In these challenging economic times, when business people look for ways to keep afloat, most start with cutting costs. There are a number of ways to save, most of which all of us should have been doing long before. This means doing things right the first time.

Claims and complaints drain profits from the bottom line faster than a speeding bullet. Even answering the phone to take a complaint takes time away from doing something more productive. Consider first impressions of your store. If it looks dirty, messy and uninviting, you've got reason number one for business being down. If you and your salespeople look like you're ready for a summer picnic rather than looking sharp, that's reason number two. If your product selection is all over the place and not laid out with the female shopper in mind, there's another one.

If you fail to qualify the customer as to what her wants and needs are, that's another. If you sell a product that is doomed to fail because you didn't qualify the customer or the type of use the product would get, another reason. If the product is installed incorrectly because you didn't take the time to learn how it actually should be installed and what has to be done to ensure it, another one. If you think your ignorance is the reason someone else should pay for a claim because you think the product's failure to perform is a manufacturing defect, you're speeding up your losses. If you're beating up your installer to get him to lower his rates because your business is off, you've just sabotaged yourself.

Do you actually think he's going to do more for less and not care? That's ludicrous. If you think you're going to make more money selling a cheaper cushion for the same price as a better one, you're crazy. How about the money spent on gas going to look at a complaint, sending out the installer to make a repair that shouldn't be one?

The reason you're in business, and all of us for that matter, is to serve the customer. As Peter F. Drucker wrote in his book, "Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices," "You have to know what business you're in and who your customer is."

You're in the business of making homes and businesses beautiful, and your customer is, nine out of 10 times, a woman. The industry is mostly run by men who have no fashion sense, and none of us really understand women. So, the first thing to do right is hire women with fashion sense.

Clean up the store. Learn what your store should look like and how the products should be arranged. If you need help with this call Beaulieu and ask for Patricia Flavin. She knows how you should market and sell to women.

Learn more about the products you sell and how to install them correctly. Understand warranties are marketing hype that never cover what the complaint is for, and their words don't change the fact that all cut pile carpet will mat, crush, show traffic lanes and compress in front of the favorite chair.

If you become the expert you're believed to be by the consumer and sell the right products into the right place installed correctly, you'll have very few claims. If you take this slack time to learn more, you'll earn more. You have to know more than your customer so go online and read what she's reading before she shops for floor covering.

If you do things right the first time, you won't waste time, effort and money- you'll actually increase profits. It costs nothing to do this; it's an attitude change.

I've written about this many times in the past. Be unique, be different, coddle the customer and grow when others wither. There will always be those who are successful in business during slow times. Adapt and thrive. Success Tip: read Mike Hernacki's books, simple and easy but all you'll need to succeed.