After many years of observation and involvement with American business I find that these qualities seem to be found in all the best companies, and the first one is always number one...

com-mon sense noun:

very rare quality which you either have or don't have

•     the customer is always right. Period.

•     the customer pays the bills.

•     taking care of the customer is taking care of business.

•     have a real person answer the telephone at your business

•     have sales and customer service be the same department with the same targets, metrics and compensation

•     hire competent people, tell them what you expect, trust them and get out of the way - if they screw up talk to them

•     give people the power to solve problems quickly

•     you use your common sense to solve problems quickly instead of referring to four feet of policies and procedures which don't cover this problem in the first place!

•     why you walk around a seven foot wide hole instead of falling into it

•     don't fund a business that never projects generating revenue

•     avoid being stupid

•     if you screw up, admit it, apologize and fix it!