Due to the fragile economy and similarities in product offerings, providing quality customer service is more important than ever to maintain and develop a business. Providing quality customer service has a much more defined meaning and is different from providing “exceptional” customer service. Exceptional customer service typically addresses a customer's needs based on a particular instance that may or may not be repeated. Providing quality customer service means meeting a customer's material and emotional needs before, during and after the purchase or initial contact and having sufficient processes in place so that the same level of service is provided consistently. In other words, it's about adopting the quality mindset as more of a part of the company culture and part of normal business practices rather than an exception. Meeting hardware needs is usually the easiest and the area most businesses focus on. This usually involves replacing a damaged or defective item or taking it back and providing a refund or providing free delivery or waiving the charge. Although these gestures or policies are well-intentioned and are sometimes necessary, they only address one area of ​​the customer's needs. The emotional needs of the customer are often overlooked and the customer leaves less than satisfied or, worse yet, they leave without any reason to return or do business with the company again because they feel they were not treated like a valued customer. Responding to emotion This is where many businesses fail to meet customer expectations. Many employees today have lost that commitment to the company and don't add a personal touch. Typically, today's employees fail to take ownership of the problem...... middle of paper ...... will also help develop a knowledge base for information sharing and will help accelerate product improvement and resolve customer issues. there is not much difference in the products offered today. Automobiles, heavy equipment and material handling products of this generation are all built to a multitude of regulations that heavily influence their design. With all government standards and regulations such as, but not limited to (Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, American Society of Manufacturing Engineers, and Society of Automotive Engineers), which are required for manufacturers to comply, there are many similarities in product offerings. This means it's even more important than ever for a business to step up and do everything possible to be the leader in quality customer service..