8

HATTIE: Number 8. Have an effective sales and marketing effort. At Los Angeles-based Renegade Animation the sales job is outsourced to a New York agent.

VOICE OVER: Scott Mooney of Country Supply uses the mail to reach his 400,000 horse-loving customers.

Cafe Pilon sends one of the owners in person to call on major accounts.

Ziba Design gets plenty of attention by winning awards.

And Wahoo's Fish Taco supplies free food for events attended by its core customers-- surfers.

Texas Jet's selling strategy is based upon delivering excellent customer service that assures repeat business. Customers like these keep coming back.

Customers: How's it going? Good to see you.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Let the team at Texas Jet throw out the red carpet and bring your ground transportation right to the door of your airplane. No lines, no crowds, no delays, red carpet treatment all the way.

PILOT: (Voiceover) When we pull up on the ramp, they come out and, you know, roll out the red carpet for us, literally.

HATTIE: (Voiceover) Reed Pigman developed Texas Jet out of Piper Southwest, an aircraft sales company he purchased in 1978. Today, he operates 13 hangars totaling more than 225,000 square feet and supplies two-thirds of the fuel at Meacham.

REED: They're buying fuel, but what they really want is not the fuel. Obviously, they need the fuel to make the airplane fly. But they want the other amenities that we offer.

I can't just be okay, I have to be excellent. I have to be excellent at what I do.