good employees

This morning I did a plant tour with a prospective client. I really love doing plant tours, I love my wood shop. I love it at the end of the day when the machines are quite and no one is around, I love the shop during the day when everyone is there working. So when I show the shop to someone I feel like there just isn't enough time to talk about all the exciting things. I know that is crazy but I have this enormous passion for woodworking, there is no other way to describe it. This prospect today already has a wood shop of about 3000 square feet and they brought that shop supervisor along today. For me having another shop supervisor in my shop is very special. There is no way that another shop super can cruise thru my shop and not admire the condition. The organization for starters is unmistakable. Right now we have alot of work in the shop for the prospect to see.What was most interesting and uncanny was this prospects last question. We were talking about employees and all that goes with having employees. His question was "how do you plan on keeping the good people that you have now?" It caught me off guard, it is an excellent question. What is uncanny about it is that just yesterday at the weekly staff meeting I talked about the ACE model. Which is how I responded i said "well I have the ACE model, and then described pretty much the same as yesterdays posting." It is an area that I feel pretty well versed in, I have been hiring and firing people for ten years and at one point had 9 employees. What better way to get to know how a business than asking them what they are doing to keep their good employees.