A perennial political issue, and one that has become even more of a hot button this year in the run-up to the midterm elections in the midst of a tough economy, is the extent to which government creates the conditions for business growth.

I found what amounts to an underreported story about how government is inadvertently helping to improve sales in one particular industry: headsets, a $2 billion market as of 2007, when we wrote our Success Story on Winning Workplaces Best Boss Mike Faith of Headsets.com.

How is government helping the headsets industry?  According to the Governors Highway Safety Association, currently 9 states including the District of Columbia prohibit drivers from using handheld cell phones while driving.  As more states put hands-free driving laws on the books, companies like Headsets.com benefit – not to mention general electronic retailers large and small.

Faith – who will speak at our October 27-29 event with Inc. Magazine in Denver – said as much in a recent article in The Baltimore Sun (Maryland's hands-free driving law just took effect October 1): "Whenever there's a [hands-free] cell phone law passed, we see quite a spike in business in that state immediately before and then a continued uptick in business afterwards as people get pulled over," he told the newspaper.

While more new customers are a great thing, especially in this economy, it's what you do with them that can make the biggest impact on long-term revenue potential and business sustainability.  Using a solid foundation of employee engagement best practices, Faith built a highly successful enterprise channeling them into his philosophy of "Customer Love" well before rampant cell phone driving necessitated state action for public safety.

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