One Sunday afternoon, my dad and I were having a nice chat together, and we got on the subject of the greenhouse next door. This is just a little flower shop in a small town, but it's been there for probably close to 80 years. Years and years ago, long before I was born, it belonged to my grandfather (my dad's dad, of course). My dad and his sisters were pretty much raised in this greenhouse and all of them worked there at some point in time.

 

My dad and I have talked about the greenhouse many many times before, but something he said really caught my attention. Some 30 or 40 years ago Kmart came into this small town. They had lower prices, of course, but never put that little greenhouse out of business. Not even when Walmart came to town did that greenhouse go belly up. In fact, with Walmart managed to put Kmart out of business about 15 years back.

 

So why is the greenhouse still there even though the prices might be a little higher? Because of the service! It's locally-owned, and the owners themselves run it and hand-select who they want working there. The greenhouse does deliveries, and people that know the owners know that they can call them at home or have things specially ordered. The greenhouse prides themselves on getting to know their customers. They don't put out expensive ads, or make things automated. They work the business every day, and treat their customers like friends, not like sales.

 

Just like an autoresponder or ad doesn't care about the people it's targeting, an employee at Kmart or Walmart most of the time doesn't care too much about if a person buys a product or not. The employee gets paid either way. So this just reinforces the fact that we need to ditch the autoresponders and the ads, and talk to people personally. Treat them as friends, not as sales. I know all of us already know this, but sometimes we just need a little reminder that we are doing the right thing. :)

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About the author: Kara Kelso, busy mother of 2, is the owner of Mom's Market, which is dedicated to supporting moms in business. Subscribe to Mom's Market Ezine and get your site listed for free.
Visit: http://www.momsmarketonline.com   Kara also is the owner of Natural Home  (http://www.naturalhomeonline.com), which offers natural alternatives to everyday products.