At Your Service Make customers your number-one priority, and they'll keep coming back for more.

(YoungBiz.com) - Your keen advertising techniques arebringing customers through your doors. Now it's up to you tokeep them coming back.

Whether your business offers a product or a service, there willalways be one constant factor that makes or breaks your bottomline: your customers. Offering those little extras now can mean abig payoff down the road.

The key to good service is the Golden Rule: Treat customers theway you would want to be treated. A friendly hello when they walkin the door or an offer to help them find what they are looking forare great ways to start, but people can get that most anywhere. Youneed to make a habit of putting customers at the top of yourpriority list and showing them in every way how much you appreciatetheir business.

There are plenty of ways to keep customers on your good side.Here are a few:

• When you are at work, you are working. Do not have personalconversations with friends in the store or on the phone. All yourattention should be focused on the people buying from you.
• If you are performing a service or ordering something for acustomer, get all the details in writing--their name, address,phone number and all the details of their order. That way, there isalways a written record in the event something goes wrong.
• If something does go wrong, offer to fix the problemimmediately: Give a price reduction, offer an alternative or offera refund. On that note, be sure to have a clear, upfront exchangeor return policy.
• If your customer needs your product or service by a certainday, set your own internal deadline a few days earlier. That way,you are sure to have it ready on time. And if it is ready early,call the customer and let him or her know. He or she will be morethan happy to get it sooner rather than later.
• Be friendly and helpful, but not overbearing. Just make surethe customer knows you are there for anything he or she needs.
• If you employ others, make sure they know your customer servicepolicies inside and out and can treat customers with the same highlevel of courtesy that you do.

Research has shown that when someone has a bad experience at aplace of business, they are much more likely to tell a lot ofpeople about it and aren't likely to return. On average, peopledon't spread the word about good, everyday service, but whenthey receive excellent service, they will tell everyone they knowabout it. Hint: Good word-of-mouth means free advertising!

It Pays to BeDifferent
There's a recipe for success, and Naveen Jain, 21, owner andCEO of Sparkart, a Web/print design and development companybased in Novato, California, would be quick to tell you thatthere's more to it than just a great product. It's alsoabout customer service, something this booming company is dedicatedto. "All our customers have direct access to me; the buckstops here," Jain says. "I'm available 24 hours a dayby cell phone.

"Being available is the best customer service anyone cangive. We're there to help them and take care of their concernsin a timely matter. And that's been our philosophy since dayone."

Sparkart offers unique extras to boot. The company offers an"extranet," which is a password-protected site where eachclient can access previews of their designs and give feedback."If a client sends a suggestion through the extranet, we canrevise their design within 24 hours," says Jain."It's an interactive experience."

Here are a few more added bonuses that will keep them comingback:

• Have them fill out comment cards and place them in a monthlydrawing for a product or discount. (You're not only making themhappy, but also getting important feedback.)
• Give a discount for every three people they refer to yourbusiness.
• Have customers sign up on a mailing list so you can send outnotices of specials or coupons.
• Offer frequent-buyer cards. For example: for every six carwashes, they get one free, or for every $300 they spend with you,they get a $15 gift certificate or credit.

Try out some of these tips and techniques, and in no time youwill have customers driving across town or surfing the Internet toget to you. And don't be surprised if you find that some arewilling to pay more for such great service!