Every business claims to offer great customer service. Many go to tremendous lengths to try and convince us of how great their service is. They use testimonials, star burst graphics with exclamation points, 800 numbers in bold text, and dozens more. They claim how happy they are to answer our calls and questions. But if your experience is anything like mine, their actions rarely live up to their hype. Mostly it is just talk. Very few of them actually show us. Show.

Some do, however. Several noteworthy companies have and do base their success — sometimes massive — entirely on their level of customer service. These companies are smart. Companies like Zappos, Bluehost, and Infusionsoft. They are world-renowned for their over-the-top customer service. They understand that in an age of equal technology and resources, competing on features and price alone just doesn’t cut it anymore. They understand the importance of the human touch. They’ve figured out that what people really want in a cold, digital, automated, voice-mail, text-alert world is to be treated like, well, a person.

Not a number. Not a statistic. Not an account number.

No, like a person. A living, breathing person. With cares and concerns and dreams.

That’s how I want to be treated. Don’t you? Guess what…so does your customer.

At the beginning I asked how great is your customer service. Not how good. Not how sufficient. Adequate just won’t cover it these days. The competition is too tight. To really be great, we have to learn how to serve on a fantastical level. Above and beyond.

Like Christian Pankhurst says, “There is no traffic beyond the extra mile.”

Go the extra mile, or two or three, and you just might find yourself alone without any competition.