There’s a lot more to customer service than simply having a sign on your wall that says: "The customer is always right". For any business to be truly customer-focused, everyone from front-line staff to the chief executive should strive to meet and exceed service standards.

You may offer a quality, well-priced product, but if a customer receives inferior service before, during or after the sale, future sales may be lost. Providing superior customer service in today's competitive marketplace is crucial. Quite simply, customers are your business and lost sales through poor service means you will lose money.

Long-term business success isn't just a matter of having the best products or the biggest advertising budget. It boils down to customer satisfaction. Satisfied customers are motivated to return and buy again from the same business more often.

Aim to make good service part of your business culture. Targets for service delivery and customer satisfaction should be included in the business plan and in employee job descriptions. Encourage employees to understand it's the customers who ultimately pay their wages.

Customer complaints should also be welcomed. Customer feedback can help refine and improve products, services and all the operations of a business. If you think implementing customer service is too costly or time-consuming, think again. It doesn't have to be. Walk in to any large bookshop and you will find a selection of practical 'how-to' guides on customer service that you can implement easily. Business Enterprise Centres also have resources and short courses to help you improve customer service.

Implementing customer service in your business can be relatively simple and cost effective.

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There really is no secret to business success.

Customers, and customer service. Both go hand-in-hand, and both are essential to the success of your business. Unfortunately, our research has shown us that many small businesses still see customer service as being too hard, too expensive and a luxury only the bigger end of town can afford. To help change these perceptions, we have released The customer service guide booklet.

The Guide helps take some of the hard work out of providing good customer service by turning best practice customer service theory into easy-to-follow actions. It provides practical and affordable solutions for all businesses regardless of how big they are or what they do.

So that’s it, no tricks or magic formulas, just practical advice and common business wisdom that will keep customers happy and your business healthy.

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