Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/958935
4 UCW MARCH 28-APRIL 3, 2018 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM BILL BOWMAN, Publisher, UP & COMING WEEKLY. COMMENTS? BILL@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200. PUBLISHER'S PEN STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER/ EDITOR Stephanie Crider editor@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Leslie Pyo leslie@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR REPORTER Jeff Thompson news@upandcomingweekly.com SENIOR SPORTS EDITOR Earl Vaughan Jr. GRAPHIC DESIGNER Elizabeth Long art@upandcomingweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS D.G. Martin, Pitt Dickey, Margaret Dickson, John Hood, Jim Jones, Shanessa Fenner, Jason Brady, Lauren Vanderveen, Matthew Skipper, Shane Wilson SALES ADMINISTRATOR/ DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Laurel Handforth laurel@upandcomingweekly.com MARKETING/SALES Linda McAlister Brown linda@upandcomingweekly.com ––––––––––– Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: (910) 484-6200 FAX: (910) 484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Up & Coming Weekly is published weekly on Wednesdays. Up & Coming Weekly wel- comes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. ©2018 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Cover art/Various ads with art graphics designed with various elements from: vecteezy.com and freep- ik. com. My wife came home from one of her fun shopping excursions a couple weeks ago. Except this one really wasn't much fun. She was frustrated. It seems her very fa- vorite store, Belk's, which used to provide friendly, helpful and courteous service, has morphed into a hollow catacomb of apathy. Imagine, a retail company that depends on selling merchandise with no one present to answer questions, no one available to assist you and no one around to sell you anything. We hear constantly that the internet is destroying brick-and-mortar busi- nesses. I believe that – but only the ones that don't provide excellent and genuine customer service. e term "good customer service" has almost become cliché in a world where almost anything and everything can be acquired online, void of any personal contact. It's convenient and hassle-free without any pre-conceived expectation of service or human interaction. Order any- thing and it is conveniently delivered to your door. A car, your next meal, custom- fitted clothing, auto parts, dentures, flowers, sporting goods, printed materials, wine – the list is endless. is being the world we live in, if you are a business owner or have entrepre- neurial aspirations, you must come to understand, respect and master the major defining factor for success ... good customer service. It is a simple concept so easy to implement yet so easily ignored, underemployed and misunderstood. So, why write about it? Because it de- fines us. A few weeks ago, I rejoiced at the fact that the Applebee's on Raeford Road closed. For nearly two years it provided Fayetteville with the worst customer ser- vice experience ever – despite elaborate, fun-filled, appetizing TV commercials. Why should I care? Why should we all care? Poor customer service has a nega- tive effect on all those who experience it. For years, this Applebee's has defined our community in the most horrendous and un-complimentary way. If Applebee's had been a privately-owned restaurant, it would have been out of business in two months, not two years. Customer service is the lifeblood and major economic driver of a successful business. Yet it is too often ignored, and locally, dozens and dozens of business owners are struggling to survive and stay open when all they have to do is focus on and provide good customer service. Unfortunately, many of them instead search for a quick fix or some magic for- mula or silver bullet that will make them profitable and successful overnight. Some spend thousands of dollars in advertising, marketing and ill-fated promotions in a desperate attempt to prop up their busi- ness. If they focused first on providing the best customer care possible, those other efforts might actually produce some results. is holds true with organizations and even governments. Just think how smoothly government would run if leaders focused on customer service and making policies and procedures less complicated, allowing bureaucrats to make decisions that put the clients first and foremost. Fayetteville is a growing community and a wonderful town where Southern traditions and a Southern way of life prevail. Service and Southern hospital- ity should always be at the top of our agenda. is is the surest, easiest and least expensive way to guarantee success and prosperity while defining our com- munity's true friendly spirit. ank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Customer service: Fayetteville's defining factor by BILL BOWMAN HIGH 77 HIGH 69 HIGH 69 HIGH 75 HIGH 74 MARCH 29 MARCH 30 MARCH 31 APRIL 1 APRIL 2 APRIL 3 Partly Cloudy Scattered Thunderstorms Partly Cloudy Mostly Sunny Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy LOW 53 LOW 49 LOW 55 LOW 44 LOW 55 It's Warming Up! LOW 63 HIGH 83 Fayetteville is a growing community and a wonderful town where Southern traditions and a Southern way of life prevail. Service and Southern hospitality should always be at the top of our agenda. Photo by rawpixel.com on Unsplash.