If you want to deliver excellent customer service, there is one simple thing you can do that will aid you in good times and bad - set realistic expectations. That's it.

Setting realistic expectations is merely being honest. If it's going to take you three times as long to deliver a product than normal, tell your customer. If you have a supply problem that's affecting your capacity, tell your customer. If you are to blame for an outage, tell your customer.

Customers want and deserve to know the truth about their order, restoration, and business with your company. Never cover-up for your mistakes, never tell a customer what you think they want to hear - just be honest and sincere.

Even for the worst of news; most people can handle anything is they truly know they're dealing with and believe they have the information necessary to make decisions and explore alternatives. Just let your customers know what to expect and when.

Simple. Inexpensive. Memorable.