Pamela is not interested in a quick buck -- she is interested in building a strong, long-lived company. By studying the history of car dealerships and by determining that she wants to be running this business years from now, she clearly defined for everyone in her organization that the path to real prosperity is service.

Topic for discussion: Are there still companies out there who succeed with the old sales-driven model?

Answer: Sure, but we do not do business with those companies and they certainly would not be part of our library here at Small Business School.

Today, all companies should be bundling a product with service or a service with a product. And customers should feel that service is just as important to the mission of the company as is selling the product.

My hairdresser is a great example of this. She owns the shop, Hey Saylor, in San Diego. She cuts and colors my hair which is a service. Also, she tries to teach me how to style my hair to have the newest fashion looks. That is service. To get these new looks, she pulls hair care products out of her antique chest of drawers. As the customer, I have to pay attention if I want to see the bottles or tubes from which she extracts the magic. If I don't ask, "what are you putting on my hair?" I would never know because she is service-driven.

What I do know is I love the way my hair looks when she does it. So I end up buying the bottles and tubes from her so I can get the same look myself. I never even ask the price because her service is so fantastic, I want what she has. The newest look in hair styling as I write this is straight. My hair is naturally curly. My hairdresser is undaunted. She whips out what at first glance looks like a curling iron designed by some young Italian designer wanting to make her mark on hair care. It is so sleek and light. I wouldn't call it cute. I would call it hip or cool. If a good curling iron is a Ford Taurus, this appliance is a Porsche.

It is a flat iron made to make hair stick straight out rather than bend. When my hairdresser is finished using this tool on my hair, I look hip or cool. Of course, I have to buy the tool even though I already have a flat iron at home for which I had paid $135 and I never use because it is heavy and I have a tendency to burn more than my hair when I use it.

The ticket for my products and service that day was $68 for the haircut, $55 for the color and $80 for the flat iron. I left very happy.

You think about it: What service can you add? What product can you add?