Customer service is perhaps the most critical element in providing success to small business. Every business experiences one or two problem customers, one or two amazing customers and a vast majority of good customers in the middle.

Those few worst customers may really annoy you with their demands. When you change policies as a knee-jerk reaction to figure out ways to keep anyone else from ever doing THAT to you again, that is when you create policies that inconvenience and hassle the other 98% of your good and amazingly good customers. That’s bad service and bad business.

If you get a couple of bad checks, don’t stop accepting local checks; if you have a couple customers return merchandise they purchased over a year ago, don’t put a strict time limit on returns; if someone takes advantage of multiple offers, don’t start filling each gift certificate with paragraphs of fine print.

Chalk those bad experiences up to the cost of doing business and let the wonderful 98% of your customers be your guide – you’ll be happier and more profitable in the long run.

And your customers will be happier, too.