Sales Tax Compliance - The Importance of Good Old Fashion Service

I heard a story about Chick-Fil-A on the radio this weekend that has reminded me about the importance of service.

My apologies in advance to Chick-Fil-A and the characters in the story to the extent I get the details wrong, but I believe I am getting the moral of the story right.  Here we go…at a strategy meeting of Chick-Fil-A executives, they were discussing the need for faster growth to fend off another competitor that seemed to be growing faster at the time.  After listening intently to the discussion, Truett Cathy – the much revered and respected founder of Chick-Fil-A – stopped the conversation and stated that he did not want to hear anything else about fast growth.  He wanted to discuss how Chick-Fil-A could get better.  He said if Chick-Fil-A gets better, the market will demand they get bigger.  Based on the results, I think Truett Cathy has proven he was right!

As the founder and leader of TaxConnex, I am always trying to push for faster growth.  I measure part of our success on year over year revenue growth because businesses with fast growing revenue are deemed more valuable and exciting. 

There is definitely truth in this, but fast growth does not mean the business is getting better at what they do. 

We see this in the sales tax compliance industry, which is dominated by fast growing technology companies.  These businesses have created and built software applications using the latest technologies – e.g., “the cloud” – and developed a very appealing message of push button simplicity.  There are definitely aspects of sales tax compliance that demand and require the latest and greatest software technologies, but there is a significant aspect of sales tax compliance that also requires good old fashion service.  

It is critically important for businesses in sales tax compliance to strive to get better whether we provide technology or service.

TaxConnex is a premier service provider that uses proprietary and licensed software solutions to manage the financial risk of all or part of a business’s sales tax compliance responsibilities.  I am reminded by Chick-Fil-A that my goal for fast growth will only be achieved if we constantly get better at what we do.