Monday is Memorial Day and I’m thinking about Homes for Our Troops…thinking about what those words really mean. Every soldier who has ever fought for his/her nation has left home…left behind parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters and an extended family of aunts, uncles and cousins. Many of them leave behind a husband or a wife and children. While they are left at home, families think of their loved ones every day and pray for his/her safe return. And never in their lives did the word “home” have more meaning than it does to the soldier and everyone else as it does when he/she returns home again!
When soldiers are deployed, they are not only willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for their country, they are sacrificing all the comforts of home that we take for granted. Home means so much more than an address on a street or a building on the farm. Home means the warmth of a comfortable bed, the joys celebrated by a family gathering, the freedom to come and go as we please and the security of a free nation. Home is where we got our roots to give us wings; the place where we know we are loved. Coming home is like snuggling up in a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate by the fire on the coldest day of winter surrounded by people we love.
Coming Home
Now imagine how it must feel when Homes for Our Troops completes a house for a severely disabled soldier—either building their family a brand-new house or modifying their current home to accommodate them! Wow! What a joyful day! “Coming home” has a whole new meaning for those soldiers and their families.
One of the most powerful experiences many of our Signature HomeStyles Representatives have had has been to meet some of these soldiers and their families and help them to organize and beautify their new homes…to help make things handy for the soldiers and to help the family with some new decor. Even if we haven’t all been part of that process, we have contributed by encouraging our customers to donate to Homes for Our Troops with their purchase at our Shows.
So the next time you do a Show and talk about our products, be proud that you are contributing to the homecoming of a very brave soldier…a soldier who values the word “home” as much as we do at Signature HomeStyles.
May God Bless all our soldiers who have served in the past, and those who are currently serving.
We support you, we pray for you and we honor you today!
P.S. Don’t forget that May 30 is Homes for Our Troops Day! Signature HomeStyles will double its donation ($2) for all sales of our Home Photo Frames and our Signs from the Heart sets sold.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Signature HomeStyles Gets an A+
Woo Hoo! Can you hear me shout? The Better Business Bureau just informed me that Signature HomeStyles has been rated with an A+! This grading system will be available to the public from the Chicago and Northern Illinois BBB beginning June 1, 2009. The new rating system will be used by all Better Business Bureau’s in the United States and Canada.
This new rating system is calculated based on 17 different criteria, the largest of which is a company’s overall complaint history. Other factors such as type of business, size of business, annual customers and years in business also are considered. This is just one way that Signature HomeStyles is validated for “above and beyond” service to hundreds of thousands of customers over the last 38 years!
Once again, kudos to the whole team…from the staff who service our Representatives to the Representatives who service our Hosts and customers. Thanks for a job well done!
This new rating system is calculated based on 17 different criteria, the largest of which is a company’s overall complaint history. Other factors such as type of business, size of business, annual customers and years in business also are considered. This is just one way that Signature HomeStyles is validated for “above and beyond” service to hundreds of thousands of customers over the last 38 years!
Once again, kudos to the whole team…from the staff who service our Representatives to the Representatives who service our Hosts and customers. Thanks for a job well done!
Monday, May 18, 2009
The Difference in Doing it Right!
We all want to be the best that we can be 100% of the time! The reality is that we all make mistakes sometimes, never intentionally, but things just don’t always happen as planned. Recently I received an e-mail with a fantastic statistic! Signature HomeStyles’ order accuracy rate is 99.94%! Wow! Then I started thinking about the thousands of items that are shipped from our facility day-after-day and what it means to our customers and business to have such a great accuracy rate.
What Does It Mean?
It means that thousands of Hosts received their Shows and gave the orders to even more thousands of their neighbors, friends and families and they all got excited to be able to show off the new items in their homes. It was easy because everything was nicely bagged and tagged so the Host didn’t have a garage or living room full of products to sort. It was easy because the Host didn’t receive any calls that her Guests were missing items. And the Host can enjoy all her FREE products and those she purchased in her half-price shopping spree!
A happy Host will be willing to host another Show, and she will shout the praises of Signature HomeStyles at future bookings. The positive effects from doing a good job in the first place ripples a long way down the line of our customer base. So a big SHOUT OUT and THANKS to the Warehouse Team for a job well done!
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
And what about those times when there are unintentional mistakes? The true colors of an organization come through when things go wrong! How do they make it right? Whether we made a mistake or the customer just didn’t like the item they received, the Signature HomeStyles staff takes care of the customer. It’s been said that a happy customer may tell one other person about the company but an unhappy customer will tell more than 10 other people. Bad news travels faster than good news! We want the good news about Signature HomeStyles to travel so customer service is a top priority. A big SHOUT OUT and THANKS to our Customer Service Team for a job well done!
