Episode 38: Lee Wells | Refusing the Money-Centric Mindset

Lee delves into the core philosophy of his business: avoiding a money-centric mindset. He emphasizes the importance of treating customers like family and prioritizing quality. Lee shares personal anecdotes to illustrate how cutting corners on quality can ultimately harm a business. He stresses the relevance of fair pricing and balancing cost with value. Finally, he reiterates the benefits of fostering genuine relationships with customers and maintaining high standards across all business aspects. 

Transcript

  Welcome to the ranch and table podcast,  where we discuss all things related to our Texas ranch and  our ranch to table restaurant located in downtown Rockwall.  I'm your host, Lee Wells.  Welcome back to another episode of the ranch and table with Lee Wells. I am so glad you joined me today. Thank you for taking the time to See what's going on and checking in and checking out this episode.

It really does mean a whole lot and I don't want to ever waste your time. So jump on in here. Let's get going. Today's episode is brought to you by Wells Cattle Company, burgers and pies, downtown Rockwall and downtown cattle mills. Want to see you come out, support us. Thank you so much for that. Going to get into some of these topics and some things to talk about today. 

And thanks for being with me. I really appreciate it. If you're in the cattle mills area, Greenville, even Roy City, that area this next week, this coming Saturday at five o'clock, we kick off a great event, a fundraising event for the cattle mills volunteer fire department. And we'd love for you to come out and be a part of it with us.

Live music, food trucks just going to be a lot of fun. The bands that we've got set up for the next four weeks are pretty crazy, pretty good stuff. Go to my Facebook page and check out all the information for that. But it's free to come be a part of the concerts. Of course, the trucks are going to be charging, but a percentage of their money will be going to the fire departments as well.

And then we're going to have some silent auction items for you to check out and help us with. And we're just going to raise a little more money to help with setting up another truck as a paramedic truck. And people have been very generous. It's just going to be a lot of fun. Come be a part of it starting next week, March 15th, and then the 22nd, the 29th, and then the 5th of April, four weeks in a row. 

It's going to be a lot of fun. Come be part of that today. I want to talk to you on a business topic, and this is one of the core beliefs that I have. If I were to just boil down everything that I believe about business, I think it would be In this episode today and talking about  refusing the money centric mindset.

I almost named my book that it did not pass the test. It did not pass the the criticism of many working with me on the book. So it didn't become the title, but that was my.  That was my favorite title, refusing the money centric mindset in business. And that's what I want to talk to you about today.

When money is your goal,  everything is affected.  Or should I say afflicted By the influence of that money Everything that you do you think everything you see everything you say is going to have this affliction of money connected to it and  Let me explain it this way when you see a customer come in  to your business  And you see them as dollar signs.

You see them as A register till when you see them as a dollar bill  They feel that and I fully believe that customers can sense when you see them as money or  getting ahead or  adding to the bottom line.  On the other side of this equation, I believe if the first thing you see when a customer walks in as your friend or a potential friend or someone that has come in.

That you would like to know better and you would like to serve as family. When family comes over and you've got a dinner prepared, or you're got you're grilling steaks or when you have that interaction, it's completely different than a financial transaction.  And I believe number one, the first step to not being money centric and not being money focused is to treat people like family, treat people like you really care.

This could be in any business at any sales counter, at any meeting, at any retail environment. When you treat someone with warm friendly hospitality,  That's number one. Everything else becomes easier when you begin the relationship or you say hello to someone that you know, and that restarts  that relationship in that manner.

And when we treat people with kindness and concern, and we really do care about the outcome of that exchange and Of the transaction. Yes, but when we care about how someone feels about it, it really does Change the outcome for the better and it establishes a customer family, that's what I Typically call when i'm online.

i'll thank our customer family because I consider them an extension of our family and our friendships they run deep they've They get better and better with time and We've really gotten to know each other and we talk and we exchange life happenings. And of course, on a level that's acceptable in a fast paced world.

But it's so much better and it's so much more genuine than just thank you for your dollar bills, your ten dollar bills, your hundred dollar bill, and going about your way. So number one, the first thing that we have to do to not let money dictate how we feel and direct our relationships is remove it completely out of the picture when it comes to our relationships and let that customer walk in and  With the idea that you're going to be a friend and you're going to have a relationship and they're going to come back and it's going to grow over time.

And when you do that, you build that trust in that relationship that they can feel and they know it's not just about the money. I believe people feel that.  Actually, I know they do. And and that's what people need to feel is customer first. And that focus, being on that customer first, is going to translate into a long term.

satisfying relationship that's going to yes, make you money, but it's also going to allow that person to want to give you money and not be grudgingly. They're happy to see you succeed. They're happy to give into your business and to see you succeed and happy and all of that. So my Angelo said that I've learned that people will forget what you said and people will forget what you did.

