Drive down any street; on both sides are businesses competing for your
dollars. They have their beckoning signs, their displayed inventories, their
trained employees, their promotional strategies all focused on luring the
customer and making the sale. If they fail to capture sufficient customer
interest and enough dollars, the business dies.

Whenever customers or clients come, they have one overriding unstated
concern: MAKE ME GLAD I CAME HERE. Every employee in that
business should strive to figure out how to accomplish that. It is their
primary job function, no matter what the job description says.

In a restaurant, for instance, the food should be at least adequate in
taste and appearance; the mood should be comfortable, clean and
inviting; the service should be prompt, efficient and performed with
thoughtful concern. The ideal is acheved when every part of the dining
experience matches (or exceeds) the customer’s expectations. When
it works, the person with the money is glad to be paying for what he
gets. If there are any surprises, they had better be good ones.

If you want to stay in business the corollary rule is: WHATEVER YOU
DO, DON’T MAKE ME SORRY I CAME HERE. You don’t just lose a
customer, you make an enemy—and they can do you business
untold damage.

Anyone who runs any kind of business, or provides any kind of service,
or works for someone who does (even the government) ignores this
advice at their peril.

       Dr. Lynella Grant is an expert on the signals that make up the body
       language of a business. Author of The Business Card Book and
       Stop Looking Like Small Potatoes    http://www.giantpotatoes.com
       Off the Page Press (719) 395-9450