Staying in touch is usually on everyone’s priority list at this time of year; people send holiday greetings to each other, often including a letter about the year’s events.

This month’s cover story is like that. To give our readers a perspective on the events in the nail industry this past year, we got in touch with a number of sources. Their viewpoints combine in a year-end review depicting a prosperous 1987 and predicting encouraging possibilities for 1988.

Tying in with the cover story’s survey are several articles emphasizing the importance of staying in touch with clients and the community ... through surveys.

An article by Peter Grimes outlines techniques for conducting market surveys, and is followed by a specific example — a survey by Mark Schaefer, designed to compare natural nail care salons with those offering acrylic services.

One notable conclusion of Mr. Schaefer’s survey is that the most important salon attributes are those involving direct social interaction between customers and manicurists.

Meanwhile, Bill West wrote about effective communicating, reflecting the same principles, with suggestions on how to evaluate and improve interpersonal communication.

Staying in touch and communicating with your clientele should be a salon priority — just as staying in touch with the nail industry and our readers is a priority for NAILS Magazine, as we extend our warmest holiday greetings and best wishes for a prosperous New Year to all of you.

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