The old saying, “Take care of your customers or someone else will,” is still true today. Taking care of the customer and building a strong relationship is the most important thing in business.

The manner in which you conduct your business practices and the quality of your products and services are what set your business apart. That is a fact that will never change. But the way you find customers and nurture those relationships has.

Enter the world of technology. The Web has opened up opportunities that never existed before. Business models are changing from the traditional to the more streamlined processes.

The old business model took time to research and source a product to sell to your current customer base. Then the cycle of purchasing, receiving, picking and shipping begins.

Today's model changes all that. The Internet makes it easier than ever to increase your product offering without increasing your costs.

Amazon and Overstock are perfect examples of using the Web to increase sales with a link and a click. They don't have warehouses full of stock; instead they have formed relationships with thousand of vendors who are willing to fulfill the orders.

In our company we call it blind shipping. We'll ship any product we sell to our customer's customer, using their logo in a box without any markings or ties back to us. The end user is none the wiser.

This has created a whole new way of selling that's not exclusive to the bigger companies. The Web makes it possible for any size distributor to increase sales with a link and a click.

Most people don't take advantage of this new streamlined model because it overwhelms them to think about all the details. Many companies don't even have an IT department or a marketing department.

Luckily, there are companies that can help you get there with little time or effort on your part. They can do everything from Web site design, hosting, search-engine optimization and marketing to either your current customers or prospective ones.

You can have your own IT department and marketing department all under someone else's roof, without the hassle of interviewing new staff, larger payrolls or increased overhead. This can give you the time to focus on nurturing those customer relationships.

The more you have to offer your current customers, the more likely you'll keep them. Keeping and maintaining your current customers spares you the expense of gaining new ones.

The costs associated with obtaining a new customer—purchasing a list, producing a marketing piece, sending it by snail mail or e-mail—all cut into your profits. You are spending money with the hope that you'll get at the very least a one percent return. My thought is that this money is better spent helping your current customers grow their businesses.

Taking care of the customer will always be job one, but who says you have to do all the work? Find partners that care about helping your business grow and sit back and reap the benefits.