I am amazed as I watch business come into existence, grow, mature, age, and die.  I’m thinking of the company from which I buy propane.  I have bought from them for years.  I remember when they first knocked at my door.  They wanted my business, and they were willing to do anything to get it.  They listed a host of things they would do for me at no charge, not the least of which was pressure test my house to make sure none of the fireplaces or cook-tops or ovens was leaking gas.  That sounded good and I invited them in.  They performed all their tests, and lo and behold, no problems — but at least I knew for sure I was okay.  I bought propane from them, on that visit and continued to do so for years.

As they grew, I watched as those little things disappeared (or became “billable” items.  Then the price started to creep up.  Then they only came to my area once every two weeks.  Then today they came and informed me I would need to clear a path to my tank if I wanted them to fill it (it’s about 100 feet back on my lot, under 6 feet of snow.  I doubt I could do it if I wanted to, and I sure don’t.  

Then today I got a knock on the door from a new company.  They have a host of services they offer for free, etc.  So you know what?   I changed companies (which is unusual for me.  I’m a very loyal customer.)  The new company cheerfully filled my tank (using snowshoes to walk across the snow to the tank and digging down to it with a shovel.)  Not only that, they have the best price of anyone who delivers up here on the mountain.

At the end of the day, it’s good (in some ways) to be hungry.  When you’re hungry you are forced to provide the very best customer care.  When you’re fat and happy, you can do whatever is convenient (which usually means customer service suffers.  When  customer service suffers, the business starts to decline — slowly at first and then picking up steam, like a snowball rolling down a hill.  Momemtum does the rest.

It takes a sharp and tenacious manager to set aside the comfort that making a profit brings and stick to the things that made the company grow in the first place.  But if you’re going to extend your life as a company, that’s exactly what you must do.  Any time not tramping in the snow means more to you than a customer, you’re on the slippery slope.

What phase of life is your business in?  What can you do to reverse the aging process?  What value do you place on a customer?  If you haven’t asked yourself those questions in awhile, you ought to do so regularly.  It could mean the difference between flourishing for years to come, or dying an early death.