When their daughter left for college three years before, she had planned to become an accountant.

The plan was, she would return to the family business and work with her brother, cousins and brother-in-law. She would provide the missing link in the management team of the fourth generation.

The call came from a frustrated father looking for suggestions on how they could put the various ingredients of their business together, now that his daughter had expressed an interest in hypermedia and Web-design rather than an accounting career.

Being away from the business for the first time in her life (something never possible for her brothers) gave her a chance to see things differently.

The "plan" seemed less appealing to her the farther she was removed from it. "Don't get me wrong", she said recently, "I love the manufacturing process and I've always been fascinated with business, it's accounting I don't like."

Fortunately her dad didn't panic, waited 'til she returned home for the holidays and listened to her side of the story. That was a year ago. During the summer, the company built their first Web site.

Their results have been astounding. Not that their site has added millions to the bottom line or anything, but it has allowed them to begin growing the business in a new direction with very little addition to the overhead.

In addition, she is adapting this knowledge to open up sales channels for their core products in Eastern Europe. I expect the fourth generation of this company will be selling its replacement parts all over the world--direct--before long.

Something that would never have been possible without the Internet.

Even though she did not become an accountant, this family member is still very much an asset to the business. And there are several more cousins coming along who just might aspire to become CPA's someday.

In a recent conversation about their transition to e-commerce, she said that they had learned some things that she thinks will benefit others taking this same route.

While all the hype is about selling something--and that's important to them too--"the key is really paying attention to service that will lead to success." That's nothing new. They have focused on service for over 57 years.

In their industry, the only thing that separates them from their toughest competition is their service.

Just saying you are interested in your customers, however, is not enough. You've got to walk your talk. If you are saying to yourself that "we just don't have the time or money to really ramp up our customer service"--you are asking for trouble.

Your site, and your company, must be ready to respond to the unexpected. That is how you will be remembered. If you promise excellence and do not deliver, don't expect people to say, "no problem." Just like in the rest of your business, it is better to under promise and over deliver!

In fact, if you have the resources money will buy you automation that can solve 90 percent of the sales and service issues. The problem is the remaining 10 percent.

Consider your business. If yours is like so many others, that last 10 percent represents a disproportionate percentage of your bottom line profits.

So, automate what you can, but be ready to deal with the rest--one to one--focus on a 100 percent satisfactory experience! That will insure your future success!