More Editorial

Editorial

by Carolyn Silberman

Everyone makes New Year's resolutions this time of year. Whether they are personal or business resolutions, they are very important to us. How many we make and how many we keep are up to us. Every year I make a personal resolution to contact old friends and acquaintances. This year I said to myself, "I only see my cousin Art once a year at someone's wedding or bar mitzvah. I really enjoy seeing him when I do, but once a year is just not enough time to catch up with one another. Too much time goes by and our kids grow up not even knowing how special their cousins are. This year will be different, because this year I will simply pick up the phone and invite them over to our home." Every year we make a similar resolution in our business practices at L.C. Clark Publishing. We make a strong commitment to maintain and increase contact with our customers. In fact, we pride ourselves on being very customer oriented. We are on the telephone every minute of the day listening and talking to customers -- both readers and advertisers. Recently, we were told we spoil our customers. Our response was, "No, we service our customers." If you take time out of your busy schedule just to listen to your customers, the customers will tell you how they feel. If you don't stop to listen or go the extra mile to make that call, they will stop telling you. I always have to laugh when I hear the story about the man who was cleaning out his closet and in the corner comes across an old shoe repair ticket. The ticket is dated and is 10 years old. Well, the guy decides to take a drive and see if Joe's Shoe Repair is still in business. Sure enough it is. The man goes in and explains how sorry he is that he had lost the ticket but would like to know if Joe still has his shoes. Joe looks in the back room for several minutes and comes back out with nothing in his hands. He asks the man, "Are they black patents with dark brown tassels?" The man replies, "Yes, those are the ones!" Joe then says, "They will be ready Tuesday." Take the time to make both personal and business resolutions -- and stick to them! It might just change the way you do business.