In the business section of the Daily last week, you may have read the article on Justin Herald, a 23-year-old businessman who turned $50 into a multi-million-dollar business.

On Tuesday evening, I heard Justin’s story about how he grew his business.

He did acknowledge that he had limited business skills before he started, but one of the key elements of his success was, and is, the attitude of he and his teams to customer service.

Customer service is often quoted as a businesses point of difference from their competitors.

However, in a survey conducted by Kym Illman (author of The Future is Customer Service), it was reported that less than 2% of people could recollect an extraordinary customer service experience.

On the other hand, more than 40% had a service horror story to tell.

What formula can you and your team follow to give good customer service?

• Know what your customer needs;

• Give them exactly that;

• Then give them something extra.

Here are three simple tips your team can use to give that something extra:

1. Be “switched on” and “present” when someone (especially a customer) is talking to you.

2. When a customer asks you to do things that are outside the norm, before giving them the reasons why you can’t do it consider how you could do it.

3. If someone hands you a credit card, use the person's name. For example: "Thank you for shopping with us today, Ms Hamer." And if they have used cash, still thank them for shopping with you.

And remember, our customers can quite probably do without us, but we can’t do without them!