Everywhere we are experiencing tight times. Gas prices are up. Companies are going out of business. People are being let go left and right.

If you haven't been laid off yet. Watch out! You might be next. And if you want to survive and be around five years from now you better take notice of how times have changed.

Have you noticed that with all this talk about customer service over the last few years it really seems to have gotten worse? Welcome to the new century.

You go to a fast food restaurant and five seconds after you've arrived you start to feel nervous because you haven't been waited on yet. Here's another one...a salesman calls you and three seconds after he opens his mouth you are already thinking about something else.

This is the effect of our information society. They say we are bombarded with so much information every day that we have become desensitized.

I disagree with that though. I personally think we are actually more sensitive. I am of the opinion that our brains are getting faster at processing which information is relevant and which information is irrelevant to our needs. We have no problems spending hours on a favorite website now do we? Or setting time aside a week in advance to make sure we don't miss our favorite television show.

The thing to remember is the information's relevancy. That leads me to ask just exactly how relevant are you in your business? Can you get it done like your customer wants it done? Are you calling customers who have no idea who you are and don't care to know? To help you get back on the right track here is a list of some customer service tips.

Your client calls your office and they get a computerized answering service. Wrong! Aren't you sick of those? Have you ever hung up when you called somewhere and got a computer instead of a person?

Well some of your prospective customers are hanging up on you. Here's an idea. Your customer calls and actually gets a real live person. You know how good that feels? That feeling your customer gets when they call you and talk to a human being is the same feeling they will have when they renew your contract. So tip number one: have a person answer your phone.

Tip number 2: Sometimes a customer will have to leave a voice mail message. Don't make the mistake of calling back tomorrow. If you do, your customer may tell you that they are going to go with your competitor. So when you see that voice mail message light blinking, you better call back within the hour; or better yet within 30 minutes. What a customer needs...he needs now...not an hour from now.

Tip number 3: Guard customers with your life. Your competitors are looking to steal them from you. Want a good idea I got from Jeffrey Gitomer at www.gitomer.com? Take half your advertising budget and spend it on your current customers. Trust me they deserve it. Take care of them. Serve them. And you won't be in the unemployment line wondering what happened.

Tip number 4. Get better at what you do. The best at anything will always survive. You think Chik-Fil-A will experience a downturn? Go to one of their restaurants and learn something about customer service. Or go to a Enterprise rental car office. You walk in one of their offices and three salespeople will jump to their feet trying to help you. You need to have this mind set.

And that brings us to tip number 5. You've got to care about what it is that you do. This is something that people really don't talk about much. Are you in a business that that you hate? Well your customers know exactly how you feel without your telling them. I had a vice president tell me one time that he absolutely hated people. I was shocked since we were in a business where daily contact with customers was routine. It was not a surprise that this company lost 20 percent of its business in one year.

So step it up and learn what it takes to make it in the coming decade. I can sum it up for you with three words: service, service service.