A customer called. They had to mail 100,000 letters in two days, by law. Their mailing house was able to get the letters printed (personalized) and stuffed in time but the envelopes they had in stock had my customers first class mail permit. Since these could mail with a presort standard permit, the postage savings would be huge. They asked if we could somehow produce 100,000 envelopes with their presort standard permit so their mailing facility could get the letters out in time.
 
It’s pretty darn hard to produce 100,000 envelopes in two days, especially when your production schedule is full.
 
After a few phone calls, we performed our first miracle of the year for this customer and will have the 100,000 envelopes produced and delivered on time, saving them over $10,000 in postage.
 
Not bad!
 
That’s what we do.

Businesses are always touting they have great customer service and if we were to put all of those touts in a basket, it would be quite a large basket.  Yet, proving that a business truly values its customers is another story indeed.

It’s not often that a business or even a business owner receives a whole lot of recognition from a customer, let alone be presented with an award.  But in this case, the “proof is in the pudding.”

Alan Chait, former owner of Greenway Print Solutions, has always prided himself on customer service and it was the primary reason he left the printing corporate world as an employee to start his own business.  He believed he could offer his customers a lot more, not just with a vast array of affordable, quality products, but with superior customer service.  To prove it, the story goes:

” Last week I had an appointment with my largest customer, a $200 million company, to review some business forms we are working on.  The meeting was supposed to be in their North conference room, but when I arrived nobody was there.  Suddenly one of the managers showed up to tell me they had moved the meeting to a conference room in the back and he took me there.  In the room were about 200 people, seated and listening to two of the top executives talk about how to use some of the forms I designed for them.  In the back was the CEO who, when he saw me, told me to sit down.  I told him I’d just wait outside until they were done, but he insisted that I sit and watch the class.”

“The CEO suddenly got up, stopped the meeting and told everyone that they had decided to award their Vendor Partners who have been responsible for their success.  Of the 10 or so vendors, they voted on who should get the first award, which was me.  I had to get up in front of all these people and listen to all the wonderful things that I’ve done for them, my dedication and hard work.  Being a little bit of an introvert the “ambush” was an overwhelming surprise and I am very proud to get the award.  (Ironically, I was working on pricing out acrylic awards for them to give to their employees, or so I thought.  It turns out I’ll be printing my own award.)”

The award shows that the foundations that I built Greenway Print Solutions on 30 years ago is alive and well.