Customer relations is a very, very, important thing to pay attention to and, if measured properly, you can tie it back to your return on investment.

So, good customer relations : customer care, how do you treat your customers?

From the brochures that you write to the interactions that you have with them in person or on the phone.

All are those moments of truth that customers will or will not be talking about when they leave you and your place of business.

Customer service, and that takes in the full range of interactions also that you have with your customers.

Good customer service : you certainly want to be timely in responding to customers and that would include both compliments as well as potential complaints.

Often one or the other gets left in the pile for a later time. Timeliness is good customer service.

Treating people with respect is good customer service and good customer relations.

And then what about excellence? You want to perform at your highest standards of excellence. That's good customer relations.

But an important thing to remember is, all of these things need to be defined based on what the customer 's expectations are,

not what you think they want, but what you know they are.

So remember, you want your customers to vote positively and that means repeat business for you.

You don't want them to vote with their feet out the door.