I know, you’re thinking.. “Do I really have to give my customers a hug?” The answer is Yes!, although not the kind of hugs you’re thinking about.

In this two-part series, you’ll see what I mean. I once contacted my insurance company to send me a change of beneficiary form.

Several weeks and more phone calls later, and I still couldn’t get anyone to return my call, much less send me the form.

On the other hand, we paid money to refinance our house and moved our mortgage from Citigroup to National City. Why? It was ONLY because the consultant at National City took the time to get to know us, our needs and knew the answers to our questions before we even asked them.

The insurance company must be doing so well that they must not need my business.

It’s no secret that most “big business” has abandoned customer service, much less customer appreciation.

It wasn’t always like this, though. In the early 1900′s, European immigrants were many of the early “mom & pop” shops in this country.

Those were my grandparents days, in Brooklyn, NY. My grandmother didn’t drive, she didn’t need to. Everything she needed was in walking distance. Everybody knew everybody in the neighborhood. The butcher knew exactly what cut of meat she preferred, the day she did her shopping and reserved the best cuts “just for her.”

The baker knew all her kids’ names and what kind of birthday cake they liked. The grocer around the corner knew exactly what day she’d be in for her fresh fruit.

Those people knew and understood how to take care of the people in their neighborhood. They embraced their customers, not just as a customer, but like family.

So, what happened? Why is it that we don’t do this today? I’ll tell you why. People forgot how to care. Somewhere along the way, technology got in the way of appreciation. We got too busy.

With instant information, instant messaging and instant “everything”, we forgot that on the other side of the world wide web, there are real people. People, just like you and me. People who crave appreciation and want to be treated like more than just another web visitor and more than just a customer.

Your business may not have a big advertising budget, yet you have something even more powerful. You have YOU! There is an incredible opportunity for you to embrace and show your customers just how much you appreciate them, especially in a web based business and especially in challenging economic times.

“But, I send them thank you notes and holiday cards,” you say. While that is important, it’s not enough. Did you know that the more time that goes by and your customers do not hear from you, they start to forget about you? Would you do that to your family? O.K. You don’t have to answer that one.

Each month that you do not communicate with your customers, you lose 10% of your influence with them. If 10 months go by, then you lose 100% of your influence. In other words, they’ll forget about you. Only you can stop this from happening.

Years ago, those European immigrants didn’t have the Internet or advertising budgets and while you may not have a lot of money to spend on advertising, you don’t have to.

Next: In Part II, you’ll see the power of the Internet with the power of the personal touch.

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