There is an old saying . . "Everyday above ground is a good day!" Just think of all positive ways that you can spend it or waste it. You and I have freedom to choose how we use our time. Yes, all 24 hours of it.

Sleep it away? Eat too much? Need to be on a diet? Work too much?

Not enough time for family? Touch lives of others in a positive way ... family and friends......customers........look for new opportunities every day.

You may recall my suggestion in an earlier Ezine that you build a PROFILE on every customer. I know that you have done exactly as recommended. Some folks go beyond business realm and include personal friends. Those to be remembered in special ways.

----------- ACTION TIP: Send a birthday card; anniversary card; thank you card. ANY card. Whenever you have opportunity. Be a STAND-OUT among your peers. Most will never take time. They don't know dates to remember. Your CUSTOMERS and friends will like you BETTER because you remembered. He / She just can't help it!

If you have good F.A.Q.'s, you will reduce amount of inbound phone calls and you will be showing your customers you are concerned about their questions. If you don't have F.A.Q.'s, you really need to get them up on your site as quickly as possible.

3. Post your response time to inquiries in your customer service section and stick to it.

Most Internet consumers feel that their inquiries will go unanswered or they will have to wait days to hear back from Internet businesses. Post on your site that you will return e-mails within 24 hours. That means having someone check status of questions on weekends too! If you get in habit of responding to inquiries within 24 hours, you will be exceeding your customers expectations 99% of time.

4. Confirm receipt of all orders received.

How many times have you ordered something from an Internet company and after your transaction was completed, you DID NOT receive confirmation of your order? If you are like me, it has happened way too many times! Make sure your customers receive confirmation their order is being processed. Send them confirmation through an automated system or manually.

5. Follow up on important customer issues with a PHONE CALL!

That's right! If a customer places an overnight order and you find out you are out of stock of item, do you e-mail customer and wait for their response? No you don't! You call customer and offer a solution to their problem. Most people don't mind getting phone calls from companies when company is addressing their concerns. In fact, in most cases you will build a tremendous amount of goodwill and they will provide you with more referrals than you can imagine.

6. Provide a tracking number and link to tracking system of company you use to ship your orders. Many companies have automated tracking systems tied into UPS and FEDEX. If you are a small company without automated tracking, you can provide URL for tracking shipment (example) http://www.fedex.com/us/ and tracking number. This gives customer piece of mind and reduces likelihood that you will receive an inquiry from your customer regarding status of their order.

Follow these six steps and you will prove to your customers that they are number one!