For most of the last century, consumers believed what a company said in its advertisements. A business might hire an advertising agency on Madison Avenue (ala “Mad Men”) to come up with a slick slogan delivered by a celebrity in order to influence what the customer would buy.

The Internet has allowed society to move from this one way medium to a more conversational one. It is not surprising that 97% of customers review products online before buying. But, what may be a surprise is the exact information they are researching. Consumers are not only looking at the latest features, prices and availability. They want to know what other consumers are saying about the product and the company. Today, these reviews have a higher level of credibility than any company directed advertising and most directly influence what the consumer eventually buys. 92% of consumers say they trust “earned media” (word-of-mouth and recommendations from friends and family) above all other forms of advertising.

This peer review system has become familiar for anyone using sites such as Yahoo! Local, Amazon, eBay, Trip Advisor or Yelp. Consumers value the “human voice” more than any corporate messaging. In addition, Yahoo! search engine results about a particular company or product never fade; they can be found forever!

These days, the immediate electronic delivery of products and fast worldwide shipments of goods makes most products commodities since they are available across vast geographies. Price competition has become intense. This presents a huge challenge for most small business owners as they now have to compete to make a profit against the entire world. As a result, the only truly sustainable competitive advantage for any small business is their customer service. 70% of customers are willing to spend more with companies that provide excellent customer service. It has become their most powerful marketing tool.

Make no mistake. Consumers are talking online about your business. The familiar statistic was that an unhappy customer would tell 7 people. Now through social media and online review sites, they can tell 7 million people!  But a small business owner can use this to their advantage to boost their customer service by following these 4 steps:

Read the remainder of this article at Yahoo! Small Business Advisor.

1. Whatever it takes, even if they have to wax your leg. I had landed in a Prickly Pear Cactus bush on my mountain bike ride. After our guide, Connor applied first aid at the scene (which consists of trying to pick out the thorns one by one), the staff took me to the spa. Between her appointments (and at no charge), Kim waxed parts of my left leg to get all of the thorns out! 

2. The best guest experience by everyone. When I went by a maintenance person that was trimming the grass, he smiled at me, turned off his machine until I had passed by him so I would not have to hear the noise close up.

3. Accept responsibility. During a lecture, when Junelle thought the room was too warm, she tried to adjust the thermostat. She did not complain about the building engineer or blame them. She apologized and worked on resolving the situation. 

4. It’s all about you. Unlike at other resorts where the guests have to fit into rules, Miraval makes it all about you. When I went on a  hiking trip, the guides, Eileen and Matt ensured that I went at a pace which was challenging yet enjoyable for me (and didn’t impact the rest of the group).

Customer service is whatever a customer says at each moment of interaction. Miraval practices what it preaches: mindful customer service.

When I was sitting in a strategy session with one of my clients last week, a strange word came up on their list of beliefs: Showing hospitality to their customers. The word “hospitality” seemed misplaced in a paragraph of  company goals and mission statements.  However, the more I thought about it, the more I knew this client got it right.

Liz Strauss, one of the most influential bloggers on the web, says that “You are only a stranger once” and talks about all the things that she learned from her father, the bootlegger and saloon owner.  She also got it right too.

Serving the customer and making them feel satisfied is so much like  receiving “guests and strangers in a warm, friendly, generous way.”  However, we often overlook the role that hospitality plays when a customer visits our office, factory or when we travel with a them on the road.  It’s not about taking customers out to expensive dinners or buying them fancy gifts.  It’s about focusing on them and making them feel welcome.

Hospitality also means slowing down to connect. We are all in such a rush (including me) to accomplish so much today, this morning, this hour, and this minute, that when we do finally interact with our customers, we do not slow down to truly connect with them to form a trustful and long lasting relationship that can only be good for our business.

How do you show hospitality to your customers?

Want to take the next challenge?  How do you show hospitality to your employees everyday?

On the Business Insanity Talk Radio Show on Friday, I spoke with Doug Meyer, Chief Customer Officer at Sage North America, a leading supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized organizations.

