Recommendation is the best salesman any business can have. There are times when excellent service should be openly appreciated and talked about. The best business boosters of all are word of mouth, online forums or a suggestion box.

By the same token, I criticise any business or member of the staff who leaves something to be desired. I think more of us should do so.

When I complained about poor service, my ex suggested I let it pass; she suggested I be less of a rebel. Her way was to live with it; to not make a fuss. As I pointed out to her, if it wasn’t for rebels like me, we would be working 96 hours a week; they would still be sending kids down mines. Would you have let it pass?

A responsible business owner encourages customer complaints. He works on the principle: ‘If I get it right, tell the world. If I get it wrong, tell me.’ Businesses should pin these words over their cash points.

The boss needs to see why he is losing customers so he can prevent them from fleeing to rival businesses. Larger concerns, especially household name stores and car giants, pay mystery shoppers considerable fees to be make-believe customers. Reporting back on their experience, any shortcomings seen through the customers’ eyes, can be rectified.

Smaller businesses get their mystery shoppers free of charge. All they need to do is invite customers to be candid as to the service received; there is no better business partner than the involved customer.

I recall dining with my two teenage sons at a restaurant in Chester, England. It wasn’t cheap, but it was pretentious. In other words, the restaurant fed their gullible clients bullshit, and they swallowed it. Furthermore, the service was dismal if it could be called a service.

Finally, I received the bill, which included a 10 per cent SERVICE CHARGE. I don’t get one of those from my bus driver, newsagent or bus driver; why a restaurant?

By way of social experiment, I asked my sons how they should respond to the impudent request for a gratuity.

One suggested I not make a fuss, pay for it, but never use the restaurant again. The younger of the two suggested I deny it even if it meant disapproval.

I took his advice and saved a tenner. Tell me, had you sat at our table, what would you have suggested?

I have seen them all and seen them off. The optician’s wench who sneered, ‘You do realise you have to pay.’ The teenage dentist’s receptionist who snarled: ‘Who are you? What is your name?’ Another who publicly questioned my ownership of a debit card? 

Once when queuing at a health centre’s reception desk, we could all hear a patient discussing her urinary ailments. Only when I complained did they have the wit to provide a privacy space such as that provided by banks and post offices.

Recently, NHS staff were sent on a course to teach them how to be civil; so were policemen. Imagine: a course to teach one how to say please and thank you.

In my experience, medical centre managers go to great lengths to provide excellent service and delight in hearing patients’ suggestions and complaints. When I recently pointed out faults about a certain practice, a town hall official conceded she identified it from my description.

See themselves as sacred cows; some doctors let their profession down with curtness or rudeness. I complained about one such. The practice management couldn’t thank me enough for drawing their attention to it; I got a new doctor, she was reprimanded.

I had struck a blow not just for me but for those too meek to complain. The timid have rebels like me to thank for their being treated with civility. Poor service from staff exists because customers accept it; we shouldn’t.

NOTE: Michael Walsh, for 20 years (1987-2007) was the leading business advisor for the Guild of Master Craftsmen and the Federation of Master Builders. PLEASE SHARE OUR STORIES

THE BUSINESS BOOSTER Michael Walsh, during 20 years as an executive of the Guild of Master Craftsmen and Federation of Master Builders, helped thousands of businesses to increase profits whilst reducing overheads. EURO WEEKLY NEWS business advice columnist. Perfect gift for the self-employed, wherever you are in the world. https://michaelwalshbooks.wordpress.com/