Common courtesy can help guarantee your personal and professional success. Here are a few good ideas to make common courtesy work for you…and your organization.

Greet every customer pleasantly and professionally — no matter what they look or sound like. You’ll be surprised at how even the most difficult will enjoy doing business with you.

Treat every customer as important. When customers feel you are giving individual rather than routine consideration, they’ll have more confidence in you and your company.

Apologize for errors or delays when appropriate! Things may not always go right, but you can always be courteous. If you do apologize, make sure you do it naturally and sincerely. Remember, there is nothing worse than an artificial, insincere apology.

Brighten your customer’s day by being helpful. It really doesn’t take much time to do. And, it’s so much better to spend a few minutes being helpful today, than months later trying to regain a customer’s goodwill.

Be enthusiastic and sincere. This may be difficult with some of your tougher customers, but it will certainly pay off with big dividends, especially when you least expect it.

Ask intelligent questions. Asking a series of intelligent, sincere questions will allow you to develop rapport, uncover needs, encourage customers to open up and determine solutions to problems quickly and effectively. Be sure you start slowly by asking easy questions first. And be patient — always give your customer plenty of time to respond.

Be accountable — act as the single point of contact. When customers have a problem they don’t want to be transferred from department to department. They just want one individual to take charge and act on their behalf. Of course, you don’t have to personally fix each situation — just work with the accountable departments until the problem gets resolved. Once it is, demonstrate your professionalism by following up and letting your customer know the final outcome.

Keep your promises. If you make a promise to a customer, keep it! Do everything you can to follow through. After all, your good name is on the line. And remember, a broken promise indicates to a customer that you don’t care enough about him or his business to keep your word. Broken promises often result in lost customers.

Use the basic phrases of courtesy. Say “Please,” “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.” These phrases are easy to use and will almost always put a smile on the face of a customer. Most of all, remember this: there’s always time for courtesy! Give it freely and you will receive it from others in great abundance.