Now this was back in the sixties and seventies when we didn’t have a lock on any door or window.

I can’t remember the exact days or how often this would happen, but I do remember it like it was yesterday.

As a child and teenager, I remember hearing a loud knock at our back door and it would either be Mr Huxtable shouting out “Grocer”. And he would just enter the house with a big box of fruit and vegetables that Mum had ordered. Or it would be Mr Bell knocking on the door yelling “Butcher” and he too would just enter the house with our supply of meat that Mum had ordered. I seem to remember more regularly we’d hear Mr Otto knock at the door, always early, shouting “Baker” and entering to leave us with our yummy fresh baked bread.

And most mornings the Milko would have delivered the milk and cream well before we were awake and fortunately he didn’t yell out “Milkman” and wake the household while we were all sleeping.

Well, this conversation with my son got me thinking about how things have changed……or have they?

Could we recreate this type of wonderful service in today’s busy world where even the thought of leaving our homes unlocked would send shock through most people’s veins?

I reckon the answer is yes……and it’s spurred me on to a new level of thinking about the way we fulfil our promises as sales professionals.

The internet has created some fantastic opportunities for Liz, myself and our teenage sons. We recently bought a fantastic selection of high quality lamb and beef via the web from a recommended farming family south of Sydney who provide their meat direct. We get a knock on the door from one of their distributors who was so excited about meeting us and looking forward to delivering more to us……what a great service.

This is just one of many ways the web is creating communities of trusted buyers.

Regardless of what business we’re in, here’s my current thinking, challenge and source of motivation.

How can we reproduce that ‘knock on the door’ (whether metaphorically or in reality) and create that wonderful sense of trust in our customers where they feel part of a community and not just a customer?

More on this to come as I start to discover more ways that I can provide this myself, investigate what others are doing and reporting back.

Onwards!