Despite the advice being given out lately regarding how to best service customers in this volatile industrial market, I would rather talk about some of the "back to basic" things that have worked for my company. If I have learned anything in the past 32 years, it is to treat people with the same courtesy with which we all expect to be treated. We should never forget that the right people in the right place are the most important resource we have.

We are inundated with good advice from all the experts in the field of sales and customer service. Much of this advice is important, and acts as a reminder of what we should con-stantly be focusing our time on—increased sales.

Getting back to basics in customer service is an easy thing to say, but a more involved process to execute. We have to go through the process of brainstorming and developing a "formal plan," which usually entails getting together with the people from all departments in your organization and going through the SWOT process: figuring out the "S"trengths, "W"eaknesses, "O"pportunities and "T"hreats in your particular industrial market. Many of us have heard or know about it, but either forget to review or do not allocate the time necessary to complete this process.

After the initial SWOT process, each department gets together and reviews the results, then comes up with their own list of actions. From this list, a formal plan should be implemented that identifies positive and negative issues within the company. Actions taken should be formulated from this plan. Constantly review the plan on a quarterly, if not monthly, basis. Implement this process and you will be able to identify the easy pickings of the "low-hanging fruit."

Some basic areas that can more easily be tapped to increase profit and sales should be from your own customer base, vendor leads, and daily quotes. If you are spending too much of your time chasing after new business outside these resources, you may not be as efficient as you could be. Of course we need to constantly seek out new business, but not at the expense of not "mining" the easy pickings right under our noses!

Good business advice isn't always about sales: Identify and hire the right people and take care of them; service your existing customers with more in-depth selling; and follow up all those incoming inquiries and daily quotes with attentive customer service.

As a motivational parting thought, remember, as Benjamin Franklin once said: "The man/woman who does things makes mistakes, but he/she doesn't make the biggest mistake of all—doing nothing."