Back when I was in college, I saw one of those too-good-to-be-true advertisements for home electronics in the newspaper. It offered a complete stereo system for only $100, but cautioned that there were only a few in stock, so it would be first-come, first-serve. With this in mind, I hustled down to the store the next day before the doors opened, and snatched one of the remaining discount units as soon as I could enter the premises. Proud of my savvy purchasing skills, I boasted of this bargain to a friend, who offered this piece of unsolicited advice: “If you buy a stereo system for $100, you end up with a stereo worth $100.†Chalking up this comment to jealousy (and not totally sure what he even meant), I placed my friend's counsel out of my mind for the next six months -- until the stereo suddenly died and could not be brought back to life. This occurred only a few days after the warranty expired, by the way.
The lesson to be learned here is that when a deal seems too good to be true, it often is. This is not only true in our personal lives, but also in the business world -- perhaps even more so. More than ever before, the stone industry is seeing an influx of new companies who are looking to capitalize on the success of the sector over the past few years. There are many new faces in our industry that weren't there only 10 years ago (or even five years ago).