The old adage that "the customer is always right" may not always be true, but every customer believes that it is.

The competition may not be as good as you are either, but that will not stop them from trying to convince your clients that they are. With that as a starting point, we should have a very interesting debate. Then add to the mix one of the country's leading experts on how to improve customer loyalty and the conversation should become one few people interested in the bottom line would want to miss.

The fact is however, that the next few years should become a rather important lesson in managing customer loyalty. You do not have to be a believer or a pessimist to understand that such terms as 'Customer Satisfaction' and 'Customer Loyalty' increase in importance as we hear more and more talk of increased (and lower priced) competition from Asia and murmurs about the possibility of the world economy entering a phase of actual deflation.

Mergers and acquisitions and governments both local and national becoming more vocal about balanced budgets may reduce the number of potential new clients out there, should you begin losing the ones you presently rely on to keep your doors open and your stakeholders satisfied.

In any times it can never be wrong to learn more about increasing customer loyalty - yet in the times we live in, or face in the next few years, there is probably nothing more important to be up to date on right now.