This content was published prior to the combination of Dentons Sirote. Learn more about Dentons Sirote. 

Our Back to Basics blog is supposed to draw attention to the routine, everyday activities within a consumer finance company or installment seller. The blog is designed to offer a refresher course on practices and policies, and laws and regulations that apply to your business. The goal has been to draw your attention to the things that can go wrong and urge you to attend to them.

In the midst of this pandemic, it is hard to focus on anything but COVID-19, and when or if we will ever get back to normal—and, just what the new normal will look like. In thinking about the future, I am guided by some basic truths from the past. And, I want to share the basics with you here.

A few years ago, there was a very successful clothing company in our geographic area named Parisian’s. The company had a large number of stores and was owned by the Hess and Abroms families in Birmingham. The patriarch of the company was Emil Hess. When Mr. Hess was asked to reflect on his “secrets to success,” here is the substance of his answer:

Our success is based on analyzing business proposals by asking three questions:  First, is the adoption of the proposal good for our customers? Second, is the proposal good for our employees? And, third, is the proposal good for our owners? And, we decide on adoption of the proposal by going through these three analytical steps, in this specific order. Only if the proposal passes through this matrix unscathed, do we adopt it as company policy.

The simplicity of Mr. Hess’ analysis matrix has always struck me as brilliant. And, Parisian’s success was brilliant, too.

If we continue to analyze our responses to the COVID-19 pandemic through Mr. Hess’ model, we may just come out on the other side with a better and stronger business.