Here are a couple of quick examples of companies using Twitter for customer service, business-to-consumer marketing, business-to-business marketing, and public relations:

Customer Service – The massively popular online shoe store, Zappos.com, takes customer service to an all new level of buying utilizing Twitter as a line of communication with its customers.

Business to Consumer Marketing – The Ford Motor Company is posting in 140 characters or less to promote their new Fiesta model. You can learn more about it at www.fiestamovement.com.

Business to Business Marketing – Duct Tape Marketing started a few years ago with their book and website that catered to helping small businesses get more customers. Now, they use Twitter as part of their marketing tool belt to reach out to businesses that need their services.

Public Relations – The company that sets the standard in womens’ and mens’ accessories, Louis Vuitton,  uses Twitter to reach out to bloggers in the Paris fashion industry.

These are just a few examples of using Twitter for business. Be sure to take a look online for more examples of how you can use Twitter for your business.

When it comes to good work habits, they can be discerned pretty early in life. Take the local teenage paperboy for example. The local paper has to be delivered 365 days a year whether it’s rain, snow, hail, sleet or shine, and did I mention that those papers are not exactly light. They experience the mundaneness of delivering to the same customers on the same exact route everyday, and they better not be late or they won’t get tipped on payday.

Most kids don’t have the discipline and constitution that it takes to perform such a job. The job needs to be done everyday whether they like it or not. If they do fail to show up, they need to have a backup in line to get the job done. The job always has to get done, and it is their responsibility to see to it that it does. Social peer pressure just doesn’t have a place in such a schedule.

Another challenge is that they also have to try to reach out to new prospects if they want to increase what they make each month. A successful paper boy gets that job done constantly and without excuses. These are the types of people that you want on your team regardless of position. Employees who take ownership of their position and job responsibilities.

If they failed when they were younger, to grasp desirable work ethics, this failure can continue to make tracks throughout their adult career. When you hire for your company, make sure you look for the “paper boy” in everyone before making them part of your winning team.

Being in business is all about having prospects to sell to, and if you do not want to sell then, you need to hire someone who does. It is your job as the owner to keep the cash register ringing whether you are directly responsible for closing the deal or not. Before you hire someone to create your first product or before you hire any staff to perform services for customers, hire someone whole sells well. Make sure that they are friendly, passionate, courteous, persistent, respectful, dedicated, and above all, marvelous closers. Think about it. When a new home builder begins developing homesites, the first thing that they do is get some salespeople on the property so that they can start selling some houses. They do not even have the model homes built yet, but they know that they have to sell to start  the construction workers building the homes and to keep the loan officers busy closing loans.

In reality, your entire staff needs to sell the customer in one form or another. Certainly your secretary will not be presenting prospects with proposals and quotes, but they will often be the first impression of your company to visitors of your brick and mortar business. Once the prospective client has walked in the door, they have already begun judging your company and deciding if this is who they want to do business with. The service and courtesy that your employees offer to prospects and customers goes a long way in the sales process.

One company that I have always been impressed with is Lexus. If you ever buy a  vehicle from them, it is a true experience in red carpet service and sales. Rudy, our salesman, was a pleasure to deal with and that’s saying something because I can’t stand most car salesmen and dealerships. Because he did such a great job working with us, I would certainly buy another vehicle from him and would have no problem referring him more customers. Good salesmen and service truly keep the register ringing.

So, after you find your first great salesman, don’t hesitate to get your second.

Another example of an innovation in an industry by a company that refused to conduct business as usual is the Seattle based company, Starbucks. Starbucks was founded in 1971 by three partners with a focus on selling high-quality coffee beans and equipment. This focus eventually shifted to supplying customers with coffee-based drinks and small food items. This slight shift in business has allowed Starbucks to turn into the world’s coffee house. They went from one store that started in the early 70s to 16,635 stores that are spread out over 49 countries, but this growth did not come without opposition within the company.  After a trip to Italy, Howard Schwartz, who served as the Director of Retail Operations and Marketing,  suggested selling drinks in a coffee bar environment. To many, coffee was to be served at home and there just wasn’t money in being a coffee bar. It took selling the company to Schwartz in 1987, before Starbucks focused on launching their coffee bar phenomenon.

Starbucks has reinvented the coffee business. We all know that they didn’t create it. But take a look at other famous businesses, and take note of how they have set themselves as the “go to” source in their industry. Ebay certainly did not create auctions. Paypal didn’t start online commerce. ESPN didn’t invent sports, Microsoft didn’t invent computers. Nike didn’t invent shoes. Xerox didn’t invent copiers. Google didn’t invent the first search engine, and the list goes on and on.

As they say, hindsight is 20/20. But take note, when innovation shows up, it may not be wrapped as you would like it to be, and it may not look like what you thought that it would look like but whatever you do, do not despise it. It may be the greatest thing since Starbucks.