Being an entrepreneur fills my mind, calendar and life with the things I must master and lead others to master. Some of these things are: Sales, marketing, customer service, accounting, conflict resolution, public speaking, public relations, human resources, hiring, firing, social media and the list goes on. One of the things that can slip through the cracks is the evaluation of the “Business is a two way street” value.

I was sitting with Eric Cooper, my Rockstar right hand man months ago sharing a value that I run by in business and life. Business is a two way street. As I was sharing this with him, he made a great and impactful comment. He said “Your customers should be as honored to do business with you as you are to do business with them and serve them”. Are your customers, vendors, and team members just as honored to work with you as you are to serve them? Are you just as honored to serve and work for your team, vendors and customers as they are to work with you?

Business boils down to humans serving humans. Whether it is your company providing a service to a customer in exchange for money, or it is a vendor of your company serving your company with a product of service that you pay them for, the value is always the same. Both sides of the human to human interaction should be appreciative, honored, and thankful that each are working together. Each human in the interaction brings value to the other.

In my years in business, the best, longest lasting, and most loyal relationships (whether customer to company, company to team member, company to vendor) are built and continue when both sides of the transaction are thankful and appreciative of the other. They express this thankfulness and gratitude often and never take each other for granted.

If your company is not as thankful and grateful to a customer for their business as your customer is to your company, they may fire you! If your company continues to serve and work for a customer who is not grateful for what your company does, it may be time to fire them! Your company may have a vendor who is serving you and takes your business for granted. Do you have a team member who is excited and honored to serve you and a sincere appreciation is long overdue?

Run this question through all of the human to human interactions in your company. Make needed adjustments so that all people involved are appreciated for what they do to serve, for their time, their money, their effort, their skills and their dedication.