What’s Important?

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I  am the type of person who loves to keep up on the news and current topics, especially those in the pet industry.

Besides reading Pet Age magazine, I read other publications in the industry, from consumer to business, large to small, specific to broad. It doesn’t matter what it is; if I think it’s important, I will read it. Plus, it never hurts to learn more about the industry to see others’ perspectives.

While I don’t have a blog,  I do enjoy reading others, not just in the pet industry or business blogs, but anything really, as long as I enjoy it.

While I was reading a business blog that I enjoy, I came across one that talked about the most important question for business owners to ask themselves.

Now, when I read the headline for the blog article, “The Most Important Question for Business Owners to Ask Themselves,” I tried to figure out what the most important question would be if I were a business owner.

While you think of it yourself, some of the answers you consider may include: Is my website good enough? Is it eye-catching? Are my prices low enough or reliable enough? Do I, or my store, offer enough features or use the most effective social media channels?

At the end of the day, these are not the things that matter the most when dealing with manufacturers, distributors, other stores or customers. In the end, it’s all about trust. Do they trust me enough to believe my promises?

What is the old saying? Trust is hard to gain but easy to lose. It’s a great one to do business by.

Now that we are all getting back from Global Pet Expo and settling back into our stores or offices, most likely, we all made a lot of new contacts. We took the first steps toward building those trusting relationships, so now is when the real work begins. It’s important to stay on top of those contacts. Follow up with them to find out if they needed or expected anything from us. If so, we must immediately work on getting it for them. This is part of what makes the Global Pet Expo so hard.

Granted, walking around that huge show floor, seeing thousands upon thousands of new and old faces is exhausting in itself. But now I look at this brand new stack of business cards I have acquired. As I look at them, I see the trust I have started and now have to continue to build on.

Now, we all make mistakes time to time. Sometimes something slips from the mind or a card gets lost, a note misplaced. Then you have to work twice as hard to get that trust back.

So while it was another great Global Pet Expo show, the real work begins for all of us. We can’t relax now because now is when all the great opportunities to build trust and relationships happen. I encourage everyone to follow up with your commitments, keep building those connections and keep improving your contacts. It doesn’t matter if this is your first show or your 25th show, it’s something we all have to make sure to continue to do

– Craig Rexford