Great customer service is at the cornerstone of every small business, whether it be providing goods and services to individuals or to other companies. According to the Customer Service Institute of Australia, 90 per cent of dissatisfied customers will never purchase anything from you again, and each of your complaining customers tells an average of nine people about their bad experience. So when your customer service isn't up to scratch, who is to blame? In this case, it is best to look from the top down.

In his 'Work in Progress' segment published by The Age, James Adonis notes  management, staffing, and company policy can be some of the biggest contributors to poor service.

Adonis spoke to The Future is Customer Service author Kym Ilman, who said the implementation of procedures and policies that are designed to benefit the business over the customer can backfire. Adonis cites examples such as call centre operators who ask irrelevant questions for the customer because they are sticking to a script, or an airline who does not upgrade passengers when business-class seats are empty. So as a business owner, how do you fix this?

Firstly, listen to your employees. Ilman says that many managers are reluctant to make procedural changes when questioned about it by employees if it conflicts with company policy. However, if your sales and customer service staff point out that something is not working, a review should take place. Company policies and procedures should never be so rigid and inflexible that it prevents staff from providing customers with what they need or from problem solving.

Second, check your staffing decisions. While you need someone who has the know-how, their knowledge is next to useless if they can't communicate it with customers. According to Adonis, a bias towards hiring staff with technical aptitude over customer service skills can be a source of trouble when the staff member begins working with the company. So while you should ensure potential employees are up to scratch for the task at hand before welcoming them into the company, it is also important to realise that providing training opportunities and feedback to staff is also vital.

This can also counter the second type of poor hiring decision-the customer service employee who simply isn't interested in serving customers. Giving the staff member in question feedback about their service behaviour and how to improve it is important-not only does it notify the staff member that their performance isn't up to standard and gives them pointers for how to do better, it also informs other staff that kind of conduct isn't acceptable. Ilman says that if employees see other staff members slacking off without being pulled up about it, it can become the norm in the workplace.

Thirdly, ask yourself: Are you being a leader? Employees are influenced by management and if you are performing poorly chances are that your staff are too. University of Queensland professor of marketing Janet McColl Kennedy told Adonis: "A culture of customer service is driven by leaders who model excellent customer service themselves."

And finally, ensure you do not always let sales get in the way of service. The two are not mutually exclusive, but remember that providing great service may lead to sales, while pushing sales does not always equal good service.

According to corporate training company Upfront Communications, good customer service is not about snazzy advertising and fireworks-patrons simply want staff to treat them with respect, honour their promises, and be happy to help with questions and queries. And if things do take a turn for the worse, customer service staff must be able to resolve complaints and problems quickly and to the customer's satisfaction.

The Customer Service Institute of Australia found that 66 per cent of unhappy customers were not satisfied with the way their complaint was handled. However, for those complaints that were handled well, 83 per cent became loyal patrons, and recommended the business five others on average. In short, well-placed customer service can be an excellent way to solidify your small business and place you a step ahead of the competition.