NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS

Many of us think of the dawn of new year as a time to make resolutions to better ourselves personally or mentally. We might resolve to lose weight (that never works) or to be more positive.

But how many of us resolve to take a look at our business — at the way we treat customers, co-workers and employees?

There are many opportunities to try to improve our business. There are numerous books written on the topic each year. Our changes don’t have to be drastic. Even small changes can have huge impacts on who we are as an organization.

For example, are your mechanics trained as well as they can be? How about a commitment to make sure that all of your technicians have had initial training on the aircraft model(s) on which they work? For those who have received initial training, how about sending them for advanced troubleshooting or other courses that can make them more efficient at their jobs?

How about trying to achieve a higher level of customer service by providing customer service training or establishing programs that use questionnaires to determine the clients’ levels of satisfaction after a job?

Many maintenance organizations are forced into budget cuts so that they can maintain a certain level of profitability (or a less-expensive cost center). How about taking that a step further? How about reducing wasteful spending so that you can increase the salary of individuals who have worked hard and deserve it? Resolve to be the organization with the highest-paid maintenance staff and be proud of it.

These are only a few ideas.

So some of you might be thinking, “You can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?” You bet! Here at D.O.M.magazine, we have decided to make a new year’s business resolution. We are re-committing to serve our readers the best we can (which is the reason we launched the magazine in the first place).

There is a saying that I’ve adopted over the years that is the basis for how a magazine should be run – “By serving our readers first, we serve our advertisers best.”

What that means to our readers is we will maintain and continue to enforce our “no fluff” policy. If the editorial doesn’t meet the criteria that it serves our readers first, it won’t run. Sure, our advertisers can put what they want (stories about their company) on their purchased ad pages, but if it’s an editorial page, we will be diligent in providing only meaningful editorial that you can use to perform your job better.

And as always, we will not share your contact or subscription information. Some other publications have chosen to sell their readers’ information to make extra money, but D.O.M.magazine WILL NOT sell your information. Believe me, we have had many opportunities. We know that you get too much junk mail these days and we don’t want to be a contributor to an overloaded inbox.

We have heard your feedback. You tell us that we are on the right track with D.O.M.magazine. We will make every effort to continue providing you the best editorial from the best aircraft management publication in the industry!

As always, we are open to any thoughts you have about how we can continue to improve D.O.M.magazine.

Happy new year!