For Grapes & Apes, we understand that our customer is the guest who attends our event.  Naturally, we want our guests to have such a fun time that they immediately buy tickets for G&A 2013, and they persuade their friends to join them next year!

Some G&A customer-supplier relationships include:

• Rotarian and spouse volunteers (i.e. all of us!) working hard to take care of our guests' needs.
• Zone Leaders making sure that our Rotarian and spouse volunteers have the resources they need to take care of our guests.
• Committee Leaders making sure that our zones have enough supplies of wine, food, entertainment, auction items, etc. to create a fun atmosphere.
• Various vendors of wine, food, entertainment, etc. actually supplying "the goods".

Customer-supplier relationships surround us in Rotary, especially when you consider that "the next process is your customer".  For example, Rich Ahrens, our eBulletin Editor, is one of my customers.  I owe Rich my highest quality weekly message that is less than 300 words and is delivered to him before Sunday.  By being prompt and responsive, my hope is to make Rich's tasks as eBulletin Editor a bit easier.  (This is the perfect opportunity for me to thank Rich for the many hours he has devoted to our eBulletin this year!)

As you are interacting with your fellow Rotarians in planning G&A, please consider what you can do to make life easier for the recipient of what you're being asked to deliver.  It might be as simple as obtaining a silent auction item, asking a friend to sponsor G&A, selling some tickets, or promptly returning a phone call or email.

By treating the next process as our customer, we boost the probability of creating a "WOW!" experience for our guests!