Reader question:

Please explain this sentence, particularly “to-do list”: “This book is a best seller, another to-do list item for next year.”

My comments:

Ever heard of New Year’s resolutions?

December. It’s that time of year, when people begin to compile a list of things they’ll do in the New Year, i.e. next year, 2017.

New Year’s resolutions are so-called because it’s a list of things (items) you RESOLUTELY promise yourself that you will accomplish.

New Year’s resolutions are a form of to-do list.

Literally, a to-do list is a list of items you are going TO DO. It’s as simple as that.

Similarly, we have a wish list (of things we WISH to do) and also, say, a task list (of things we say we MUST do).

On the wish list, for example, we may declare that we want to visit 100 countries in the world. Put that on the bucket list – a list of things we want to do before we die – because that’s a big wish, something, in fact, unlikely to happen. On the task list for tomorrow, on the other hand, if one says they must see the doctor in the morning at 9:30, the appointed time, then it is something that’s probably going to happen.

Anyways, a to-do list is just a list of things you say you’re going to do some time in future. In our example, reading the said best seller is in the plan. Some time next year, the speaker will hopefully find the time to read it.

Whether that’s actually going to happen, though, is anyone’s guess, because, you see, getting something done and planning to get something done are not the same.

All right, here are examples of to-do lists in the media:

1. Uptown police greeted a major takedown of two Harlem youth crews early Wednesday with applause, but maintained attacking quality-of-life offenses is still on the top of their to-do list.

Hours after helmet-clad NYPD Gang Unit investigators flooded the Grant and Manhattanville Houses, arresting more than 100 suspected hoodlums on conspiracy charges, cops insisted that Harlem and Washington Heights are as safe as they have been in decades.

Violent crimes north of 59th St. in Manhattan dropped 6% in 2014, compared to the same period in 2013, according to NYPD data. The murder count has remained flat — tallying seven so far this year, the same amount noted through the first five months of 2013. The area also counted 28 shooting victims — a 12% reduction from the period in 2013.

“Precinct commanders’ concerns have more to do with quality-of-life issues than there used to be,” said one high-ranking Manhattan police source. “It used to be murders and robberies.”

Cops these days spend more of their time tracking down identity thieves, nabbing reckless cyclists and motorists, and telling rowdy residents to quiet down.

“Noise is a hard problem to control,” a second police source said.

There hasn’t been a murder in the 34th Precinct, encompassing Washington Heights and Inwood, so far this year, according to NYPD data.

“We are seeing more people hit by cars than bullets,” said another police source. “Still, it’s a life lost. We have to pay attention.”

- Cops say noise, quality-of-life complaints take more of their time than violent crime, NYDailyNews.com, June 4, 2014.

2. What happens when you lose a customer? If you think you can just ramp up lead generation to compensate, you may want to reconsider. According to research by client engagement tool CLIENTpulse, it costs five times less to keep an existing customer than it does to gain a new one.

The CLIENTpulse survey found that 90 percent of customers who leave a business never return, which is pretty bad news for businesses who take the “we’ll just get new customers” approach. On the other hand, customer loyalty grows by 30 percent if a client’s problems with your company are resolved, so it makes a whole lot of sense to put customer retention on the top of your priority list.

The problem is, by the time your customers voice a complaint about your company, they may already be thinking about leaving your business for a competitor. Scott Stratten, co-author of “UnSelling: The New Customer Experience” (Wiley, 2014), said that one of the most common reasons for customer losses is that companies treat the consumer as an afterthought once they’ve made the sale.

“As businesses, we tend to court new customers with feverish enthusiasm, but once we get the client, we’re off to chase for the next, new one,” Stratten said. “We ignore customer service, treating it as overhead and inconvenience. In doing so, we contradict the well-known fact that the best form of new-business acquisition is referrals from happy, current customers.”

Instead of treating customer relationship maintenance as another to-do list item, David Niu, founder and CEO of CLIENTpulse’s parent company TINYhr, advised keeping tabs on customer satisfaction by collecting feedback regularly, and really taking the time to analyze and learn from it.

“One question we ask on a consistent basis is, ‘How likely are you to refer us to a friend or colleague?’” Niu told Business News Daily. “Over time, if a client rates [this question] a 9, [and] then it becomes 8, 7, etc., something is [not right] in his or her mind. You need to talk to them immediately. When they tell us reasons why they're not happy, we have a blueprint to make them more satisfied.”

- Want to Keep Your Customers? Be Proactive, BusinessNewsDaily.com, October 27, 2014.

3. Drivers using five bridges in Englewood should expect delays soon as work begins around the city.

The city council approved a contract for $196,400 for the firm ABCO Contracting to do work on the Broadway bridges over Big Dry Creek and Little Dry Creek, the Logan Street bridge over Little Dry Creek, the Union Avenue bridge over the South Platte River and the Windermere Street bridge over Big Dry Creek.

“The scope of work is different on each bridge,” said Paul Weller, public works engineer. “The repair projects vary from installing guardrails on the Windermere bridge to sandblasting and painting some of the bridges.”

Weller said the money for the projects was allocated in the 2016 public improvement budget.

“These are projects that have been on the to-do list for a long time and were identified by state bridge inspectors,” he said. “The bridges are all safe to use but these are projects that need to be done. Fortunately, this year the money was in the budget to award the contract for the work.”

Plans are to begin the repair work in January with the goal of completing all five projects by May.

- Council approves bridge repairs, EnglewoodHerald.net, December 10, 2016.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：張欣 編輯：丹妮）