1. What goes wrong in customer service from mission statement to execution?

2. Why it’s not about customer service but rather the customer experience.

3. How to get the basics right consistently through training and feedback.

4. Why you can’t be shielded from the customer.

I was remote in Seattle, so the audio quality is not up to the usual crystal clear standards but well worth a listen. Listen now!

I was stuck by the what ITMI taught their graduates and how every small business could utilize these:

1. Listen. They need to listen to their clients on tour, we need to listen to our customers to find out how we can solve their pain.

2. Share. They need to share their stories while touring. We need to share our experiences to others through social media to see how we can help and learn from others.

3. Change the transaction. They need to make it about the experience not the money. We need to make it about value and results.

4. Present Options. They need to always find what the touring client wants to do. We need to give our customers alternative solutions to their issues.

5. Agree on a Solution. They need to agree with their touring clients so they are satisfied on site. We need to agree on a solution with our customer so we can move forward with them.

Ever felt like a tour guide?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Check out Chris Brogan’s video review of my new book, BAM! See my favorite part of the review.

BTW, many people freaked out that Chris was driving and reviewing. Here is the making of the BAM! Video

“ almost every comment presumed I was soon to kill every other person on the road, I thought I’d show you how I shot it. Still, was it safe? I’ve probably done safer things than shoot a video while driving, but hopefully, you’ll get a better sense of what I saw and what controls I had while shooting it. If you’re still not pleased, it’s okay. I do lots of things you don’t like. I just don’t usually film them.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I spoke with Guy at Blogworld , he talked about that customer service is the best defense against competiton even though its not sexy. Since business is all about word of mouth- what do you talk about? You bet, customer service!

You need to fire a customer when:

We are no longer helping them.
The customer is disregarding our advice.
The customer is not willing or able to pay a price that we can live with to make a profit.
The customer has asked us to do something illegal or unethical.
The customer has behaved inappropriately toward us or one of our employees.

How to fire a customer:

If the customer has behaved unethically, or illegally, seek the advice legal or HR advice.
Revisit the economic value of the customer.
If you wish to keep the customer, it is time to have a face-to-face discussion with them to set new boundaries.
If the customer is not one that you would want to keep, create a plan to terminate.

The termination plan should include:

Do not permit any personal discussion about the former customers.
Identify a series of prospects that can replace the problem customer.
Begin to phase the “fired” customer out of your business when you get these additional clients
Show the problem clients other “options for their needs”
Set an internal date at which you will no longer be doing business with the problem customer.

 Say it with me- Yes you can fire a customer. Have you ever fired a customer?

Without stealing the thunder from my new book, BAM!, here are 3 no cost or low cost things we can you unforgettable to your customers that work every time (and these are not in the book):

1. Keep your business open 5 minutes later than the posted time. When a customer rushing to call or visit arrives a few minutes late, they will be forever grateful that you are still there to help them. I arrived at Citibank today a few minutes after 5:00 and the person at the door still let me in! Bing! Who expects that from a bank?

2. Call them by name in the conversation multiple times or if you are in a retail environment at checkout, look at their credit card and thank them by name. This often happens to me at Whole Foods. It is said frequently that people like nothing better than hearing their name.

3. If people must wait for your service, make it fun to wait. How many times have you been given free food or drink while waiting for a table at a restaurant. Not enough times! But the times where they gave out free samples or had entertainment while you waited in line, were unforgettable.

What makes you unforgettable?

Many of us pay for software over the web which is really a one year subscription. When we click that little box where we agree to the terms of the subscription without reading it, many times we are agreeing to an automatic renewal of the service the following year….and for the company to charge their credit card again. This happens more than you think.

I recently got an email from Symantec (for the the anti virus program) telling me they had authomatically renewed my subscription for this year for $75. This seemed high to me so I called their support number. It seems that they automatically renewed me for their top of the line product.

The support center did refund the charge and I renewed at the base product and for less money (although I probably could have done it cheaper by buying a new copy and getting a rebate).

Check your credit card statements. Many times we get renewed for things we do not want or no longer need. Also, sometimes, you can actually get a lower price by letter a software expire and buying an entire new copy (special offers to new customers) than just renewing. This is a terrible practice that I discuss in my new book, BAM! on customer service.

Have you checked your auto renewals? What have you found?