I've heard it over and over again: Good customer service leads to good word of mouth marketing and ample rewards, but a recent incident has really brought this message home.

I was at the movie theatre just before Christmas and the manager I've gotten to know a bit came up to me, bursting to tell this story. He had been Christmas shopping at Indigo Books & Music on the way to  work and bought about $100 worth of books. After his shift, he went out to discover that his car had been broken into. The books, among other things, were gone. In addition to reporting the incident, he went to Indigo to ask that they be on the lookout for anyone trying to return the books for cash or credit. He thought this would be a good way to possibly catch the thief. End of story, or so he thought.

Last night I bought a new computer online from Apple.

This morning in my inbox there was a message from Apple: "Thanks for purchasing your Mac." Wow, a thank you! In the e-mail were links to tutorials on how to get the most out of my new purchase, with the statement, "We can wait to show you around."