2009 will bring me my second decade with my husband. I am so lucky to have spent close to 20 years with my very best friend and most days I wake up with a smile on my face just knowing I get to spend another minute with him and all that he offers to my life ... and then there are the other days.

Now I don't have many complaints but just like any relationship there are things that get on your nerves. There are good times and there are bad times but you get through them and so it is with our customers.

Do your customers occasionally take you for granted? Yes, but do you forget to cheer every time they enter the room? Yes we all forget and so this is the time to get back on track.

As I was thinking back on Valentine days of the past with my guy I remembered the first heart-day we spent together in college when he convinced a friend of his to walk behind him with a boom box that played a mushy 80's song while he busted into my class and offered flowers and candy on bended knee in front of everyone (oh how I loved seeing the green-with-envy look on that snobby girl that sat next to me). I must admit that was a day for romance and young love. This year however I will be lucky if I get a "oh yeah it's valentines day isn't it?" from him.

Now I am not really complaining about this because I understand you could not keep the mad cap pace of such sappy behavior for 20 years and quite frankly it would probably become annoying if he busted into client meetings and conference calls all the time just to profess his love.

And there is something so grand to be said for the comfortable habits you find with someone over the years who knows you so well that all you have to do is scrunch your nose a certain way and he knows you need tea or who brings you your slippers because he knows your toes get cold if it drops below 60 degrees.

Yes, that first year was a wonderful memory but I love what I have now thank you very much. And your customers appreciate it when you treat them with that comfort level only time can blossom.

But keep in mind that your customers that have been with you for years still need the love and attention you gave them in the beginning in order to woo them.

Mix that in with the comfortable slippers and you will keep 'em forever.

I got a cat.

Talk about spending your time with someone who clearly does not want you around. This animal's sole job was to convince me how I was not necessary in her daily existence. By the way, I apologize in advance to any cat owners for this entire paragraph. I'm simply venting. My cat didn't come when she was called, and she looked at me with disdain when I dared to suggest she play with the mountain of toys I purchased instead of ripping through an entire roll of toilet paper in one sitting. She was like an unruly teenager. Once, I think I actually saw her roll her eyes at me. In fact, the only thing she ever really did as a token of goodwill toward me was to urinate on everything that belonged to my husband, while leaving my belongings permanently unmarked.

Later when I got a dog I realized instantly how it felt to be appreciated. This escapade through my "feline phase" helped me discover the difference between feeling wanted and feeling unnecessary.

Customers are the same. They want to feel wanted.

I don't know about you but I would rather go into a business owned by a dog than a cat.

Think about it.

A dog would rush up to you with a welcoming tail wag, bright eyes and a big grin.

A cat, if she even turned around at all, would look at you like you were interrupting her precious day.

A dog would accept MasterCard, VISA, and American Express.

A cat would accept cash only.

A dog would offer free gift-wrapping.

A cat would shred the gift.

Aside from the incessant drooling and leg humping I think buying a product from a dog would be a great customer service experience.

As I sit here working on my newsletter and my blog I am watching the news, and scene after scene is about how the weather is driving people from their homes and their businesses. Because we had fires all summer the rain brings mudslides. Then we start with the flooding and the collapsed roofs. It occurred to me as I sat here though that this has been a year of "when it rains, it pours".

The economy, the Ponzi schemes, the bankruptcies and the bailouts. It seems like the hits just keep on coming. And yet I am optimistic for the new year. I believe that we can get through this tough time with our heads held high and we will come out the other side stronger and wiser. And we will do it together.

I am watching neighbors helping neighbors on the news packing sandbags to save homes. Rescue workers volunteering to help children escape a school that flooded and humane societies taking in the animals that get displaced during the chaos.

Acting as a team we will get through this rain and the economy and everything else. So get with your team and get ready... we have some rain to get through.

Allow me to explain by giving you a list of the things that my dog has taught me and see if you can find a direct parallel to your customer service.

Loyalty is everything

Empathy matters so always look at the situation from the other point of view

Naps are good for you

Watch your step when walking through uncharted territory

Say nice things to tender souls

Work as a team

A small treat goes a long way

Stay consistent

You can't always communicate with words so work on your actions

Every pack needs a leader

And a squeaky toy just makes you smile!

