I've had a few personal experiences lately that have reminded me just how important people are in the companies I choose to do business with.

Take my dry cleaner for instance. I've really never had any type of loyalty to one dry cleaner or another. Seems to me they all cost about the same, they all usually get my clothes cleaned, what's the difference?

I'm not much of a regular when it comes to taking my clothes in to get cleaned. I can usually make it a couple of weeks between visits. Even with my inconsistent and somewhat rare visits the woman behind the counter (Theresa) actually remembers my name. She sees me walking up from the car and is usually pulling my clothes off of the conveyor hanger thing by the time I hit the door. Now I wouldn't think of changing cleaners.

Let's look at this from the business perspective. My dry cleaner hired someone who has taken a little extra initiative and learned many of her customer's names. This doesn't cost anything extra, but creates a level of service that is beyond that of any other dry cleaner I've ever done business with.

The first ingredient in a great business is great people.

Happy Networking!

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com