Give your customers a good experience each time they deal with you

A consistently good experience

It's important your customers can rely on getting a good experience each and every time they deal with you. If the quality is variable they will gradually stop coming back, even if they like you.

Stand out in the marketplace

How many businesses do you deal with, on either a personal or work basis, that stand out from the crowd? Not many, I'll bet. And what's your reaction when you do come across one of these gems? You can't stop talking about it, telling people how amazing it is, and you go out of your way to use it as often as possible. You can probably achieve a level of success by being mediocre, but where's the fun in that? Why be indistinguishable from the crowd when with a little extra effort you can stand out?

The fact is that you don't actually have to do a lot to be special. To quote Woody Allen, '80% of success is showing up' and in some trades that is enough to put you head and shoulders above the competition. Emma's husband is a plumber and sometimes she gets phone calls from customers after he has called on them: 'People are quite surprised when my husband turns up when we say he will. They say ''Your husband's just been'' and I say ''Yes, that's right, you were booked in for today'' and they're just amazed.'

Under-promise and over-deliver

The importance of this was brought home to me when I bought a book from Amazon. They give you an estimated delivery date and so you mentally prepare to wait until then – but then the book turned up several days before. Result – one delighted customer. This is so easy to do that it's hard to believe that so many businesses get it wrong. If your customer wants something and you know it will take a while, resist the impulse to initially please them by giving an over-optimistic completion date. Make sure you over-estimate the time instead, so that when you deliver 'early' the customer is thrilled and amazed by your efficiency.

Do what you claim to do

What is important is the customer's perception of you, and they will judge you on what you do, not what you say. You may espouse certain values and beliefs and yet fail to convey them to your customer or to act in accordance with them. What you think about your service and the way you deliver it is irrelevant – it is the feeling you create when your customer deals with you that matters. If they are left with a negative feeling it is unlikely they will return.

Deal with complaints

We are only human, and from time to time errors and oversights inevitably occur, so don't be horrified if you get a complaint. What counts is how you respond, not the fact there has been a complaint. In fact a complaint is an opportunity to strengthen your relationship with that person or organisation, just as you may have noticed that conflict, as long as it is followed by resolution, makes you closer to your friends.

Occasionally when I was running my cleaning business, I'd get a call from a client complaining that a bin hadn't been emptied the previous evening. Hardly a life-ordeath situation and one which could be rectified at the next clean, but I always made a point of driving round to the office as soon as possible and emptying it myself, to show my clients that their needs were important to me and I would act promptly on their requests.

Not all complaints are so easily rectified and sometimes the event that gave rise to it has already occurred and cannot be changed. In that case, ask the client 'What can I do to make it up to you?' or 'How can I restore your faith in me?' They might come up with something quite surprising but do whatever they suggest (within reason, of course). They will be so delighted at your response that the complaint will be forgotten.

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