Now see how many of these things can change the way you look at your customers.

It starts with loyalty which is crucial when you are looking to build a consistent customer base who believe in you and are loyal to you. In order to achieve this loyalty though you must show it to them first by keeping your prices reasonable and remembering your regulars. It is also important to see things from your customers point of view before you pass judgment on a situation. (I am sure Cali would have appreciated this had I listened to her side of the story of how the 1 pound box of chocolates disappeared from under the Christmas tree). Always remember that kind words go a long way when talking to tender souls and working as a team will get you a lot farther than working on a job by yourself. Simple treats show your appreciation to your staff and make a big difference to those around you. Being consistent will show your customers that you are set on a system so they will always know what to expect from you and your business. Actions speak louder than words and your employees are looking for a leader so be the pack leader everyday.

Last but not least when all else fails a fun toy lightens the mood and makes everyone smile.

Now this is just my list. I am sure you have a few of your own that you could add based on what you have learned from the dog in your life. I would love to hear them. Of course right now I have to go walk the princess and then run out to purchase the most expensive dog food on the shelves because after all I am here to take care of her and make her happy... hmmm ... just like my customer.

While the manager was ringing me up he began a conversation with one of his employees about products that needed ordering. I patiently waited while he explained what he needed but as soon as he turned to the register to start the charge the employee asked him a follow-up question. The manager then stopped my sale to answer the question. Again I waited. He started again to ring up my sandwich. Then he remembered something he wanted to tell the employee about the products so he stopped again to have a conversation that did not include me. Now I was annoyed. I asked the manager behind the counter if he could complete my transaction and then have the "crucial product discussion" with his employee after I paid and left. He was stunned (perhaps becasue it forced him to notice I was actually in the room) and took my money for the sandwaich. Needless to say that is the very last time I will go there for lunch.

What struck me was that he was completely content to ignore me throughout the entire process in order to get back to what he thought was the important part of his business. What he did not realize was that I was his first and only priority and had he actually SEEN me he would have remembered this.

So just a reminder that if you talk to your co-workers while ringing up a customer you are ignoring the most important part of your job. If you find yourself clicking away on the computer keyboard loud enough for your customers to hear you while you talk to them on the phone you might as well hang up on them because the message is the same. And if you stop making eye contact with them you are telling your customer they are invisible.

And of course there is an obsession that follows an aficionado like him and that is the obsession to find the best donut.

This has taken us to many a bakery in the wee morning hours (not to mention some late night car trips) in search of a doughy delight.

So you can imagine his excitement when last week a friend of ours announced they had found the best donut place in our town. Of course it took us barely 24 hours to stop and taste for ourselves.

Now here is where some magic happened and it had nothing to do with yeast and sugar.

When we went inside the tiny establishment my husband announced that we had arrived on a recommendation and were eager to try his donuts. After we selected our usuals(probably way more than our daily allotment of sugary goodness) the man behind the counter advised that he had thrown in some donut holes free of charge so that we could taste them. Then he urged us to come back and let him know what we thought of his donuts and if they truly were the best in town.

Simple, Simple, Simple.

It is so easy to wow customers.

He knew we were potential long term customers. He saw that we came all the way to his shop based on a friends words and he noticed that we bought several of his donuts. So he jumped on the chance to wow us and give us a reason to return.

Now honestly how much money did he lose on those donut holes? Probably pennies. But how much did he gain? A ton.

I probably should mention that his donuts were INCREDIBLE. My husband is very picky and he loved the apple fritter even stating that is was the best one around. But that almost did not matter by then. Even if his donuts had not been the best. Lets say his donuts were the same as the other 12 shops along the road. This owner got it and he knew how to impress his customers. He wanted us to return and he showed us with his actions and his words.

That is where we want to spend our money.

And now, there is no place to hide Mr. apple fritter because here we come!

In fact they were offering me movies that were 2 years old and not only that but they played the same old movies over and over again all weekend. But why? Why go to the trouble to get me there to show me what they sell and then offer less than your best?

