Jayson Smith, Founder ABS
A Message from the Founder
You get what you pay for.
Every year, when the new phone directories come out, I receive a new copy “specially delivered” to my home. This makes sense since the publisher wants to make sure I see what we are paying for. And, as usual, I am amazed at how my peers advertise. “Free” this and “Free” that. “We will beat any written quote”, etc. I look at these and I wonder, “Should we be advertising like that?” “Am I choosing the wrong path to reach our clients?”
How about those who advertise “Up to 80% off!” Wow, sounds unbelievable. What do you think? Well, before I accuse anyone of anything, lets test it. Suppose you purchase a 31″ x 61″ wood blind from someone advertising 80% off. If the price you paid was $100, then that means the retail price would be ($100/1-.8 = $500) Now, do you really believe that anyone would pay $500 for a wood blind for their regular sized window? I didn’t think so. Of course, if you do know someone like that, please direct them to us as I would love to retire to Fiji early.
How about “Free Installation”? Well, as nice as that sounds, is it really free? Someone is paying someone else to install your window coverings. If you know of any professional installers who, like Shoeless Joe Jackson in the movie “Field of Dreams”, will “play for food” because they love what they do so much, please let me know as I would like to hire them. The truth is we pay our installers about $10/unit for basic blind and shade installation. We could deduct this and let folks install them themselves, however, most folks would rather invest this minimal fee just to avoid the hassle. Plus we are responsible for the outcome and will make sure it is done right … no matter what it takes.
I hope my little soap box rant has been enlightening and, at the least, slightly entertaining. My mission is to let folks know that this is what we do, we’ve been doing it for a while now, and we plan on doing it for a long time to come. You may think, “How can someone be so passionate about window coverings?” Well, I don’t really know, I just am. This isn’t what I planned on doing with my life, however, it is what I am doing. I figure if you’re going to do anything, do it the best you possibly can or not at all. Are we the low price leader? No. Never have been and probably never will be. Service, reliability, and professionalism are more important to us and we only want to serve those who feel the same. Thank you for your time. Make it a great day!
– Jayson Smith
P.S. I have had a portion of the following quote on this page for some time now without giving credit to its author and without citing the entire quote. Please forgive my error and enjoy the following sage advice.
“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is worse to pay too little. When you pay too much, you lose a little money – that is all. When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing it was bought to do … If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run, and if you do that you will have enough to pay for something better.”
— John Ruskin (1819-1900)