But people will never forget how you made them feel. And that is a life mantra. That is a life focus. I know that sometimes we say the wrong thing. Sometimes we even can do the wrong thing. And we try to make up for those things. But the way somebody feels when they are in your presence. When they are in your establishment.

When they are in, connected into your life. That's something that lasts forever, and that's good, and that's bad. And so we have to be very careful that our interactions with people are genuine, and that they turn out well, they turn out to make people feel well, feel good. And when we do that, it allows for a long term relationship.

So making a customer part of that long term customer family is number one. And secondly,  The number two step in building business and building a successful business is quality.  Quality is one of the things, especially in the restaurant business, but I think everywhere.  where people feel like they get away with more than what they really do.

I can cut this product back or I can go scale this product down or I can back this product up a little bit and get the cheaper version of this. And no one's going to know. They know.  I'm just going to tell you right now, you're not getting away with it. They know  quality products. Have to be at the very top, right there with the customer relationship.

Quality product is at the very top of that success chart. Your quality and the quality in which you deal with customers is one and the same. It really goes together.  And when you care, this is what is felt. This is what is received on the other end. This is what is tasted if they're eating your food.

This is what is experienced in a True quality relationship and customer care  verse low quality versus high quality  is a known entity, whether somebody says it or not,  I'm going to say that again,  people know if you're cutting quality on them, they may not say it to you. They may not call you out on it, but they know it.

If you changed your chicken fried steak from Wagyu to Choice something that was half the price, they may not say, what in the world is this? What did you do to me? They may not say it. But as they're cutting, and as they're chewing, and as they're experiencing that meal, They know that you went cheap on them and they may not say anything, but they just won't be back.

They just won't support you. They won't rave about your quality product anymore. They won't send that word of mouth back into your customer flow and  it will affect you. You're not getting away with it the way that you think you are just because someone didn't say something about it. You cannot.  Lower your quality without hurting  your overall business.

As a restaurant owner,  it's very tempting to Back the quality up sometimes because you see the difference in price between one item and in the other one for me, one Mayo and the next one mustard in the next or one bacon and the next. I'll talk about that in a second. The price is sometimes substantial.

The price can be  a very large percent half. It could be half to go to something cheaper and  You know what? If you're trying to be the cheapest and you're trying to be the least quality, and you're trying to do something  that, that  has never been done before, and you're trying to be the cheapest thing in the world, and you're going to charge the cheapest price in the world for it, man, maybe you need to try that concept and see if it works  overall  quality determines.

What kind of a product you're going to put together and the quality of every single ingredient adds to or takes away from what you're really putting out there and people know the difference they just do and  it's tempting because we see the grocery bills and we see the cost that we are spending and we want to lower that cost because overheads high and labor keeps going up and you can only take your price so high before you, you get out of range.

And so you want to do it, but I promise you, when you cut your quality, you will cut your business and you'll cut your success. I had my sales guy drop off some, or he dropped off some different bacon to us this last week. And he said, Hey, try this bacon. I think it's going to be exactly what you're using now and I can get it to you cheaper.

We said, okay.  We cooked some up.  And it was very obvious right away. It was thinner. It cooked up smaller. It cooked up to be less bacon than what we normally are used to seeing.  And, um, it's, it doesn't, it just is not going to work. Because,  I'm not trying to make the cheapest burger.

I'm not trying to make the lowest quality burger that's out there. So it doesn't really matter to me that I have to spend more money for the bacon I'm buying now. It has to be that quality when someone buys it and takes a bite of that burger. It's not negotiable. I have, I won't call names, but there's some chains out there.

That I won't even get bacon on the burger because it's so it's almost translucent. It's almost see through And then you ask them to cook it up, not be like a little leathery piece of rubbery Translucent gel or whatever and you say go ahead and cook it up crispy then you end up with you know  An inch and a half of some little tiny piece of pork that's not even, you don't even know it's there.

And if someone's going to order bacon from me, I want them to know that, number one, they got some bacon. And number two, there's enough on there that when they, every bite they take, they know they've got what they paid for. And it's okay for me to pay the money because  It has to be that way.

I'm not okay with it not being what it is. And yeah, we cooked it up and we tried it and it's just not going to work because it's just not even though it would cost less money, it would hurt our burger. It would hurt our product to do it. And I'm going to continue spending the money that I spend on bacon.

