Branson Won't Let a Mistake Linger
A few years ago, Branson's Virgin Atlantic had introduced some new first-class sleeper seats. Unfortunately, through customer feedback they found out that they had gotten it wrong. The problem was that the seats wouldn't completely recline.
As Branson said, "Rather than living with it for 10 or 15 years, we just decided to start again, it's important to acknowledge that you haven't gotten it right and then not keep your head in the sand but get on with it."
The original investment was $68 million, and after tearing them out, it cost an additional $127 million to get it right.
Some people questioned this move saying that it sounded more like gambling than doing good business; and it was extremely risky in their eyes.
Branson said that on the contrary, the bigger risk was just letting the problem go, along with the Virgin reputation for quality. Because he had positioned the airline as the best, there was no way that he was going to offer his customers a second-rate experience. To him that is a far bigger risk than not taking care of the problem.
Another reason Branson had to do this is that his bread and butter is the first-class seating; that's where the real money and profits on airlines are. To not take care of his most important customer would have been positioning himself and the company for huge failure by letting another airline do it better.
The point is that he had such a commitment to quality that he refused to compromise and lower his standards to save some money. His consistency and persistancy have paid off.
Other Richard Branson Resources:
Richard Branson's Virgin Success
Thoroughly postmodern billionaire
Richard Branson's latest adventure will take Virgin into space
Richard Branson - Life - Philanthropy - Money
Richard Branson, Business Personality
Richard Branson conquered the world. Now he wants to fly you to space.
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