At Silver Bullet HQ, we recently came across an interesting article online that reported small businesses in the UK have ranked customer satisfaction as their number one priority, with approximately nine out of ten small business owners placing good customer service above sales targets, new business opportunities and marketing in terms of importance.

While the article implied that this was an unusual or shocking statistic, it seems to us that putting the customer first is more of a common sense approach to good business, as opposed to something more company specific like hitting sales targets or staff training. After all customer service is something that applies to all types of businesses, across sectors and business size, and regardless of whether you're selling a product or a service.

Customer care should be a priority in any economic climate but in this never ending downturn we're currently experiencing the competition between businesses delivering similar services is fierce, and if the choice between you and your main competitor comes down to whether or not you offer a friendly smile with your service, then smile you should.

At Silver Bullet we pride ourselves on offering a friendly, personal service. We're happy to take the time to properly understand what our customers need and deliver it to them when they need it, just last week the team were in the office until after 11pm to ensure that a client met their deadline after receiving a panicked brief at extremely short notice. The job was completed with time to spare and the client was happy with the result and has since commissioned more work. While this is an unusual example it's demonstrative of how putting the customer first can ultimately benefit the business. Going the extra mile for someone is what makes a business and the service it provides memorable, people are willing to pay for a service but they're more likely to continue to pay for it if it exceeds expectations.

We understand that it's not always that straight forward however. In our opinion (or experience) when running a business, there's a multitude of things that can go wrong, but more often than not, it's the steps that you take towards fixing the problem that will set your business apart from the competition rather than the problem itself. This can go one of two ways, a problem occurs and you can handle it badly, potentially losing a customer or you can handle it well and be remembered for putting the customer first and therefore retain their custom.

Things that go wrong in business will invariably differ depending on the type of business you're in and often it's out of your control, but whether you're a green grocer who's sold a peach complete with complimentary caterpillar or you're an executive that's accidentally missed a meeting with a client, customers don't expect you to be infallible but they do expect that you'll treat them with enough respect to tell them what's happened, why it's happened and then what you're going to do to fix it - and to remember your manners while you're doing so!