And that's just the way that's going to be because.  People are paying for that bacon to be added to that burger. And  when they pay for it, the money and the value need to add up as they take a bite of it. So it's not negotiable. Of course, quality beef is what we do. We have the, we have, whether you realize this or not, we have the most premium. 

hamburger meat in the world. Nobody produces better hamburger meat than we do. There's lots of reasons for that. I've talked a little bit about that in some of my other podcasts, but being whole ground, meaning all the steaks, roast briskets, all that goes into our grind means that we have, and of course the quality of our cattle the way that we handle the dry age, the way that we finish our cattle.

It's the best ground beef anywhere. I challenge anybody to find me some better. Ground beef than what we put together. I've never had any. We pride ourself on having that quality. And knowing that quality is what it is. I can't ever, I can never compromise on that. And so it costs me premium money to have that beef to serve.

But again, that's the quality factor  that, Creates the product that people come back for if I didn't have that I wouldn't have the business That we do have and so quality is right there with relationships almost inseparable. Those are your number one number two. They're really one a and one b They're really the same thing.

They're  But then you also have to charge the right price. So that brings me to my third point of this formula that we have that I live by. So number one is customer relationships has to be family and a treat people like. Like you're looking for the longest relationship ever had in business.

And then secondly, the best quality as if you're serving them at your table at the house. And then number three, you have to price it correctly. I do not ever intend to serve the cheapest burger in town. I can't. My ingredients cost too much. It's physically impossible for me to just to serve you a cheaper burger by the price.

But when I serve you the burger that I want to serve and try to serve, we strive to give you at the price. That's fair.  The value there. becomes overwhelmingly positive towards us and you don't mind spending the money. And we're not that much higher. To be honest we're not that much higher. We may be a dollar more a burger than some other restaurant that you would go to.

There's burgers that cost more than ours. So we're really not super expensive. But we're also not trying to be McDonald's. We're not trying to be, we're not beating Burger King prices. I don't care what they charge for their stuff. Their stuff is not what we do. Nothing against them. If you like them, sure, there's a place for them, but that's not what we do.

So I'm not concerned with the price that they're at. Our price has to be determined by what we put on that bun and what we in the bun and all of it included. And so quality beef is what we do.  But for the price, we want to be fair and we want to we have to charge what we have to charge for it But we want to be fair in that price so that we don't run people away I have to serve the best possible burger I can.

And that means every ingredient, everything that we do, has to be at the very top quality that I can get. The very best lettuce, the very best pickles, the very best onion, the very best cheese. One of the things that really bothers me right now in the burger business, and you may have noticed this, you may not have, but one of the little scam things that gets on my nerves really bad And the reason why I like that is when it comes to sliced cheese start paying attention to this sliced cheese used to be  really thick and it would drip down on the corner of each of the corners.

And it would really have some thickness to it. I was, there's a couple places that, and I won't call names, I'm not trying to be ugly, but they're not getting away with it. There's some places that still charge the same dollar, whatever, 1. 20 for a slice of cheese.  But it's half or less of the thickness of the cheese that we use.

And  there's a place I go and if I'm around there and I get a burger and they only put one slice of cheese, even on a double, which is just wrong. If you get a double, you need a double piece of cheese. That's just the ratio that God intended. I don't understand.  And even if you order two slices and pay for that extra slice you don't even know the cheese is there because it's so paper thin.

And they buy the cheaper, the thinner sliced cheese and charge the same amount for it.  I think it's really, it's just not, it's just not fair because the quality goes down when you do that. So there's a lot of things, little tricks that you can do.  I still think you get caught. I still think that you don't get away with it and it doesn't make you look good when that happens, but that's for them to decide.

I'm not doing that. I'm using the regular thickness of cheese. It's always been there. And I put two slices on a double because I think that's just the way it ought to be, but  the price.  that you pay has to make sense for the quality that you get. And I think when you're fair on price, even if it's a little higher, and you take good care of your customers like family, and you offer them the very best that you can, then it's a formula that really does work for success.

And I'll leave you with this thought. I started serving fries this week. I've done a lot of research on. On my craft on this business we started serving fries. So, this has been a months and months of processing and testing and figuring out what to do because we're on a food truck and kind of meals, and I don't have the kitchen space that I have, I don't have, I'm not set up to cut my own fries.

And I'm trying to find, I've been trying to find a fry. That I like that works for us. Okay I talk to my suppliers. They say, I got the fry for you. They always say that.  I've got the one for you. They bring you samples and they're just regular bagged frozen fries and  They're cheaper and they cook faster and that's why people do it.

They're they hold up a little better You know in a bag when you take them to go, but they're not hand cut fries And so I tried a few of them. I'm like, this is silly, no, we're not doing that. We went with a hand cut fry now. Let me explain. Let me explain the links that we go to  for the quality that we serve.

