Steve Marr.org

I have advised many pastors to develop a personal website. Many are reluctant to take this step because they believe this separates the pastor from the church.  A pastor may give 40 to 100 sermons a year if they preach an evening service. That’s a lot of content over ten, twenty, or thirty years.

I have written often about how new forms of media are pushing out older forms. Now, Nielsen will alter their method of rating TV viewership. The firm will launch a system to measure viewers who use iPads and broadband.

When thousands of passengers on the Carnival Cruise ship Triumph were stranded after an engine fire disabled the ship, the story filled the news for days.  This situation is an excellent example of trade-offs. Passengers get a nice vacation package with good food, service, and ship activities at a low price. However, the trade-off is that the cruise ship industry is not covered by most U.S. regulations. Carnival passengers who complained that the ship did not meet U.S. standards need to think through what it would cost to make that happen.

“Tom” owned a local store selling printer cartridges and posted a sign announcing that he was going out of the business. The owner blamed a slow economy. Maybe; maybe not.

I purchased around $600 of cartridges over the past year. On two occasions, I stopped by before closing time to find a note posted: “Closed early.  Sorry.” Since I needed the cartridge I drove to Office Depot, another ten minutes away.  In each instance, Tom’s store lost a $50 sale.

Then, I experienced another issue with the store. I needed a cartridge, but it was out of stock. The owner promised to have one by the next day. I stopped by the next day, and no cartridge.  He promised to have one by the next day. Again, there were no cartridges when I returned. Again, Tom promised to make sure to have one in stock that he would hold for me.  I returned a third time a few days later.  He told me that he was sorry, but he sold the cartridge.  However, he told me that he could order another.  I’m sure he could have, but I drove back to Office Depot that day and in the future.   If others experienced my frustration, he went out of business due to poor service and not a poor economy.

Jesus taught, “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning.” (Luke 12:35, NIV)  We need to be ready to meet our customers’ needs and keep our promises to them.

Subscribe to the free Business Proverbs e-mail here: http://bit.ly/ncixc1

Often we hold the position that some people are leaders and others are not. My view is that everybody is a leader in something. A mom and dad lead their children. An hourly worker, who is very good on the job, becomes a leader to other workers. Even when we invite someone to church or a ball game, it’s a form of leadership.