Always give your customer a little more

How many times do we see new endeavors, be it a restaurant, an airlines, a dry cleaners, or a service business, that start off with a big bang in delivery of goods and services only to fall miserably behind as time goes by. A new restaurant, for example, cannot do enough to please their customers, their food is fresh, their service is timely, their surrondings are spotless, and their waitpeople (don't you just hate that word and all it connotes?) just gush with friendliness and turn back-flips to please the customer. The food is always fresh and crisp, arranged meticulously on your plate, portions are impressive, etc. But then go back in a couple of months and the place is filthy, the waitpeople surly, the food stale, the lettuce brown and wilted. And don't even THINK of going into the bathroom! And the even sadder thing is that many reading this will say, "Well, so what's new? That's just the way it is now, get with the new worldly ways!" It's a shame the younger generation has never experienced real customer service people,CLEAN bathrooms, COURTEOUS salespeople, and even quiet, smooth-riding automobiles. They know things as they are today and not how they were in a previous generation.

That's one reason so many small businesses fail -- they cannot deliver the goods on a long-term basis whether it's service or a resale business. They get tired very quickly of the effort required, their customers turn away, the business goes under, and then they eventually think of some other way to make a few quick bucks and the cycle starts anew. In the meantime, their old customers happen upon another new business and rave about it to all their friends and THAT cycle starts anew. Entrepreneurs today think that once they get the business started, they can just sit back and watch the money roll in without any further real effort from them. They don't understand that their work has just begun.

And while we are speaking of customer service or customer relations, did you ever notice two things?

First, the clerk you are having a problem with is invariably named Stephanie, Jennifer (not Jenni), Crystal, Tiffany, or Seychelle.... or Somesuch.

Second, how on earth do desk clerks at a decent hotel learn to be so snooty? You would think they are the queen's child and you are applying to stay in their home at no charge. They don't have a clue as to the difference between efficiency and pomposity and arrogance and, as we say at home, snootiness! You're a desk clerk not the keeper of the queen's palace for goodness sakes!

Don't take my word for it. Just pay attention.