No matter what the economy is doing, the best way to keep sales up is to keep customers happy and coming back. This is what Laurie Snyder has done to build her hat-making company, Flap Happy. Basically Laurie makes it easy for customers to buy from her. The corny-but-beautiful thing about great small companies like Flap Happy is that they are all about serving others. This starts with serving customers and spills over into serving employees.
Laurie says we must accommodate special requests, be easy to reach, and take on some of the customer's work. All strong companies do this and when they do it right they are rewarded with loyalty.
If you want to improve your service, ask yourself these questions: What can you do to stop thinking so much about money and start thinking more about serving? What actions can you take to be a servant to both customers and employees? What would your employees say if we asked them if your organization is profit driven or service driven?
