Quality vs. Quantity: Establishing priorities in your small business

By Kathy-Ann Fletcher 

Do you take all the new opportunities that come your way as a new business or do you focus on doing a good job with a few at first to establish a solid reputation? This is the dilemma that many entrepreneurs face in the early stages of their businesses.

Will you be sacrificing the quality of the product/service you provide by expanding or taking on too much too soon? This is a very important question to ask yourself when faced with new opportunities. The fear of opportunities drying up so to speak usually drives entrepreneurs to grab at every new opportunity. However, in the process some quality is sacrificed if the company is not properly prepared for expansion leaving the business vulnerable to failure.

So how do you handle this choice? I have two simple suggestions.

1. Pre-set the priorities of your company and do your best to stick to them. You have to establish very early what your company’s objectives are and match the priorities to suit. As you set up targets and earmarks for the growth, stick to these unless your company has grown at the pace to accommodate the new opportunities. For example, accepting an order for 50,000 new pieces before you have the capabilities or are able to outsource it will not secure your future, regardless of how great the opportunity seems. What it will do is run your business into the ground before its name can be established.

2. Determine the image of your company – Do you want to be known as a jack of all trades but a master of none? No. You want to be known for great products and dependable service. Therefore at the early stage, in fact at any stage, it is best to focus on quality rather than quantity. You don’t want to damage the reputation of your company and the trust within the market for your product and service. This would be a sure fire way to damage future opportunities.

We face the dilemma all the time. These new opportunities seem once in a lifetime and exciting. We say if we get this account then we will be set. We sit and imagine how good it will be but then forget to consider our capabilities.

So in business, it is best to choose quality over quantity if you can’t achieve them both.