It made me wonder if I do that in business and in my life. I try to give my all in everything I do. Whether it is in my home or in my business. Take for example the BootCamp WEBiNAR I am doing each week for free. I am not charging a penny but I do want to show my potential customers what I can give them should they decide to become my customer so I am putting my best out there for everyone to see.

But why doesn't every business take something like a free preview weekend to get me in the door and wow me? Over and over I am sent coupons in the mail to try a free product and then when I get to the business I don't receive the best service because, after all, I am only a 'coupon customer'. Once when I visited a new coffee house to redeem my free cup of coffee offer and the clerk didn't offer me a lid I was told that the free coffee did not come with lids but that I could purchase one if I wanted. That is crazy! They had the opportunity to wow me and they blew it. They got me all the way down to their business to show me how their customers are treated and then they showed me EXACTLY how their customers are treated.

So I find myself flipping through the channels again knowing for certain that I would never purchase the channels based on what I have seen during my free weekend.

Anything you give away for free in your business should be a glowing example of what you are selling so that your customers will know what they will receive on the next visit.

And when we travel we need to sleep.

Now I know that there are some that shudder at the site of us walking into a lobby with our big pawed friend. She has received smiles and sideways glances from all ends of the price spectrum from the 4 Seasons to some fairly scary holes-in-the-walls. There are also many hotels that do not accept pets and that is ok because I want to talk now to the hotels that say they do accept pets.

If you say you do than you have to do it right.

Over the weekend we traveled down to Long Beach for a quick overnight stay. I called ahead to find a hotel that accepted my girl. When I found one I made a reservation and asked for a bottom floor to make it easier for those k-9 nocturnal outings.

Now I am not that picky when it comes to my hotel choices because I know that when you travel with a dog it can be slim pickins but what I do expect is to be offered the basics. By that I mean just give me what makes sense.

When I arrived for my room they had placed me on the 12th floor. I mentioned that when I made my reservation I had asked for a bottom floor. The manager told me that they did not have any of their "dog" floors available and that the only floor they set aside for dogs was the second floor anyway.

The 12th floor was ridiculous but even the 2nd floor was downright silly. Why would a hotel that would like to please their pet friendly customers make it so difficult for us to have a pleasant experience?

I often look at the policies put in place in all different sorts of businesses and wonder if the people who created the policies had ever actually gone through the motions of the exercise.

For example if any of the hotel managers had ever been awoken in the middle of the night by their cuddly pooch who insisted on going out for a potty break they would never have insisted that we be put on the 12th or even the 2nd floor.

Anyone who has ever owned a dog that is in her senior years would know that it is painful to walk up and down stairs (not to mention noisy for the bottom floors) as all 4 legs move clumsily up the steps.

And certainly dog people are aware that dogs hear everything and therefore your best luck for keeping everyone in the hotel happy is not to place the dog in the center of the hotel but on an edge where they are the least intrusive.

So my question is this: Are the people making these policies dog owners? If not do they consult a dog owner to ask for some tips?

My advice is to make sure that your policies not only benefit the customer but that you also are making sure the policy makes sense so that you truly are offering the best service you can.

After offering up his paperwork to the lady behind the window he was asked to wait with the rest of eager hopefuls for the filled container of relief.

A few minutes into his wait the lady behind the counter apparently encountered a spelling error and asked her co-worker to help her. "How do you spell diarrhea?" she asked loud enough for everyone to hear including my mortified friend. Unfortunately her co-worker did not hear her. "What?" she responded. "How do you spell diarrhea?" she repeated louder so that now everyone in the pharmacy was alerted to the issue at hand. "I don't know" she responded.

"Does anyone know how to spell diarrhea" she bellowed out to the snickering helpless customers who secretly no doubt were all wondering to whom this spelling bee was meat for.

And with that my friend was forced to announce to the room (by way of being the only one who could spell it) that he was the one suffering from the hard-to-spell affliction.

Now sure, we all go through gastrointestinal worries in our life so I get that it is normal and accepted. But is it so widely accepted that if we go to a place of business they will not observe the customary niceties?

