I cannot tell you how many times I get compliments from customers after spending some time to help them on the phone. Apparently, according to these people I talk to; fewer and fewer companies are taking the time to actually have conversations with their customers on the phone. They say that even emails from many companies today are often pre-scripted, auto-generated or canned messages which hope to respond in some general way to a customer’s need, but often miss the mark.

This reemphasizes my belief that small is the new big. I created the comic below 4 years ago.

More and more, acting local is more important than being global. Being effective is more important than being efficient.

Treating customers with the warmth and attention one might receive when entering a small town general store (or pub) creates a personal connection that is often lacking with more efficient (and perhaps less human) customer service strategies which makes you feel like you are in a larger, but more impersonal big city supermarket chain rather than a local General Store.

Perhaps it is because I personally like that small town general store or pub vibe that I attempt to treat every phone call as a unique and completely original request. I learned this while managing a castle hotel in Ireland. The castle was a very popular venue for wedding receptions (just visit the website and you’ll understand why!)

After hosting over 100 weddings, I realized something. While every event was so very similar — drinks reception, menu selection, speeches, cake, music, dancing, etc. — each was so very unique in an incredibly meaningful way. For each couple, it was the only wedding that mattered. To them, it was the most important. To them, it was not the same as the 50 other weddings that we hosted previously that year. Their love was stronger. Their vows were more meaningful. Their day was more special..

…and they were right.

I learned many lessons from those weddings. Perhaps the most valuable was how important it was to treat each wedding as the first wedding that I coordinated. To never think of it as just another wedding; but as the only wedding we would ever host. I think it made a difference to each bride and groom. Many took the time to tell me that it did.

Responding to every phone call and email as a unique and original request, treating each customer as though they were your first, and being available and generous with your time and attention will make your customers feel that they are involved with a local business that is truly interested in helping them. Someone they can trust. And if you do it right, they will be right.