If you can, take your time in developing a solution.  A number of studies have suggested that often, the second or third solution you come up with is best.  When possible, suggest multiple solutions to the customer, saving the one you think will work best for last.

- Roy Barnes and Bob Kelleher, Customer Experience for Dummies

From someone that spent 19 years as Arnold Palmer's neighbor from October to April each year, his passing hit me hard. Most of us know him as the "King of Golf," which is very true, but, with or without the golf status, there is no denying the impact that he had on the very young, to the very old, and across many industries. His statistics in golf are indisputable, and the respect and admiration he commanded as a human being are nothing short of extraordinary. Pete Jansons wrote an article in the HiringSite blog powered by CareerBuilders called, 5 Small Business Leadership Lessons from Arnold Palmer, and it got my attention. Why? ProSolutions is almost 28 years old, and remains a small business. Any lesson from the "King" is more than worth my time. 

Yes, we are focusing on customer service again.  The Sam Walton quote is the eye opener that we all need in order to understand just how important it is to be masters of customer service.  Your customers hold the key to unlocking your business success, so if you are not treating them right and giving them what they need, your business will be locked down and shut down.  Now, we don't want this to happen, so take a moment to learn the 3 tips and 5 secrets relating to customer service.  All 8 are not rocket science concepts and don't require moving mountains in order to implement.  Just takes some understanding, implementation, and consistency.  The value will be felt—we can promise you that!

Constantly query employees.  As a leader, you have to keep your ear to the ground and listen for the sound of complaints from your staff.  It helps to have a process in place to root out process problems and then follow up to make sure they're resolved.

-Lee Cockerell, Creating Magic

Service, service, service.  It's the nuts and bolts of our business and at least a key driver of your business.  The many articles and training materials we provide mostly focus on customer service because we are passionate about your ability to achieve success through strong service skills. You can't get too many tips, suggestions, or ideas for best practices on this super important topic, but if you ignore them, it may cost you and your business a lot of money.  For our picks this time, we are shaking it up a bit—you will not only get some fresh thoughts on mastering customer service and how to develop better customer relationships, but you will also learn how to navigate through your negative attitude when it shows it's ugly head.  Your negativity can be converted into a productive return, which most definitely impacts your customers' impressions.  So away we go...enjoy!