As a small business owner, how much money do you spend to get a new customer?   How much do you spend retaining that client? If you are like many small business owners, you think marketing ends when you close the sale, but it doesn’t!  How you treat a client after they become a client may have the greatest impact on your business, not just because of the lifetime value of that customer, but all the potential clients they may or may not send your way!

Over the last 18 months I have written about customer service a few times, usually when I am annoyed at a particular company, occasionally when I am delighted with their service.   This is the new reality, your clients have always talked about your service, across a kitchen table, over a cup of coffee.  Today with the internet, it is easier to tell more people, faster what kind of service you provide.

So who do you want to be? Disount Tire or HP?