The hardest lesson I learned in my business career was that the only way to satisfy customers is by taking the high road.

What I mean by that is even if policy and procedures clearly place your position or actions in the right, if the cost of corrective action is negligible, then make the customer happy and do it.  While working for a major national retailer, this became my mantra because internally there was always someone who needed a little extra "service" to be satisfied.  Doing this eliminated a great source of frustration to me, and paid me great dividends because I was seen as a person who took care of customer needs.  My then boss and now coauthor John Mengelson and I continually shared the mantra to our teams: "Take the High Road!"

The younger the person in your organization, the harder it may be for them to learn to accept this mantra.  They may be too focused on policies they believe are engraved in stone, and by doing so, they leave your customers with a sour taste in their mouths.  This truely has been evident as we work with our publisher's design team on Books 2 and 3.  Overall they are young.  Some are quick to place blame on their authors for not knowing how the designs should be, and then fail to admit their mistakes when they "forgot" information that had been previously sent to them.

Instead of fighting, they should be cheerfully saying, "I can do that!" or "No Problem!"  What a difference in perception such a simple attitude can be.  What would help them, and all the young potential stars in your own organization, is for you as manager and leader to establish your acceptance and expectation that "Taking the High Road" is essential to providing exceptional customer satisfaction.  Not service.  Satisfaction.

Occassionally a mistake may be made, and the cost of the High Road may be high.  But in the long run, what would it cost you to replace that customer?