Would you like to have customers that stay with you and don't buy from your competitors? Customers that say nice things about your business to other people; pay you on time and accept the fact that you might be a bit more expensive then other suppliers? Of course you do but how do we perform this miracle? It's dead easy really; you only have to consider two factors: be Reliable and be Likeable.

It almost goes without saying that it's vital to have a reliable product or service. Most businesses spend a great deal of time and money ensuring that their product does what they say it'll do and striving for exceptional customer service.

However, if you do this consistently, don't expect any "brownie points" and it won't ensure stay, say and pay. Providing reliable products and service is vitally important however after a while customers start to take it for granted.

I can remember the days when a motor car was difficult to start on a winters morning. When a telephone engineer took a week to fix your phone and a retail store wouldn't take back an item you'd purchased. Nowadays, cars start first time, engineers come the same day and retail stores give you your money back immediately. We now take this kind of reliability and service for granted.

To give your business the competitive edge and ensure stay, say and pay you, your business and your people need to be likeable. Too many organisations forget that their customers are humans and the thing about humans is - they don't always make decisions logically. Customers are driven by their emotions and they make decisions about organisations based on their interaction with the people in the business. They'll even forgive your mistakes if they like your business.

So what do we need to do to ensure the likeability factor? Run your eye down the following list and see how many you can tick off:

* We always have a genuine smile for every customer.
* We are warm and friendly to all customers.
* We listen carefully and make it obvious that we're listening.
* We use the customer's name and our name appropriately.
* We give the impression that we care and are interested in the customer.
* We empathise with problems and complaints and respond quickly.
* We occasionally do something to pleasantly surprise the customer.
* We always keep our promises.
* We give the impression that we're fun to deal with.
* We treat the customer the way they want to be treated, not the way we want to be treated.

(The * We means everyone in the business be they sales people, delivery drivers, accountants, engineers, managers or directors.)

How well did you do? If you've got lots of ticks then you probably have lots of customers who like you. Just a word to the managers and employers amongst you; run your eyes down the list again and replace the word customer with the words employee or staff colleague.

How many ticks did you get this time? Lots of ticks mean your staff like you and it probably follows that your customers do as well.

Have you noticed how being likeable cost so little? A lot less than advertising or other promotional activity required to replace lost customers.

Working a little bit harder on the emotional connection with your customers will increase your likeability factor and ensure they - stay, say and pay.