When I was Vice President of Sales for a New York based computer services company, I walked by one of my salesperson's desk when the phone began to ring and picked up the phone to answer the call. It was one call that tested my customer service skills.

It was a call from a Senior Vice President for Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. She was not happy with the service our representative was giving her and said she was considering going to another vendor for her computer services. I let her talk as she vented her anger.

I reintroduced myself and let her know that I would personally appreciate her sharing her customer service concerns with me. I also let her know we valued her as a customer and wanted her business and that I would do whatever it took to make her happy with our company. She then let me know that someone better "make her happy" by the end of the day or we could forget about doing business again with Chase Manhattan Bank. I let her know I personally could see her in one hour, and she agreed to the meeting.

I put together the solution and took the #4 subway line to Wall Street to meet at her office. As I waited in the lobby of her building for an elevator, five women gathered around me to also wait for the elevator. The elevator arrived and we all walked into the elevator. I took the initiative and greeted the group of women and commented on the weather. This opened up the conversation between all of us and soon, with additional exchanges, we were laughing about our day.

I left the elevator, and one of the women also got off on the same floor. I asked her where the Senior Vice President's office was located, and she said she would be glad to take me to the office. We continued our engaging conversation along the way and, before I knew it, we were at the Senior Vice President's office door.

I was about to thank the woman for escorting me, when she walked around and behind the Senior Vice President's desk and announced that she was Senior Vice President and how could she help me. Let's say I was surprised. I introduced myself, we both paused for a moment, and then we both laughed.

To say the least, we had a very productive meeting, which led to a great customer relation with Chase Manhattan Bank and her for many years and with the bank even beyond her retirement. She was so impressed with her positive experience that day that she became my biggest advocate to other senior management within the bank, which led to new customers and millions in additional business.

What, then, are the secrets to customer retention and winning back an angry customer so that the situation becomes an outstanding customer service experience?

The following are six customer service secrets for winning back customers, increasing customer satisfaction, and increasing your bottom line:

Start with a Positive Attitude - Look at any customer service situation as a challenge and an opportunity to learn and grow, and take care of the customer's needs. Start with a positive attitude that says, "I want to help you and, together, we will find a solution." I always say, "You never know who is watching you, so always give them your best face." Because I had a positive attitude in the above situation, I put on my best face when interacting with the women in the elevator, and this led to a positive impression of me with the senior vice president."

Listen with Empathy - Put yourself in the customer's shoes, experience his/her pain, and communicate to the customer you understand the pain. You can communicate your understanding of their pain by saying, "Thank you for sharing your concerns with me. If I were in your shoes, I would feel the same way."

Take Ownership - Don't make excuses for what happened with the customer. Apologize and take ownership for what happened with the customer. The sooner you take ownership of the customer service challenge, the sooner you can take ownership of the customer service solutions.

Communicate Your Plan of Action - Let the customer know what you are willing to do to take care of his/her concerns. The customer becomes frustrated when he/she feels uninvolved or uncertain as to what you are planning for the customer service solution. Ask for the customer's commitment to the plan before proceeding with the action. My plan of action started when I told the customer that I was going to take the subway immediately to meet with her, and the complete customer service plan was communicated during our first meeting.

Take Action - The most important customer service secret is taking action. You can go through all the other customer service secrets and if you don't take action, all your actions and credibility are lost. You increase customer retention when you make sure you deliver more than what is promised. Act quickly, act with a quality solution, and act with integrity.

Ask for the Business - During the customer service challenge, I expressed several times that I valued and wanted her business. This lets the customer know that you don't take his/her business for granted. It's even more important that you express to the customer that you want his/her business after the customer service situation is resolved. You can also give an extra incentive to the customer for acting now to continue giving you the business. It can be as simple as a discount coupon or some other special offering.

Apply these customer service secrets with your customers and you will increase customer satisfaction and customer retention and win back customers to increase your bottom line.

Be Consistent.

Every business should set up specific standards of customer service employee that are adhered to during every single customer interaction. If you offer a free bottle of water to customers that are in your waiting room, make sure you offer that bottle of water every single time. If you email a confirmation with a tracking number after an order is placed, make sure you send that confirmation with a tracking number every single time you get an order. If a customer is coming back to you they have already formed an expectation of the customer service employee they will receive from you and customers hate inconsistency. Think back to your own personal experiences. How many times have you been wowed by an experience and then underwhelmed by your next visit. All of the good will that was created the first time has disappeared and has been completely wasted.

Smile on the phone.

It sounds simple, but poor customer service employee on the phone is an epidemic. The phone deadens your voice and a smile will put more energy into it. Make sure you put a "smile" sign by every phone in your office or store. You can literally hear a smile on the phone and it's really difficult to be negative with a smile on your face.

Focus on Positive Statements

Smile, look your customer in the eye and lean slightly forward as they talk and then when it's your turn - make sure that you are positive! There is a positive way to say everything. Instead of "We can't seat you for 30 minutes" how about "We can get you seated in 30 minutes. Can I get you a drink while you wait?" If you were a customer which statement would get you to wait to be seated and which statement would cause you to walk out the door and try a different restaurant. This "positive-speak" can be applied to virtually everything you say in a customer interaction. Try it.

Create a checkout policy that is customer friendly.

If you have a "brick and mortar" store create a system where there is one line that funnels to all of your open registers. There is nothing more frustrating to a customer than to pick the "wrong" line and watch as person after person who arrived later gets checked out through a faster register. If one-line is practical in your store - then make it happen! If this type of checkout system is impractical in your store, make sure that you have policy that opens a new register when a line gets too long and that the first person in line is checked out in the new register. If your business is online make sure your checkout process is quick and efficient. The customer shouldn't have move through more than 3 pages to finish their transaction. If the checkout process is longer than this - they will leave!

Set a Policy Where Customer Service is the First Priority

Have you ever waited in a huge line at a bank? If you're like me you noticed that there were only two tellers but there were 15 other bank customer service employees doing other things and ignoring the line. The customer in your establishment is the priority - period, end of sentence! Your customer service employees need to stop what they are doing and help the customer. If they are stocking shelves and they see a customer trying to find something, they need to stop and help the customer! There is not one single thing that any customer service employee is doing that is more important than the customer.

The customer pays the bills and is the reason you are in business in the first place. Set policies that are customer-friendly and you will soon have a leg-up on your competition. Put the customer above everything else and you will keep them coming back and telling others to come in your door.