I had two surprising customer service experiences this week:

1. My physical therapy office, whose therapists I have always loved, has a new, super-unfriendly, not-at-all-interested, receptionist.  I’m surprised how quickly this has soured me on the entire practice.

2. I received two unsolicited follow-up calls from two different Bank of America employees, to make sure that the debit card we ordered and needed on short notice had arrived safely.  I’m surprised how much this has done to soften my view of BOA as a faceless bureaucracy.

If you think your sincere and personal interest in your clients and customers isn’t the single most important factor in the success of your business, I’m guessing you don’t have as many clients and customers as you’d like.