Stress levels are off the charts. Analysis of potential business consequences based on different health, political and economic scenarios is rampant. As stock market ups and downs have proven so clearly, decisions are based on emotions—chiefly fear—and a desire to cover one’s butt financially.

Now is the time to look back to see what lies ahead. If history proves anything, it’s that we have always found a way through tribulations and returned to triumph. Those who lived through World Wars, the Great Depression, and the Spanish Flu are examples. The world ultimately returned to prosperity and a sense of well-being.

This is not rocket science. It’s survival, and we as a species do it well even though we typically shoot ourselves in the foot first.

Need a way to keep your eye on the positive while we’re enduring all this negativity?

Practice consummate customer service. In this case, customer service encompasses customers/clients, employees, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders.

It’s the mantra of this blog, and it’s more important now than ever.

A few reminders why:

It’s your edge no matter what.
To the degree you can keep stakeholders happy, loyal and productive, your business can continue forward. There’s no time like the present to redouble efforts to take care of the people who take care of you and are the reasons you are in business.

Tell your customer service stories.
Compile positive customer service stories during this time of COVID and cacophony and use a megaphone to convey them to the marketplace. One of the best ways to sell new business—both to existing and prospective buyers—as well as attract and keep good people through all levels of the organization is to “be good, then tell good.” More than ever, people are gravitating to companies that show high regard for customer service. Be one of them and make sure as many people as possible know about it.

Customer service builds business “community.”
Community support and interaction is what will sustain us through all endeavors both personal and professional. Make sure your community of people in and around your business are nurtured and valued. In the world-at-large, communities come in many forms, including family, friends, neighbors, fellowship of all types (e.g., places of worship, alumni), schools, colleagues, and other business associates. If you’re looking to big business and big government to keep your ship afloat, you may want to make sure you have a life preserver at the ready. Big success needs to correlate more than ever to the support and strength created by, within, and around communities of all sizes and shapes—including customers, employees, partners, et al.

We will endure. And, in all likelihood, we will emerge stronger, more enlightened, more empowered, healthier, and more caring than ever in all facets of our lives—from personal and business relationships and priorities to supporting the planet.

It’s just going to be messy while we work through all the obstacles now confronting us.

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As I celebrate these past 38+ years, I’m recalling lessons learned and how those lessons will impact the future. In late August 1982, I asked my boss to become my first client. I had a dog, mortgage and $600 in the bank. With his thumbs-up, a marketing education gained with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and a creative, persevering brain (thanks dad, mom and stepmom Lois), I went to the mountains the next day and sat on a lounge chair in a river reading and drinking a six-pack. The following Monday, I started Mark Lusky Communications with a commitment to provide solid customer service and high-quality writing and marketing communications.