• Predictability of service.
• Customer service mentality from everyone in the company.
• Professional sales and marketing systems.
• Organization and efficiency in operations.
• Sleekness and style of office, equipment and processes.
• A committed mission and passion.
• A desire to bring value and the lowest possible cost.
• A desire to get better tomorrow than they are today.
• Convenience of doing business.
• A focus on giving back and not on keeping more.

These are in no particular order, but they are all important when I evaluate patronizing a business.

I highly recommend Seth Godin’s blog.

I don’t agree with him on every issue, but he has some serious knowledge of trends in marketing and productivity- among other things. I bet we’re as different as night and day, but we have this in common- he knows marketing and I want to learn it much better.

He is very consistent in his blogging and it is usually encouraging to me. I read the Dip a while back and just recently finished Meatball Sundae and Tribes. I’m going to trim down the number of blogs I follow and this won’t be one of them.

Wufoo is a easy to use way to design various forms for use on the web.

1. Create a simple contact form for any website or blog.
2. Take registrations for your annual golf scramble.
3. Collect emails for your mailing list.
4. Design a customer survey
5. Applications- too many to mention here.
6. Invitations to a party or event
7. Generate leads via a form
8. Order forms for a kids sports league uniforms
9. Online petitions
10. Volunteer sign up for civic clubs