We are on a first name basis

I had an “Ah Ha” moment the other day. We start each work day with a short meeting about what orders are in process, what needs to be done for the day and how everyone contributes to making that happen. It is a good thing and my partner, Howard, started it. My “Ah Ha” was about how we discussed our business.

We talk about orders, not by company name or (worse) order number, but by the name of the person we work with at that company. Example: “Are we getting ready to ship Charlie’s order?”, “We are pulling the material to machine for VJ’s order.”, “The steel from Jamie should be here today.” That’s how we know our customers and vendors … as people. And I think it is so cool!

We talk about how to market our company and what our strengths and weaknesses are. One of our strengths is the personal relationship we have with our customers and vendors. There is no better way to know it is true than to listen in to our morning meetings. Yet, this is something no one will ever know. To my knowledge, none of our customers or vendors know how we talk about them, how much they mean to us, or how much we know and care about them as people. And that’s OK. We don’t do these things because we want any kind of marketing value out of it. It’s just the way it is. That’s what makes it cool.

Joe Walker