Ben There series – A short tidbit from a serial entrepreneur. I’ve made tons of mistakes, and there’s no reason for both of us to make the same one. Here’s something I learned.
Customer Experience vs Product Quality
While this article is focused primarily on cattle genetics, the basic principles apply to nearly every type of business.
Humans are emotional spenders. People want to feel heard, valued, appreciated, and welcomed. They want to be immersed in a culture that genuinely lives out those principles. And that experience starts long before they ever become a customer.
It begins with their first visit to your website, the first social media post they see, or maybe just a coworker talking about the great experience they had at your farm the previous weekend.
That first interaction tells people what your priorities are.
- A well-organized website says, “I care enough about the details to make this information easy to understand.”
- Professionally edited photos and videos on social media say, “I value your experience enough to invest time and resources into making it the best it can be.”
- A well-kept property says, “I’m grateful for the opportunity to own this place, and I take pride in caring for it.”
- Cows standing in green pasture instead of knee-deep mud say, “I take my responsibility as a caretaker seriously and work hard to provide a healthy environment for my cattle.”
Now, we all know cows are basically toddlers with hooves. They’ll find the mud no matter what you do. There’s a big difference, though, between a single muddy spot in an otherwise healthy pasture and an entire field overloaded with cattle standing in filth.
Here’s the point, my friends:
The genetics of your herd matter. Healthy cattle matter. Quality matters. But you can have the best genetics in the world, and if your farm looks like a landfill and junkyard had a baby, your customers won’t separate the two.
They don’t see a tired farmer who plans to pick up those empty feed bags later. They see trash someone was too lazy to clean up.
They don’t see a tractor parked in the driveway because you came in after dark and haven’t had time to unhook the implement yet. They see disorganization.
Fair or unfair, perception matters.
To a visitor, the truth is often what they see in the first two minutes after stepping onto your property.
We all know you love your cows and care deeply for them. Love their home, too. Care for it with the same pride and intentionality.
Prioritize cleanliness. Prioritize order.
Not because appearances are everything, but because they communicate something long before you ever say a word.
And despite what some people say, you do have time for these things. In many cases, you don’t have time because you don’t do these things.