By PAUL FATTIG

Contrary to popular belief in the world of business, the boss isn't the executive in an expensive suit, says Robert Farrell.

The boss is the one who signs the sales slip, not the one who signs the paycheck, says Farrell, founder of Farrell's Ice Cream Parlors.

"The customer is the only reason we exist," he said. "They own our business.

"Everything we do, every new concept, every technology we develop, must be directed with one objective clearly in mind: serving the customer."

Farrell was the keynote speaker Thursday at Trade Show '98 at the Medford Armory. The two-day show, sponsored by the Chamber of Medford/Jackson County, continues from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

Businesses are not in business to make money, Farrell told some 150 local business representatives attending his lecture.

"Yet so many people get greedy -- they want more money," he said. "Making money is the report card. It is not the reason for being in business.

"You are here to serve," he added. "When you do that, you make money."

Taking care of the customer should be any business's top priority, he said, adding that should be followed by taking care of employees and finally paying attention to the cash flow.

"They have to be in that order," he stressed.

The recipient of the Horatio Alger Award and his partners have opened more than 150 successful restaurants.

A dapper fellow with a white mustache and a receding white mane, Farrell said he learned long ago in New York that the customer is always right.

"I remember a young mother with a little boy who was buying him his first suit for Easter," he said. "She dragged him from one department store to another. He didn't want to go."

But the mother insisted, and eventually bought the suit, he said.

"Finally, she stopped by one last department store for a pair of gloves," he said. "She looked around for a sales clerk. There were two talking about 20 feet away. She tried to get their attention. They looked, then went back to talking.

"She went over to one and said, `Do you know who I am?"' he said. "She told him that he was there to serve her, the customer."

The little boy was a young Farrell; the woman was his mother.

"I saw my mother do that to every retailer in downtown New York City," he added. "That was the greatest lesson I ever received. I learned at an early, early age that we are in business to serve. That's what business is about."

Every major successful business he studied since his childhood has based its success on good service, he said.

He asked the audience whether anyone could remember within the past month when they received outstanding service from a business. A dozen people raised their hands.

He then asked how many within that period remember lousy service. Nearly 40 raised their hands.

"When you get good service, you accept it," he said. "But when you get bad service, you remember it."

Studies have shown that someone receiving bad service will tell at least 15 other people, he said. "The odds are against us if we don't deliver good service," he warned. "Believe me, they're judging us every day ... and they are getting tougher and tougher."

Another key to success in business is hiring good people, he said, noting his firm does it by asking questions to determine whether potential employees have integrity and the ability to laugh at themselves.

"If we can find someone with those qualities, we can train them," he said. "But those qualities have to be there."

But he also stressed it was vital to take good care of employees, noting today's short labor market.