I do believe that customer service is real people giving real service but we must draw the line somewhere and make sure we are still offering it in a professional manner.

I just hope that when it comes time for me to get my medicine the ladies at the pharmacy learn that when offering extraordinary service rule number one is making your customer feel comfortable and welcome.

On second thought maybe we should spell it out for them ...

Ok last week my husband and I took a trip to Seattle to visit family and the drive to the airport was one of the worst car experiences of my life.

First of all it was one of the hottest days in Southern California history (a record high of 113 degrees) as we dove through Los Angeles. It was this day that our car decided to create havoc under the hood in the way of overheating. That meant no air conditioning as we inched our way down the freeway. And when I say inched I mean inched. A drive that should have taken 90 minutes took us 4 hours. We arrived literally within minutes of our departure and ended our nightmare by running through the airport to our gate.

Now here is the part where customer service saved me.

After this long, sweaty drive that seemed to take forever I thought I would never get comfortable again. Then I met Noelle.

Noelle was our stewardess on JetBlue airlines and she took a miserable day and turned it around in an instant with a smile.

The minute we sat in our seats she offered us her kindness (not to mention some really yummy snacks) and changed our day for the better.

Thats all it takes. A kind smile. A positive attitude. A friendly demeanor and she changed our whole day around and made us feel welcome.

Thanks to Noelle for making the whole experience end on a positive note.

You know it only takes one employee to change a life!

Yes that is the point of coupons. For me to use them, save money and then come back.

Sometimes as businesses we forget that we put systems in place to encourage our customers to spend with us.

Now compare this to an experience my cohost had just last week while stopping by his favorite donut shop. He asked the kid behind the counter why the signature sign was not on out front letting customers know about the fresh hot donuts that were ready for consumption. "Well" replied the employee "whenever I put on the sign so many customers come in that it gets crazy in here so I don't use it" Um ... wow.

As she gave me my money back for the item I noticed that she had refunded me too much money. So I once again entered the den of despair to let her know. Once again no smile. No thank you. Nothing.

So I ask again: When did I become the enemy?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Please email me at wendy@extraordinarycustomerservice.com

I tried to fight it.

But I knew technology would soon invite me to join in on the future. So here I am writing my blog.

You see I love to write articles, converse on my radio show and even talk in front of hundreds of people during my seminars but for some reason I resisted the notion of a blog because I thought the medium was not for me. But now that I am here I must say; I am hooked! So get ready to be bombarded with my concerns about customer service, my nominations for the business "big dogs" and even my current complaints. I have pulled out my virtual soap box to give you my thoughts on customer service. I will bring you current events in the news as it pertains to your customers and give you my ideas on how you can change your life and your business through a different philosophy that centers around service.

So here it goes.

What happened to customer service? There was a time when you could not walk into a business without being bathed in courtesy. There was a time when employees went out of their way to make you feel welcome and wanted. I have seen evidence of it in movies so I know it wasn't that long ago. But somewhere along the way our society decided that it was unnecessary to focus on the customer and offer extraordinary service.

Last week I was looking for a gift for someone which caused me to go from store to store while on the search. It is amazing how jaded you can become about customer service when you see it up close and personal like that in a concentrated way. This shopping spree reminded me how depressing it can be to spend time in a business. I came home feeling unwelcome and unwanted. Several places I entered never even gave me a hello. One employee in particular spent the entire time on the telephone with her boyfriend and then there was the place that made me leave because I was carrying a cup of coffee... with a lid. But really how hard would it have been to simply show me some kindness. Pay attention to me when I walk in the door. And maybe, just maybe allow me to walk around the store with my coffee without making me feel like a criminal. When did we decide customer service was not needed?

Well I am here to tell you that the companies that remember the importance of service are the ones who will win the almighty dollar.

Today while I was searching the internet for the newest information I came across this interesting article regarding some advice from the Better Business Bureau on the importance of customer service. Check it out.

http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080518/BUSINESS/805180315/1046

With a Smile,

Wendy Gillett www.ExtraordinaryCustomerService.com