In troubled economic times, the customers you've already earned are even more valuable than when growth is more stable. It is vital that you not only provide great customer service on a regular basis, but that you occasionally provide service that is worthy of other people telling the story. The authors of Freakonomics, a fantastic book, by the way, run one of the most interesting economics blogs out there, and they touch on a great story of customer service, compliments of Zappos, an online shoe retailer.  What do you thinnk the economic impact of something like this is for a company like Zappos?  Compared to PR or Marcom spend?  Our research continually shows that what other people say about you will ALWAYS trump what you say about you.  Give people something positive to talk about.