It turns out that consumers want one thing: their issues resolved. And, they want it done fast. Faster than fast. The challenge is this: the majority of brands act fast... as fast as they can. Sadly, it's not even close to being fast enough for consumers. Now, brands and consumers are going to have move forward and figure out a way to define what the true speed limits are.

The customer experience becomes more important now than ever in a down economy. Especially when shoppers are now open to the idea of visiting your competition, unless you provided them with a shopping experience previously, that they don't want to trade. The more loyal your customers are, the better positioned you are to survive a downturn.

I've worked at TD Canada Trust for 29 years, where I started out as a part-time teller. Everybody knows what a teller does, and I tried hard to best serve my customers quickly and ably. Despite all the customer service trends and fads over the years, in my experience there's one lesson that's rung most true: At the end of the day, people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Connecting with your target market by incorporating publicity efforts into your day-to-day operations is increasingly important in an uncertain economy, even if you can't afford to hire an agency, or consultant just yet. Here are some useful tips small business teams can implement to stand out in the crowd.

As most start ups can tell you, introducing a new business to the market place requires factoring in many components. The most vital of which is credibility. A new business needs to figure out how to convince its target audience that they are a worthy supplier. The dilemma is that it's hard to prove how great you are when you haven't gotten the chance to do so.

Granted, it's hard to get into the Christmas spirit when it's 10 C out, but saying "Happy Holidays" seems to be yet another facet of the customer service experience that has gone by the wayside. That, and the very notion of actually serving the customer, it would seem.