“Price is soon forgotten but quality still remains.”

My father was a chemist in the oil industry. About 1939 his sister’s husband was killed in an automobile accident and my father helped her manage her husbands carpet workroom until it could be sold. Soon after he started his own carpet workroom, which led to him becoming a highly successful person in the floor covering industry.

His company installed carpets and other floors for retailers like Sears and worked closely with manufacturers such as Mohawk, Karastan, Lees and others. As a child I worked for my father learning hands on. Eventually I owned my own floor covering companies.

My father wanted to give the consumer the best value that he could. He gave them that value in several ways and it was not by offering the cheapest price.  His prices were always just a little higher than the competitors and this was not because he was greedy. He was always willing to spend more money for a quality product though he had to sell it for a little more. He taught his employees to do the job right the first time. He paid his employees a little more than they could make doing the same job for others. He treated the customer with respect and if there was a problem it was taken care of right away.

My father had a saying printed on his business cards and on a plaque that hung over his desk, “Price is soon forgotten but quality still remains.” Living by that motto brought him many friends and devoted customers and made him a very successful man.