It's the little things(you do for your customer)

     Sometimes your customer has a problem, might be a little one, that they need help with. You can shrug your shoulders are figure out a solution.
     This guy wanted a bell on his bike. The mount would not work on his handlebar and he really wanted it off of the steerer anyway. I could have shown him the bell that mounts on the top cap, but he really liked this bell.
     So I took the bell apart, removed one of the headset spacers, drilled it and tapped it to fit the main screw of the bell, and added a spacer so the hammer would have enough room, put it all back together. 15 minutes to make someone happy.

      Doing this starts with two things. One, the willingness to expend a little effort to work with someone to reach their goal and making it your goal. Two, the ability to look at the solution rather than the problem. (OK, in this case, three things. You need some mechanical know-how also)
     In any small business making the customer happy is key to their returning. Since you can't do it by giving stuff away for free, you need to do it by solving the problems you can.
     And not every problem can be solved(Without throwing lots of money at it). Now it is time to explain why you cannot replace the seat post on that Peugeot  Versailles.(23.8mm, out of production for 25 years. You knew that, right?) In a case like this I will still do a little extra. Show them the catalogs, bring up a search for the seat post on the internet, recommend checking some bike co-ops, explain how to do an Ebay search, tell them to never buy another Peugeot (Just kidding, don't do that). This can alleviate some of their frustration and redirect them in a (hopefully) productive direction.
     Now to warm up for this go to the mall and hold the door for some people.