Trust. I suspect it is the most precious commodity in business. The goal has to be earning every customer’s trust and then keeping it.

I think the fact that we have lots of customers who have been with us a very long time is a good sign in that regard.

If I were advising a friend just starting a sales-oriented business, here is what I would tell him or her: When on the front end of a relationship, don’t go in just trying to sell some equipment. You’re not offering any real value in the relationship if the customer just tells you what he thinks he needs and you sell it to him.

I would encourage them to make their broader focus helping customers assess their business costs and manage those costs down. That’s certainly the approach we take with our customers.

Trust also comes from being honest and transparent about how you make your money. In our business model, we lose a little bit of money on every piece of equipment we sell so we can make a profit in the long run through servicing the account.

We lay those cards on the table up front with our prospective customers. I purpose to get rid of all the smoke and mirrors and our customers really appreciate it—at least the kinds of customers that we want to be in relationship with do.

I think the best approach is to view the customer as a partner for life.

Our country continues to be on quite an economic roller coaster. A lot businesses and a lot of families are hurting. Here in Oklahoma we’ve been fortunate to a certain extent in that, because we didn’t have a big real estate boom we didn’t get the big bust that always follows.

Still, these are tough times for a lot of families—some of the toughest in several generations.

We’ve been blessed and I think that makes us extra aware of our responsibility to give back to our local communities.

For us, part of giving back means finding ways to address the poverty issues that are prevalent in our cities.

For example, we were shocked to learn that 80 to 85% kids of school children in our home base of Chickasha are on a free or partially funded lunch assistance. We have to do a better job of breaking the cycle of poverty by helping kids, single moms, etc.

So, it was our pleasure to help start and to provide ongoing funding for the Chickasha United Outreach Center which works to address poverty at its root. We provide monthly financial support and have pulled churches together to become an ongoing part of the initiative.

Great stuff is happening there and we’re thrilled to be a part of it. You can find out more about the initiative here.