Customers deserve more
What customers really want

Donald Boyd asserts that bankers, advisers and businesses need to put quality and service higher up the agenda.

On doing some of my Christmas shopping in December, I turned to one of my most important tasks – picking up some alcohol. I was amazed at how cheap beer, in particular, is and I know there is a debate going on about the ethical and moral issues with regards to this.

I, on the other hand, was delighted to be able to purchase 15 beers for less than the cost per litre to fill up my car. The massive discounts did, however, make me reflect upon the commercial realities the licensed trade and leisure sector have had to face over the past decade.

It brought home to me that there is no way that a normal, run-of-the-mill pub can compete with the supermarkets, together with the added distraction of live football, courtesy of Rupert Murdoch and his licensed trade pricing strategy.

This, I can understand, has been one reason why some sectors have been on certain banks’ “blacklist” or “watch list”, particularly where it comes to new lending. Perhaps it shows, partly, how globalisation is now seriously impacting on some local-based businesses. Beer and Premiership Football are prime examples.

As a professional adviser, I can get frustrated when I am working with a good, solid business which falls into one of these watched-sector categories and finding funding can be problematic or even impossible. Multiple global businesses have a rightful place in the market; but there are still solid and well-established niche businesses which do very well, mainly on the back of service and quality of product.

It is those businesses that we as professional financers have to endeavour to support as much as we can if all our lives are to be enriched by the survival of niche firms. We all know how pleasant excellent service can be and, if it is done properly, we are happy to pay a premium. Many businesses have lost this focus and find themselves caught between trying to compete on price and service but failing on both.

Which is why I advise many of my clients who operate in these difficult sectors to focus on quality and service, as price is not an area in which they will be able to compete. The optician I use is a prime example. He may not be able to compete with the multiples in terms of price but I am happy to pay a higher price for the superior professional service that I receive from him.

I’m firmly of the view that, in many sectors, there is now little room for the middle ground. You are either a superior niche business or a business that competes solely on price – and, more often than not, you have to be a global business to do so. This is the reason why Waitrose excels as such a superior service and shopping experience but it will never be the cheapest choice.

I can be as guilty as anyone of prejudging start-up businesses or established companies in certain sectors but we all have to look past these preconceptions to see if the business truly has the quality of product and service that it needs to compete successfully.

Perhaps we all have to follow suit and worry less about pricing, whether it is legal fees, accountancy fees or margins, and realise that many of our clients and customers are really looking for quality of service, value and, most of all, fairness.

On the way home that evening from my drinks shopping, I popped into a local independent wine shop where I bought some bottles of wine that were beyond the price that I planned to pay. I can happily say that over the festive period these were enjoyed more than any bland global – albeit cheap – value hooch could ever have been. As for the football... I’m a St Mirren fan. Enough said.

Campbell Dallas LLP is a leading independent firm of Chartered Accountants in Scotland. The firm is the Scottish associate of UHY International. For more information or advice please contact Donald Boyd on 0141 942 0722 or email donald.boyd@campbelldallas.co.uk.
Offices: Aberdeen | Bearsden | Paisley | Perth | Stirling www.campbelldallas.co.uk

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