Making a Difference
Somewhere along the way I picked up the phase, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!” Why? Because doing things right does make a difference…
…A student comes home from school and drops his school papers in a basket on the kitchen counter and a mom will know exactly where to find them later. A neighbor comes to visit and admires the new grouping on the wall of the house next door and the owner is glad she hosted a Show and got her walls decorated for FREE. A grandma picks up her magazine from the basket by her chair and is delighted that her daughter gave it to her, saving her steps every day. Before her Guests arrive, a Host lights the candles at her table and admires the linens that have given new life to her antique table.
A teacher in the Midwest jumps in her car to go do a Show and is thankful that she can supplement her income and pay for her summer courses. A retiree in Canada holds Shows to pay off debt and build up her retirement account. A mom in the south watches her kids on the swings at the park and is grateful that she can be with them during the day and her business helps them to make ends meet. A family in the east has had a rough time financially and they bow their heads as they gather around the table thankful that mom works for Signature HomeStyles.
When you do things right…it DOES make a difference!
What Does It Mean?
It means that thousands of Hosts received their Shows and gave the orders to even more thousands of their neighbors, friends and families and they all got excited to be able to show off the new items in their homes. It was easy because everything was nicely bagged and tagged so the Host didn’t have a garage or living room full of products to sort. It was easy because the Host didn’t receive any calls that her Guests were missing items. And the Host can enjoy all her FREE products and those she purchased in her half-price shopping spree!
A happy Host will be willing to host another Show, and she will shout the praises of Signature HomeStyles at future bookings. The positive effects from doing a good job in the first place ripples a long way down the line of our customer base. So a big SHOUT OUT and THANKS to the Warehouse Team for a job well done!
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
And what about those times when there are unintentional mistakes? The true colors of an organization come through when things go wrong! How do they make it right? Whether we made a mistake or the customer just didn’t like the item they received, the Signature HomeStyles staff takes care of the customer. It’s been said that a happy customer may tell one other person about the company but an unhappy customer will tell more than 10 other people. Bad news travels faster than good news! We want the good news about Signature HomeStyles to travel so customer service is a top priority. A big SHOUT OUT and THANKS to our Customer Service Team for a job well done!
Making a Difference
Somewhere along the way I picked up the phase, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right!” Why? Because doing things right does make a difference…
…A student comes home from school and drops his school papers in a basket on the kitchen counter and a mom will know exactly where to find them later. A neighbor comes to visit and admires the new grouping on the wall of the house next door and the owner is glad she hosted a Show and got her walls decorated for FREE. A grandma picks up her magazine from the basket by her chair and is delighted that her daughter gave it to her, saving her steps every day. Before her Guests arrive, a Host lights the candles at her table and admires the linens that have given new life to her antique table.
A teacher in the Midwest jumps in her car to go do a Show and is thankful that she can supplement her income and pay for her summer courses. A retiree in Canada holds Shows to pay off debt and build up her retirement account. A mom in the south watches her kids on the swings at the park and is grateful that she can be with them during the day and her business helps them to make ends meet. A family in the east has had a rough time financially and they bow their heads as they gather around the table thankful that mom works for Signature HomeStyles.
When you do things right…it DOES make a difference!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Storm Stories
Last week powerful storms came through the Chicagoland area…strong winds, loud rumblings of thunder and majestic flashes of lightning! At home I listened to the storm, the rushing wind and loud cracks of thunder. I watched my whole backyard light up from the frequent bolts of lightning. Storms can be frightening to all of us, but especially to our children. Storms also can be inspiring.Thunder…And Popcorn!
When the kids were small and we would have a regular thunderstorm, I started the habit of going out on the front porch. Our front porch was long and wide with a couple of chairs and a table. I would cuddle them in my lap and we would count the seconds between the lightning strike and the sound of the thunder. It was a habit my father had taught me to determine how close the storm is, because each second calculated as a mile.
The front yard and the other houses in the neighborhood would light up, we’d start counting, and we’d sit quietly awaiting the clap of thunder. Lightning and thunder became sights and sounds to celebrate. And the best part was that I would always pop popcorn! What might have been a time of great fear became a time to get close, celebrate and eat popcorn! Our venture to the porch always ended with the refreshing smell that penetrates the senses after the rain…and an empty bowl of popcorn! And still today, when we hear a thunderstorm approaching, we crave popcorn!
Weathering the Storm
Sometimes we feel that our lives are in the midst of a storm. The winds of change have affected us with rumblings of doubt in the future. These storms can either paralyze us with fear or inspire us with hope. Similarly to counting the seconds between the lightning and thunder, we can be inspired when we count the blessings in our lives.
“The Weather Channel” has a series called “Storm Stories” that shows the affects of powerful storms around the world. Every successful entrepreneur I’ve ever met, heard speak, or read about has their own “storm story,” a story of overcoming obstacles and climbing the ladder of success. Their “storms” become our inspiration. Behind every successful Signature HomeStyles achiever there is a “‘storm story,” a story of challenges overcome with positive actions and perseverance.
Just as God created the awe of a thunderstorm, He has given us the power to adapt to change, take action and create our own future. After all, it takes the sunshine and the rain to make a rainbow!
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