I was sitting in a new restaurant last night and it dawned on me that sometimes as business owners we get so caught up in cash flow, marketing, inventory management, competition, staff training, worrying about the Internet, etc. that we forget to be special at our specialty.

If you are a toy store you better have absolutely wonderful toys.

If you are a baby store you better have the most sensible or fantastic products available.

If you are a jewelry store you better have sparkle.

If you are a brewpub you better have wonderful beers.

If you are a clothing retailer you better have the right fashions.

Yeah, maybe that goes without saying. But sometimes we get so caught up in the trees that we do not see the forest.

Your customers will not care that a vendor does not have a Minimum Ad Price.

Your customers will not care that the sales rep screwed up the order.

Your customers will not care that you have to pay more in property taxes or income taxes or business taxes.

Your customers will not care that shipping costs have gone up, health care costs have gone up, utilities have gone up.

Your customer will not care that you did everything else right.

Their first and foremost concern is that you are special at your specialty. Make it so and the other stuff is much easier to accomplish or work around.

-Phil Wrzesinski

http://www.philsforum.com/