4 Someone to know their name - A persons name is one of sweetest sounds they'll ever hear. If you use a customers name when you talk to them, it indicates that you recognise them as and individual. Don't use it too often as it can become irritating, but definitely at start and end of a conversation.

5 Flexibility - Customers hate to hear word "No" or "it can't be done." It's not always possible to say "Yes" to a customer or do exactly what they want; however, it is important to be as flexible as you can. Tell customers what you can do not what you can't.

6 Recovery - When things go wrong, customers want you to solve their problems quickly. They don't want to hear excuses or who's to blame or why it happened, they just want it fixed fast. Customers will often judge quality of your service by way you recover. They will even forgive your mistakes if you recover well.

Say, for example, you served a meal that wasn't cooked properly or wasn't hot enough. You would need to apologise, assure customer it will be fixed and then do it quickly. Then tell customer that they won't be charged for main course or give them some wine or a free desert. Then, when that customer talks about your restaurant, they'll tell people - "There was a small problem initially but when I pointed it out, they really moved themselves and they couldn't have been more apologetic."

Don't be afraid when something does go wrong; it's often a great opportunity to show customers just how great your service really is.

Overall, customers just want to feel good. They want to feel better after they've dealt with you or anyone in your business, than they did before. If you can create that feeling, then you're well on way to - giving customers what they REALLY want

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k) Structure and goals. Many creative people object to structure and goals - they argue they interfere with thought processes and originality; there is a very fine line between structure and conformity. But structure and goals help set boundaries of a problem and produce more output that when an individual is simply allowed to "do their best." How many people have a half finished novel or screenplay in their office?

l) Process. It seems somehow incongruous that creativity can be a process. Ask many practitioners what process they engage in and they may well deny there is one. But if you examine activities of many creative people, common patterns of behaviour emerge. This common process makes insight / eureka / aha! experience more likely. The process includes identifying and intensely investigating problem, forcing production of ideas using creative versus critical thinking and other techniques; seeking stimuli and allowing unconscious mind to take over by engaging in rest and unrelated activities.

m) Valuation. How do we value an idea, so as to decide how to invest resources? Even a painter who creates for pure pleasure has to decide which one of his ideas is best; there is always a value system and (some argue) always some sort of promotional instinct. There are decisions as to whether you are looking for applied creativity and who consumer is; how do they benefit? There is no sure fire way to evaluate perfectly because there is no sure fire route to commercial success. But we can benchmark against those types of ideas that have succeeded in past; firms must make a decision as to their strategic, competence and technical fit; there are comparisons against rivals and practical impediments; how do we make go or kill decision and what are trade-offs?

Kal Bishop, MBA, http://www.managing-creativity.com