Creating Customer Service Stars How can you ensure employees give service with a smile?

Michael Lacey needs computer consultants with people skills as well as technical skills. "Ninety percent of the time, when a client has an issue with a consultant, it's [related to] soft skills," says the founder and CEO of St. Louis Park, Minnesota, Digineer Inc., a 53-person technology consulting firm with about $7.5 million in 2005 sales.

While it's relatively simple to determine an employee's technical skill level, Lacey, 37, finds evaluating the soft stuff more slippery.