By: Heather Diodati, DDesign You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as bylines are included. A courtesy copy of your publication would be appreciated

I admit it! Sometimes I'm overwhelmed by seemingly endless streams of paperwork. Emails I want to keep, Ezines or sections of them, ideas I found on Internet, school papers, notes of ideas that popped into my head as I was waiting to have a tooth filled, newspaper clippings ... EEEK! I would file and file and file and then forgot where that article was that I needed to complete project that was due last Thursday!

I have been an avid list-maker all my life out of necessity, juggling a 9 to 5 work life, family time, a home business and taking care of two houses; as well as having a number of hobbies such as cartooning and fine art, clothing design and creation, crafts and ballroom dancing (at one point in my life even being a competitive ballroom dancer for 5 years as well as an assistant disk jockey for parties). (no stress!)

For all of you super-busy people I have put together some handy hints on getting your life in order and keeping your sanity.

1) Notables: Keep a small notebook and pen handy, wherever you are, to jot down ideas or appointments or things to do instead of trying to remember them later on.

2) Telephonery: Set a time limit to each phone call and make sure you tell your caller. That way you save yourself stress of trying to end phone call and it also helps caller to condense information they want you to hear.

3) In Waiting Use waiting time at dentist, meeting with your boss or while waiting on your roast to cook to catch up on reading or planning, or use time to tidy up, filing or other tasks.

4) Help Wanted: Be sure to offer praise to a subordinate, co- worker or to a member of family for any effort you've noticed - they'll be happy to help you when you're bogged down.

Do you know one thing that can make or break your business faster than anything else?

If you said Customer Service - give yourself a prize.

For past 15 years, my job has been customer service oriented. Let me tell you that it's number one thing on your customers mind.

Customers know whether or not they can trust you simply by way you service them, and usually on small issues. Let's face it, handling big problems for your customers will always make you try harder. After all, if it's a big problem you know full well that they'll be watching closely.

But it's those tiny little every day service issues that can jump up and bite you if you're not careful. Those are ones we tend to pay less attention to, which subsequently fall through cracks.

Another tell-tale of kind of service you provide is what you do when something DOES fall through cracks. How do you handle it? Do you try to hide it? Are you up front with your customers?

There are some basic "rules", if you will, when it comes to handling mistakes or mis-steps.

1- Always be honest. Remember that if you are exposed as a liar, chances are you'll lose your customer along with your reputation.

2- Offer a concession of some kind right on spot. This is important. It has been proven that customers are very likely to stay with your services if you compensate them satisfactorily for your mistakes. What it costs you to do this pales in comparison to losing their business altogether.

3- Follow up. After you have worked through your mistake with your customer, make sure you follow up to make sure they are happy. It's important you give them that "warm, fuzzy feeling" about your company.

In my years as a customer service rep., I have built many relation- ships both on a business level AND a personal level. This is essential as well. Let's face it - if you had to choose between a service rep that is all business and one who takes time to get to know you, (assuming that they are equal in all other aspects) who would you call?

Your customers should know you by name. They should know some personal tidbits of information about you, like whether you're married, how many kids, etc. And you should know some about them as well.

In my business, I know a little something about all of my customer contacts.

- John and his wife just had their second child. - Val has just defeated cancer. - Raj is under allot of pressure from his bosses. - Jim and his wife are having serious problems.

I lend them my ear when it's needed. I give them sympathy or a pat on back or encouragement - whatever they need. They know they can TRUST me.