" When partners trust that you have the capability and commitment to help build their success, they will commit to doing the same for you, and profits will soar."

-- Frederick Reichheld  Loyalty Rules! How Today's Leaders Build Lasting Relationships

Here are some simple ways to build an effective customer-service strategy:

• Set Goals:  Customer Relationship begins with understanding the differences between customer satisfaction, loyalty and relationship management. Here are two great resources on what's worked for others in the industry:

  The Loyalty Payoff, Edward J. Marino, NAPL Pub #NP383

  Understanding Customers, Cary Sherburne, NAPL Pub #NP359

  Both are availabe at the NAPL store for $39.95 at www.napl.org/store

  NAPL members receive an automatic $5 discount.

• Benchmark:  How do you rate with customers?  Here's the best way to find out:

  The NAPL Competitiveness eKG™. Not just a satisfaction survey, but a competitive tool to measure how customers perceive you, your competition and how you're doing on what's most important to them. It can help you identify immediate, easy, and low-cost steps to increase the "value gap" between you and your competitors. For more information on how eKG can help strengthen your competitive positioning and profitability, contact NAPL President & CEO Joseph P. Truncale at 800.642.6275, ext. 6310, or jtruncale@napl.org.

• Create an Action Plan:  Following an eKG survey, you'll get a report detailing where your organization crushes or falls short of the competition. This becomes your action plan for what to do first and foremost. There is no templated plan. Just the one for you. Here's what we do know:  There is a direct correlation between report findings and operating profits. Those printing companies that provide value in the minds of their customers and improve satisfaction based on defined areas of need, drive profits upwards by up to 5 points in a year!

• Measure: Customer loyalty is built over time. Measure and measure again. Make changes and see if those changes mattered. Commit to an annual customer relationship review and get your pulse checked regularly to make sure your employees are in tune with what the marketplace truly values.

Are your customers giving you Rave reviews? Then, take the next step:

Gain a Competitive Distinction with the

NAPL eKG RAVE Awards  

NAPL has established the eKG RAVE Awards to recognize those printing and graphic communications companies with superior customer relationships based on their performance in the Quality Competitive Index (QCI). Determined by the results of an NAPL Competitiveness eKG, the QCI is a comprehensive indicator of how a company is perceived by its customers compared to its competition.

Congratulations to this year's winners:  Morrison Communications, Morristown, Tenn.; Neyenesch Printers, San Diego, Calif.; and Wordsprint, Wytheville, Va.  For more information on these great companies, see the press release.

Being identified as an eKG RAVE Award winner will help companies distinguish themselves in the marketplace by identifying them as a company truly focused on the needs and objectives of its clients. For information, contact Joseph P. Truncale, NAPL president and CEO, at 800.642.6275, ext. 6310, or jtruncale@napl.org.

NAPL eKG RAVE Awards are sponsored by .