For business owners and entrepreneurs the only way to inexpensively compete with larger firms who have unlimited marketing money is through a Service Strategy. Very few firms deliver superior service but almost all business owners think their level of customer service is awesome. In the US and UK customer service is more of a myth.

I wrote the world's first customer service training program and released it in 1980. The level of customer service is not much better today but there is a lot more lip service.

These are the steps I think you need to master if you want to crush your competition, grow fast, make a ton of money and separate yourself from your competition with a brand built around customer service. It is all based on word of mouth advertising and customer retention.

1. Understand this is a strategy. I encourage everyone in London to open an account at Metro Bank. It is opening up this month. The first bank on the high street in over 100 years. Will go from zero to 21 billion pounds in 10 years. The founder is Vernon Hill from the US. He will prove that the customer experience is a powerful strategy.

All employees need to be trained on the art of customer service with a new program every 4-6 months

2. Make it easy for customers to do business with you. Eliminate stupid policies and procedures. Do you have bankers hours? Are you coping other large firms? Do you have voice mail? Are you open 7 days a week? Metro Bank is open 7 days a week from 8 AM - 8 PM 7 days a week. They will open 10 minutes early and close 10 minutes late. If someone calls your business 2 minutes before opening or after closing what happens? Will a live person answer the phone in one or two rings 24 hours a day?

3. Be more careful about who you hire. Avoid hiring employees who hate customers. Service leaders hire one our of 50. How selective are you?

4. Are your employees empowered to make fast decisions on the spot to satisfy customers? Can and will they bend the rules to have an over happy customers? It almost takes two miracles to get an employee to make an empowered decision to save a customer.

5. All employees need to be trained on the art of customer service with a new program every 4-6 months. It is crazy to think one program will change an employees attitude and make him perfect. It is no more realistic to assume that one TV commercial is all you need to drive customers to your business. There is no educational institution in the world that teaches your employees the art of customer service. You did not graduate from college by taking one course.

6. Measure the impact. Sales, profits and market share will improve if you follow these steps. Follow Metro Bank. This will be the most customer driven company in the UK and they measure the impact of an awesome customer experience. Their slogan is Love Your Bank at Last.

The strength of Service Quality Institute is we have over 20 leading edge customer service training programs you can use to drive a service culture at your organization. Our technology is not expensive. Designed to be used and facilitated at each of your locations. Our products change attitudes and behaviors, teach the skills of customer service and improve employee morale and teamwork. Spend some time on our web site to review each product.

For more information please visit www.customer-service.com