And I'm coming to a point, you'll see why.  I can serve a bag fry that's frozen that I just dump into a fryer, hit a two minute, three minute timer, and dump out and send to you.  I can serve those for, three bucks in order. That's typical. Three bucks.  And I can make money. I can make money on three dollars  all day long.

And they're easy. Nothing to it, anybody can do it. Not room for mistakes. That's why people do it. That's why most people don't do hand cut fries. Let me explain hand cut fries now.  So I don't have a cutter. I do for emergencies, but I don't want to run a cutter every day on our fries. So I have our produce company cut my fries, vacuum seal them, and send them to me the next day so that now I have fries that are fresh cut, ready to go into the fryer when you order them.

You can't just cook fries. I don't just cook fries straight away out of the bag from raw to cooked. I don't care for that. Now there's people in this area that do that and I eat their fries and I'll never complain. They can do it the way they do it. God bless them. But me, we're known for our fries.

We're known for the crispy  fry that we do with the seasoning and all that. So  for me, I have to par cook those fries, which means a minute and a half in the fryer. And then they have to cool down. And then when you order them, we run them another three minutes, and that's how you get the external crunch with the internal soft, tender But then when they come out of the fryer, we drain them, put them into a bowl, season, and then sea salt, and toss them, season, and sea salt, and toss them, and then they go in a bag.

I have increased the number of steps by five, I think. Maybe six from somebody opening a bag of frozen fries and dumping them in a fryer. That's why my hand cut fries are five dollars.  You don't have to buy them,  but I can't sell them for three.  I know you can go buy fries for three dollars at another food truck, another location, another place. 

I know you can,  but you can't buy mine for three. Because it is so much more to that quality, to the outcome that's involved and the actual cost is higher as well. Because of them being real potatoes that are hand cut and handled the way that they are. It just is, you don't have to buy them.  But when you do buy them and you take that first bite, you know why. 

We do the way we do. And so. There are reasons why things cost more money.  And if you can explain to people why things cost more money,  they will typically spend the money. You can go buy a used car that's, 15 years old, it's got 300, 000 miles on it, and you can buy that car for 2, depending on what it is.

300, 000 miles. You can go buy that car for, cash. You can go pay cash for it. Sure, you can do that. But if you want to step into a brand new 20, 25, 3, 500, you want to jump into a high country or king ranch or a lariat,  you can't do that for five grand.  But you also have no wear and tear on the engine.

You also have leather seats that aren't ripped. And you've got a, all the things that you have. So  the same is true in food. The same is true in everything. If you can share with people why they're spending that money and help them understand the quality that they're getting. Typically, they don't mind spending the money if they can do it to have something better.

Here's my final thing can  treat people like family  Serve them something you're proud of for a price that you can be open about  And you can still be open next year doing this again  You're going to be successful.  Treat people well.  Give them a good product. 

And make it affordable as you can make it.  And you're going to be successful. And I hope this translates across all genres. I don't know if it does today or not. I'm sure there's some people that can't do some of these things that I'm talking about. If you're in some kind of sales or some kind of a business, you're pouring concrete or something.

Maybe it's not quite the same. But I think for the most part, if you can affect these things, you can have a successful business. Remember  March 15th, if you're in the area, that's this coming Saturday. I'll be our first we've got daylight savings time that hit. And so we've got some more daylight in the evening.

And man, I wish they'd just leave it alone, just leave it at daylight savings. I know the arguments but I really enjoy the light in the evening. Our lives have shifted to evening for the most part the kids are in their sports and we're getting home from work and cooking dinner and wanting to step outside into the backyard and our lives are Even mine, as a rancher, our life is still lived more in the evening than it is the early morning hours.

I wish,  I would love, for us to stay on daylight savings time forever, but I don't know, I don't know that it will ever change. I just don't know that it will. We love it. It's the great time of year for us. Our business increases because people eat dinner. A little later, it's just it's a good time of year come out on the 15th Enjoy some live music at downtown cattle mills and then  Come support the fire department out there We're doing some great things with them if you want to join in if you're a business owner and you want to we need some more sponsors.

And then if you want to be part of the silent auction baskets, you have something for that. Get with me. We'd love to include that. We're going to do this for four weeks. So we've got some time to get involved. And you know what, if you just want to make a donation to the cattle mills fire department, that would be amazing as well.

Even 10 bucks would help get us farther down the road. We're doing some good things for them. And appreciate you listening. Thank you so much. I really do treasure the time. If you want to look out and leewellsofficial. com at the website, we've got more information there.  And as always, thank you for listening to the ranch and table podcast.

This episode brought to you by Wells cattle company. Come see us. We'd love to see you. We'd love to take care of you. Love to give you some of that quality at a fair price. And I'm Lee Wells on the ranch and table podcast. Until next time we say audios, farewell, goodbye, good luck  so long.