The key to a successful business is the priorities set by the managers.

Whether you are a manager yourself, an employee in an office, or an employee working remotely, the company's cultural mindsets toward teamwork and customer service are often the deal breakers in business.

An example of this is the difference between "profitable" and "wealthy". A company that is cash flow positive may define its success by that financial metric but unfortunately lose momentum over time because they do not spend time bolstering the systems needed to maintain success over time with their customers.

Wealth does not only include financial success but also encapsulates any resources that the company and its employees acquire throughout the business process and via relationships with their customers.

Keith Cunningham, an accounting, negotiation, and entrepreneurial expert, teaches that it does not matter how much revenue you make because you must first make sure that all expenses are covered and that your employees are compensated before the business owner can take their piece of the profit.

Many corporations follow the hierarchical "me first" model in which the profits trickle down from the top first and whatever is left is used to pay what it can of the business' expenses.

Paul English, entrepreneur and co-founder of Kayak.com, corroborates Cunningham's sentiment about prioritizing one's staff. In an interview for Forbes, he says "While it’s true that I’m customer-oriented, the reality is that I vote for my team first. I believe that if you create a culture and a team where people love working with each other, that magical culture and team will create magical products."

It does not matter how many customers you have if the team that supports those customers is not treated as a team and with fair respect.

Of course you can design your product around what your customer needs and emphasize that, but the ongoing success of your business depends on the maintenance of your staff team as well as your relationships with current and past customers.

English goes on to argue that "There should be two goals for every interaction, whether with a customer on the phone or employees at a meeting. One is to make a good decision quickly. In the case of the customer, this means to solve their problem. And the second goal, the second agenda item, is to improve the relationship with the person on the phone or the people in the meeting."

Whether with your team or a customer, the ongoing success of your companies relies on the attention you pay to maintaining healthy relationships, not just providing a solution or product and moving on.