This week I read with interests on another photographer's site their opinions of what Nikon should do this coming year. It was written as kind of a New Years resolution--"Nikon resolves to treat people nicer..." It was quite an enlightening read. Actually, I was very interested especially since this particular photographer has a very pragmatic approach towards the future and knows what photographers need after years of being a nature photography professional . So, I read it and found most of the suggestions spot on. Okay, I didn't agree with all his statements but my disagreement weren't of substance. I thought more about the article I just read and realized few if any websites of any repute spend any of their web resources giving suggestions to the future of their favorite photography company. I think I've read only one other photographer post an "open letter" to Company X as a means to tell them what the company needs to do. I have no idea why so many shrink from those kinds of editorials because I'm sure they would be read by the companies. Well, I'm going to throw my hat into the ring for many reasons. First opinion is because I love telling others what I think and second my thoughts need to be heard.

While there is little if any official representation from our favorite camera companies on our favorite camera forums, I suspect they're viewed every now and then as a means to find out what the masses want. It takes a very unique personality to post on the web and unfortunately the thoughts expressed are not necessarily representative of the greater whole. So, anyone viewing these pages would get a skewed view of the world. In fact, if you were Nikon you might be tempted to give up the business based on comments from all the doomsayers that post on the web. There has to be other form to get the message across. As a result, I'm using my website as another vehicle for the off-chance a Nikon notable might be reading it. Maybe, just maybe someone at Nikon would read what I have to say to get an idea of which direction they should go to "get the job done".

Here we go... First, I'm talking about "getting the job done" verses making anyone happy with the situation. There's a saying out there that goes something like this "if you can't tell if you're doing is good or not, one way to tell is look around and see how everyone thinks you're doing. If everyone is upset, you must be doing good". Here's the deal. It is impossible to make everyone happy. It's just simply not possible. You have to make several choices to determine if what you're doing is good for everyone or for a more focused group. Since it's extremely difficult to be everything to everyone, my suggestion is to focus on your mission statement and fulfill the guidance it's supposed to give you. If your mission statement doesn't meet your vision, then the mission statement needs to be adjusted. Hopefully, the Nikon mission statement says something about satisfied customers. Being a retail company, having satisfied customers may be the most important thing you can have. In fact, you can't buy enough satisfied customers with today's skeptical/knowlegable/savy customers. You can only get them by just doing "right" by them.

Do right by your customers

How do we do that? You have the best darn customer service in the world. The companies I interact with that give their customers the highest service are the companies I keep going back to. For example, I recently purchased an office desk for my wife that unfortunately was damaged in transit. The desk was huge and knowing how other companies worked, I knew sending it back was going to be difficult and painful. I immediately got on the phone to customer service--note, I wasn't talking to someone across the world and I didn't have to wade through ten thousand options to get to a voice. The voice took my complaint and simply said; "...just wrap up the box as best as you can. I'll arrange for overnight pickup of the damaged product. And, we'll send you a replacement right now." I was flabbergasted. This was just about as painless as possible. The article was damaged in transit yet the company was taking full responsibility for customer satisfaction by making sure I was getting a replacement as soon as possible. Not only that, I essentially wasn't being held responsible for returning the damaged article. With me, I hold companies with excellent customer service in high esteem. Since there are so many choices out there, I will go the extra mile--maybe even spend a couple extra dollars--to do business with a company that treats me like a real, valued person.

Do not confuse your customers

With so many advances in technology and the high cost of staying on the competitive edge, many buyers of your equipment are on the margin financially. I'd say none of your customers have unlimited budgets and many must forecast how expenditures will result in increased revenue. If you do planning right you do the following:

• develop a vision.
• figure out the resouces to make the vision happen.
• assess the potential revenue increase when pursuing that vision
• compare revenue increase to the resources planned to be expended.
• modify the plan as required and start again