They Have Invented the Future - We Have Simply Helped Them.

The market we serve today is not the market we will serve tomorrow. In fact, the product portfolio we take to the market is heavily weighted to what the market will be - not what it is. It's a variation on the comment attributed to hockey great Wayne Gretsky: The secret to his success on the ice is that he skated to where the puck will be - not where it is. We are skating to where the market will be. In this market, the idea of technology, processes, and people creates new ways of selling, buying, and managing a business.

Our objective in inventing the future with our customers - the automotive retailers - is to help them grow their business, capture more revenue, and sustain higher profits. We also are helping our customers create value for their customers. It's the difference between merely providing a product or service that our customers use in the course of business, and creating new tools for the customer to use in changing how they do business and how they create value. In one case, we are meeting the customer's needs today - which is a legitimate, profitable undertaking. In the other case, we are helping that customer invent the future - which creates more value for their business, for their customers, and for Reynolds.

Support a customer's needs today and the customer may be satisfied; help the customer invent the future of his business and you may gain the loyalty that sustains a profitable relationship for years.