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Finding new customers is an expensive business which is why it pays to invest in hanging onto your existing clients. Good service can also give small companies a lead over their bigger rivals. Great service can do wonders for your business.

Talk to your customers

Research shows that businesses spend six times as much on recruiting a new customer as they do on retaining an existing one. Every business - no matter how small - should have a strategy for dealing with customers. Listening to customers can help in all areas of your business from developing new products to finding out more about your competitors.

• Decide how and when to communicate with customers - by newsletter, telephone, e-mail or questionnaire, at point of sale or delivery, or as a post-sale follow-up;
• Encourage staff to record feedback from customers;
• Keep talking to your customers - their opinions will alter over time;
• Tell customers of any important changes that will affect them. If you warn them of a possible problem in advance they will be able to adapt more easily.

According to the Government's Small Business Service some of the things customers find most annoying include:

• Talking to a recorded telephone message, being held in a queue or paying premium rates for advice;
• Having their consumer rights ignored - such as being refused a refund for faulty goods;
• Bureaucracy;
• Rude or over-friendly staff - both are equally irritating;
• Staff who refuse to tell you their name;
• Broken promises;
• Inflexible delivery times.

Let staff take control

Have a measurable standard of service and make sure that staff work towards it. Invest in training so that everyone is aware of the importance of customer care. Remind staff to put themselves in the customer's shoes: would you like someone you've just met to call you by your first name, how would you feel if your order went missing?