John MeierChairman and CEOLibbey Inc.Toledo, OhioMEIERJF@libbey.com

Oftentimes, I have heard other members of the industry comment on how this remains a people business, with relationships at its core. And you know what? They are right. Speaking from experience, at the core of our company's success is its commitment to relationships with our customers, specifically the distributors. To some, this may sound cliché, but it's a factor that we, or any other company for that matter, can never lose site of if we want to remain viable for another 120 years.

Being such a large and diverse company, we at Libbey have a unique position in the foodservice industry to fully appreciate the value relationships provide. Specifically, in our retail business the revolving door of buyer and merchandiser contacts we experience is considerable. And it takes a significant amount of time and money to re-establish a meaningful relationship once an individual leaves.

With many of our distribution customers, we have relationships that date back 50 or 60 years and span generations. When individuals or organizations work together for such long periods of time, they have to be open and responsive to the needs of each other. Every industry will wind up experiencing peaks and valleys. We have to understand that asking an industry to grow in perpetuity is unreasonable.

A company, no matter your position in the industry, has to manifest and articulate its perceived value of that relationship through committed service consistently over time. You have to understand who your individual customers are and what they do with that product. Price alone does not mean anything to distribution if they don't have the product when their customer needs it. Given these parameters, you are only as good as yesterday's service to your customer.

The other way to show your commitment to your customer is to become more of a resource to them. This allows you to have more than a transaction-based relationship. Like many companies in all segments of the foodservice industry, our customers require creative products and well-rounded support. And we have to balance these qualities over the course of the relationship.

Consistency is another key to establishing long-lasting customer relationships. Be consistent in your approach and don't keep changing the rules for engagement. Customers don't want surprises. And customers may not like your business model but at least they know what it is.

Of course, being in any meaningful relationship, be it professional or personal, means that you have the ability to have difficult conversations with one another. And if you are truly in a meaningful business relationship, the customer wants their key vendors to remain viable for the long term. The ability to execute a difficult conversation about something such as a price increase due to rising materials costs and the like, is based on the grounded trust that you continue to build on over the many decades that the relationship spans.

Building a committed relationship takes time and effort but when done properly the rewards exceed the investment and allow an organization to grow in countless other ways.

MEIERJF@libbey.com