 

When Dr. Lyons sold his company to its new owner, he suggested to them that they continue to give us favorable pricing even though we didn’t purchase a lot of units. 

The reasoning he gave was such a genius concept, worded so succinctly, that I’ve never forgotten it. 

He told them: “They sell more than they buy.”

At first glance, this makes no sense. How could we possibly sell more of their products than we buy?

And then I got it. 

We love Safety Turtle, so we push it — hard. We rave about it on our website and our social media channels. When I am on the news getting interviewed about drowning prevention, I recommend it by the brand name. We give out Safety Turtle literature at trade shows and events. 

My company isn’t a big customer for them, but we do a ton to promote the brand. We sell more than we buy. 

I think about this with my own business all the time. We, too, have customers who sell more than they buy — customers who don’t purchase a lot of pool fence, but promote and support us at every opportunity. 

It’s a lesson that sometimes you need to look beyond the numbers on the P&L or the balance sheet to see the true value of something. 

Employees work this way, also. Maybe she isn’t your best performer, and her numbers aren’t that great, but she uplifts the mood of everyone she works with and is a huge supporter of the company and everything you’re doing. You can’t see that on a report, but it’s just as important — maybe even more important — than the numbers on the page. 

The analytics are important, and nobody loves tracking the figures as much as I do, but it’s also crucial to look at the big picture. Don’t dismiss your biggest cheerleader just because of their ones and zeroes. If they really do sell more than they buy, give them the VIP treatment they deserve.

(I was buying everything your mom was selling last night. Your mom also gets a text from me every Sunday with a link to the latest blog post. Send a text to 561-726-1567 with the word CRIP as the message to get a link to the blog as soon as it’s up.

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