Restoring our nation’s cemeteries and preserving the stories they tell about our history and genealogy are high priorities for our client, the Daughters of the American Revolution. We honor that commitment in the January/February 2013 issue of American Spirit as we highlight historic cemeteries of various sizes, many of them once ravaged by time, natural elements and neglect, that have been rehabilitated by dedicated volunteers.

To commemorate February’s Black History Month, the issue also examines unsung African-Americans, both slaves and freemen, who contributed to the Revolutionary cause. One story is especially dramatic: In the weeks leading up to the climactic battle at Yorktown, Va., General George Washington received a steady stream of crucial intelligence from a highly placed spy who worked for Washington’s foe, Lord Cornwallis. That Washington had a double agent literally within the British commander’s tent is remarkable in itself. What is even more remarkable is that the spy was a Virginia slave named James Armistead, whose dangerous duty would eventually earn him his freedom.

And February 14 is on our minds as we remember Esther Howland, a Mayflower descendant who was known as the mother of the American valentine.

Our client, the Marine Corps League, brought a long-cherished dream to larger-than-life reality in November with the dedication of a bronze statue of the late USMC Lt. Col. Chesty Puller at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Eight feet tall and standing atop granite pedestal, “the Marine’s Marine,” the most-decorated Marine in history, looks out over acres of parking toward the Museum entrance, his right arm extended and pointing to the treasure trove of Leatherneck legacy.

The League has long dreamed of honoring Puller in this fashion. It launched a campaign to sell commemorative bricks to underwrite the cost. In 2012, the League hired famed sculptor Terry Jones to design and cast the monument. It was installed in October and commemorated on Nov. 12, just two days after the Corps’ 237th Birthday.

The January-Fedruary issue of Semper Fi, the Magazine of the Marine Corps League, which we assist the League in publishing, covers the dedication in depth.

The issue also reports on the Corps’ role in U.S. Special Operations, and on a wide-ranging educational program intended to give both enlisted Marines and officers greater professional skills for both war and peacetime operations.

Companies that earn the loyalty of customers are those that treat sales transactions as part of an ongoing journey, not as the finish line. Such companies focus on relationships that go beyond selling and focus on adding value to the products and services they offer their customers.

As part of a series of blog posts we call Customer Media Basics, here are six things almost any business or organization, large or small, can start doing that will help turn customer transactions into long-term customer relationships:

1. Create better instructions and user manuals.

After investing so much in product development, marketing and sales, many companies — even ones selling us expensive products like TVs and cars — ignore the importance of the first message customers experience after they take ownership of the product. Even if you’re in a professional or business-to-business marketplace, the communication materials developed for the “on-boarding” period of any new product or service will set the tone and expectations for all that comes after that. When you treat such media as an afterthought, you’re communicating to the customer that you valued them more before the sale than after.