Are you capable of down and dirty?

I was speaking with an entrepreneur the other day who is suddenly struggling to stay in business in the "new economy."  His business is down and he is having a hard time making a living as he has done for many years.

He shared with me that he was going to attempt a new strategy involving going after "down and dirty" work he previously had not pursued as he is a bit of a perfectionist.  I was skeptical of his new strategy and for good reason.  I work with three partners and we are all individually incapable of performing at a lower level.  We always want to do our very best; when you put us in a group it is magnified. 

We consistently over deliver as it is in our DNA.  We can't seem to help ourselves.  We desire to deliver the best as opposed to some businesses that are good at delivering inexpensive, and proudly display it as a part of their mission. 

There are businesses out there who don't want the best.  They want good enough.  My neighborhood gas station is perfectly capable of delivering three different qualities of gasoline and we all understand that when we make the decision of which quality to purchase.

Same thing at the grocery store.  There is premium ice cream, average ice cream and inexpensive ice cream.  You can often tell which is which simply by looking at the packaging.  The high quality ice cream comes in small highly designed packages, while the inexpensive stuff comes in large clear plastic tubs.

But in marketing it is more nebulous. Most companies don't put out RFP's (Request for Proposal) specifying a desire for inexpensive branding.  But yet that is what some seek and if you want to compete at that level you have to be able to somehow deliver less from your normal process.  You have to be comfortable with the grocery store equivalent of large clear plastic tubs. 

In a past job I had there was more than one time when I too attempted to deliver down and dirty.  You think when you agree to it, that you can do it.  You decide to spend less time or whatever the particular "thing" is that you will be doing less of. 

But in the end you are not satisfied with what you have created (because of something in your DNA) and so you continue to tweak it, change it, and evolve it because that is the process you have always used, and you invest hour after hour of your valuable time, and the budget you had allocated is now blown sky high and thus you are donating your time to deliver a higher quality product and down and dirty is nowhere in sight.  

I never figured out how to deliver down and dirty but there must be a way because I see it in the dairy case every time I go to the store.  I have made a mental note to check back with my friend after a period of time and see if he was able to change the basic way he works and if he is capable of delivering something less expensively.  I remain skeptical but wish him the best of luck.   He too is a creative type.  Even worse he is an artist.