Good customer service is essential for small businesses. In an industry where so much depends on personal experience — not to mention word of mouth — ensuring customers respond positively to your company is essential.

There is not necessarily one perfect way to demonstrate good customer service. In fact, depending on your specific industry, there may be a wide variety of ways to demonstrate to your customers how important they are.

That said, there are some tried and true tactics. Read on for three useful tips on how to serve your customers well.

1. Promote Good Listening

In so many cases, customers just want to be listened to. They may have legitimate complaints about your products or services, but above all, they often want to be heard.

Work on training staff to practice active listening with customers, genuinely responding to their grievances, and feeling their concerns. Promote an attitude of compassion and dedication, even in cases where there may be little you can practically do to assuage customers’ issues. In those cases, simply showing you care can go a long way.

2. Streamline Communication

Another good way to promote solid customer service is to make sure that all your communication channels are neatly streamlined. In other words, even if your staff is well-trained to address customer issues, a difficult or long process of engagement can seriously undermine your efforts.

Have a dedicated way to reach customer service — perhaps a help desk, telephone number, or e-mail address — where customers can get quick, reliable service. Having an effective system in place can go a long way toward letting customers know you care.

3. Go the Extra Mile

It’s something of a cliche in business, but going the extra mile can do wonders — particularly when it comes to relating to customers. What this means in practice can differ. In some cases, it may mean making an exception for a customer and allowing a product to be returned even if it’s technically not the policy. In others, it may mean offering a discount or something similar the next time a customer comes back to your business. Practices like this help keep customers engaged and wanting to come back to your business.

As noted, there is no simple process for great customer service. But by showing you care — and by employing the tips above — you can ensure that your business stands out, and customers keep coming back.