After 25 years in the consumer products business and several more years in consulting, I did something I should have done a long time ago: I purchased a company! I am now fully vested in the operations of City Wide, a commercial building maintenance and facility management company serving all of Chicagoland. What I love about this business is that I have been able to bring a career worth of classical business experiences from a variety of leading consumer facing companies to an industry that is, frankly, somewhat mundane. That’s what makes it so attractive…and fun. Call me crazy, but the conversion from B2C to B2B has been, well, enlightening. And here’s the kicker, we have been wildly successful…at least by my standards. We are serving office buildings, synagogues, churches, medical facilities, fitness facilities, schools and auto dealerships. We add about 3-4 new customers a month and our client retention rate since we have started two years ago is a robust 97%. What our customers tell us about why they love City Wide is that we do what we say we will do; we provide unparalleled customer service and we always - always - keep the customer in control. Pretty basic right? Well, to borrow a few phrases from my friend, Tim Thoelecke, President of InOut Labs:Business is about people. Clients are people. Our team is people. Our people are empowered with well-structured processes so that each client, each project is managed by people who are confident in they are doing.Business is about relationships. Trust is crucial—both within an organization and without. You can’t sell without it. You can’t lead without it. Don’t discount trust. It’s a fragile thing.Service and support matters. Happy clients are vital, especially in today’s economy. It’s not that hard. It's a matter of being interested. And being interested is far more important than being interesting.Quite simply, we are passionate about serving.