Staples had a sale on computer remotes. Regular price $74.99, on sale for $19.99 — a $50.00 savings. I already had one, but at that price, it made sense to get a back-up.

I dropped by on the way home — unfortunately I arrived at 5 minutes past closing time. The doors were open, people were shopping and cash registers were open.

To be successful, in any business, we need to give our customers what they want, in a way that works for our business. We should focus on doing what our customers want AND what we can do well.

Then we need to do it well. In fact we should do it better than anyone else in our market. And we need to do it that way with every customer every time no exceptions and no excuses.

When I purchased my printer several years ago, I bought a three year extended warranty. Unfortunately, last week, just as I was about to print out handouts for a presentation the next day, my printer died and I found out exactly what “warranty” meant.

A while ago I wrote about a book called: “Choosing Civility”. One thing I like about the book is that it puts the responsibility for change on us, not on others, Even the title says it well. It reminds us we have the ability to choose how we act.

It seems natural customer loyalty would follow good service. If you get what you want and you are treated right, why would you not return to a business? But sometimes it’s useful to have more than an intuitive argument. So I have done a bit of research and I have found two statistics that tell me there is a clear link connecting customer service and customer loyalty.

They also suggest some substantial benefits from improving customer service.

I am continually amazed how when I ask a company to do something for me and they say yes, how satisfied I feel as a customer.

These usually are simple requests that cost the company little or nothing by granting them. For example, I rented a Zipcar yesterday and it was not in its assigned parking space. I called the company and they transferred my reservation immediately and let me take the more expensive BMW sitting there. This costs them nothing. I had rented the car for an hour and the BMW was just going to sit there non rented. In the process, they created a happy customer with an unused asset (the car).

My work focuses a little on getting new customers and a lot on getting them to come back. I believe the best marketing comes from running your business so well, people have a great experience so they come back and they tell others.

Recently, I received an email from my friends at the Village Hat Shop. In the email was a note about an article that explained search engine optimization (SEO) in terms anyone can understand. I clicked over to the article and took a look.

Most organizations say they put the customer at the center of everything they do. Experiencing the service they provide, however, quickly proves otherwise. Their processes and policies demonstrate that the focus is on their convenience, not the customer’s. We’ve all been frustrated, for example, by phone trees that say; “For sales, press 1; for reservations, press 2; for customer service, press 3.” For real customer service we shouldn’t have to press anything, we should get to talk with someone! They’ve made things more efficient for themselves, but they’re irritating customers in the process.

Recently I went to the Royal Oak Farmers Market. I was happy to see that the wonderful folks from McClure’s Pickles were there again.

A few weeks ago I tasted their fabulous pickles and bought a jar. My husband and I were overloaded with goodies and the bag that dropped right by our car was the one that contained those pickles. The jar was smashed into smithereens and we wrapped it in plastic to get it to the garbage at home. The car had the wonderful aroma of pickles but we didn’t get to eat any.

The first rule of stellar service delivery is: Service is all about expectations. You buy a product; you expect it to work the first time. You go to a discount supplier, you expect the quality to be less than the high end dealer, but you still expect what you buy to work, first time every time. When it comes to products, expectations are pretty clear.