Generally, it’s the customer who gets all the attention.
When we held our Golden Jubilee Anniversary last month, we had a wonderful celebration. One of the things we thought of first was to write a couple of hundred of our retail customers to thank them for their loyal support over the years. Without them, we said, we couldn’t possibly have become what we are; in fact, we wouldn’t even be around to celebrate those 50 years. Of course, we meant it; you know the importance of loyal friends as well as we do.
But later we got to think: what about those people who kept us supplied with quality hardware products that dealers wanted to buy and did buy time and time again? Don’t they deserve some credit, too? We’ve been buying hammers, saws, blades, wrenches and a couple of dozen other Mikkelson-brand products from you for how long—35 years? And you’ve always givens us genuine quality at a fair price, plus outstanding service. What more can a wholesaler ask from a manufacturer? Sure, we’ve had our minor squabbles from time to time, and your attitude was that the customer is always right (in our case, he often wasn’t). Whatever the problems were—I forgot—they haven’t detracted one bit from our high opinion of your company, your products, and your people.
So, on at least one occasion, I want to direct my full attention not to our important customers, but our important suppliers. Mikkelson stands very high on our list of those to whom we owe a great big thank you. Thank you!