Most everyone knows the chorus that goes, “It is five o’clock somewhere…” While the spirits industry uses this slogan to promote the end of a workday, for others it is the looming deadline of another project that just landed on some one’s lap. I have to laugh because it seems almost every day now I receive an urgent email, phone call, text message or cell alert that someone has something that has to go out today or tonight.
This Friday was no different. At 1pm my work phone starts blinking, at 1:02pm my cell phone goes off and I am able to pick it up. Guess what? Yep, a valued client needs a retractable display and a printed graphic to go in it and it has to ship tonight out of town. Oh wow was my first response. Then I said, you have got to be kidding. Nope… not a joke… I then said … nah… I don’t think that will be possible but let me ask a few questions first. We then talked about was the art ready now?.. No … Do you have the display the graphic needs to go into?… No… When can you have the art to us?…Not totally sure… Hum.. Usually that would add up to 3 strikes and your out but not this time…
We talked about the condition of the artwork, what units I had in stock that would fit and how fast art could be delivered in a best case and worst case scenario. Through it all we found a way to get it done and shipped and somehow we made another seemingly impossible deadline.
Our business like most others has evolved immensely over the years. We used to be a print on demand company but even that is not enough any more. If we did not have the display hardware in inventory simply printing fast would not have been enough. As my favorite saying goes, “if you want to earn more, you have to do more.” We work hard to earn client’s trust and we make those investments willingly so when that “I need help fast” call comes in, we have the resources in place to assist.
It is a privilege to be work with great clients, suppliers and coworkers who regularly go above and beyond their daily work to make sure we all look good. While the tension is often hidden from view, the commitment to service is not.
