To ensure exchange, in addition to large-scale production we must also deliver its quality.
L. Ron Hubbard discovered four types of exchange.
1. The first type concerns a group that accepts money but delivers nothing in exchange. We call this theft. In this state, thieves, tax officials, governments and other criminal elements have “exchange.”
The first of these types is purely criminal exchange. Stealing, trying to gain something and giving nothing in return. This is the road to hell.
2. The next type is partial exchange. The group accepts orders or money for goods and then delivers only part of them or a devalued version of what was ordered. We call this shortchanging or “going into debt,” where the group owes more and more in the form of services or goods.
A customer orders five blue pencils with delivery scheduled for Wednesday, and two weeks later three orange pencils are delivered to them with a note: “We will deliver the others to you, but they will be green. We hope you don’t mind.” This incomplete exchange causes unfinished orders to accumulate and threatens solvency.
If you fail to handle the impending insolvency, the whole thing can slide into state number one: theft or embezzlement.
3. The third type is an exchange that is known in business practice from a legal standpoint as “fair exchange.” Orders and money are accepted, and exactly what was ordered is delivered. Most successful companies and activities operate on the basis of fair exchange.
A customer orders four blue pencils with delivery scheduled for Wednesday and receives them on Wednesday. This is legal and fair exchange. It is also something accepted as “normal.” The generally accepted belief is that “if you give people only what they want, everything will be fine.” But in reality, giving people only what they want does not necessarily bring expansion. It does not guarantee survival. The real answer to guaranteed success in anything we do is to give something extra—to deliver in abundance. “Normal” exchange does not always bring success.
4. The fourth type of exchange is not common, but it could be called above-average exchange. In this case, one does not give two for one or provide a free service, but gives something more valuable than what the money was accepted for. As an example, let us take a group that sells diamonds and receives an order for an average diamond. However, it delivers an above-average blue-white diamond. In addition, it delivers it promptly and courteously.
Therefore, we can see that the fourth state is the only true guarantee of success.
The fourth type is the one we prefer. It is the exchange in which I try to work today and which I have been striving for over many years. Produce above average and try to provide better quality than is expected of you. Deliver, have yourself paid for it in every case, but deliver something better and more than what was ordered. Always try to write a better story than the one expected: always try to deliver better work than what was ordered. Always strive for a better result than anyone hopes for and deliver it.
This fourth principle is almost unknown in business or art.
And yet it is the key to spectacular success and expansion.
This fourth state is the only one that guarantees survival in abundance, and this is achieved by giving more than you expect. This does not mean that when a customer orders ten pencils, you send them twenty. That is a good way to go bankrupt. It means that when they order ten pencils for delivery on Wednesday, you deliver the ten pencils, if possible, already on Tuesday, add a couple of erasers and write on a note: “Thank you for your order.”
It is these pluses that guarantee your survival. And these pluses, that something extra, need not cost more time or money. It is a matter of care, not money.
Moreover, how quickly success arrives does not and must not rest on the shoulders of the company’s management.
In the case of a group, there is another factor that determines which of the four principles is used within it. It is the group’s internal pressure. If it is exerted only by the managers, it may not even arise. When it comes from individual team members within the group itself, it is guaranteed. The level of demands that one staff member places on another actually determines the state the group is in and establishes which of the four types mentioned above comes into play.
An organization determines its level of income and long-term existence by choosing which of these four principles it will follow, and in doing so it also determines whether it will shrink or expand.
While it is inevitable that a manager establish the principle the group will follow, this principle will manifest itself in practice only through the pressure exerted by individual staff members or other people within the group.
We can easily see that the leadership abilities of managers are vitally important, but personal responsibility is also a key factor. It is the group that sets its own standards, as well as which of the four types of exchange it will use and implement.
The organization’s level of income and the level of pay of individual staff members in the group often depend on them. An organization cannot earn more, and an individual staff member cannot be paid better, than is established by one of the above-mentioned principles they decide to follow.
When you look at every successful company, giving people more than they expect—especially in the area of services—is quite common today. And that is how it should be done. This is a concept you should want to introduce into your company and into your life as well.
You must constantly do these little extras that will help you build your business.
This article is based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard and Arte Maren—I recommend purchasing their books.
Intended for study purposes only.
