If you want a quick way to boost your profits, you need to make sure you are going the extra mile to look after your best customers, before someone else does.

Think hard about your biggest clients or customers. Can you think of something you did that they would say shows you have over-delivered for them? Not just things they would expect as standard, but really going the extra mile? Have you ever sent them your product and given them free samples of something else? Have you supported them in a charity venture they were undertaking? Have you helped them get through a crisis in their business just because you could rather than because you had to? Or have you phoned and taken them for lunch just to talk about how you can help them?

If the answer to those questions is no, start thinking about how you can differentiate your business and what you can do to show how important those customers are to you. People often go the extra mile when they are trying to win new business, but often forget that retaining customers is more important than winning new ones.

Don’t mistake these things for the standard "corporate entertaining" stuff. Everyone has been invited to work dos, races, parties and so on – and most people would never make a decision based on these things. I’m talking about personal, relevant and wow things that really show that you are going the extra mile for your customers – not that you have big budgets to spend!

Keep these principles in mind:

• Always under-promise and over-deliver, never the other way round;

• Never tell your customers no because that’s "the policy";

• Have quicker response times to everything than your competitors;

• Think about the long term value of these customers, not what this might cost today;

• If they are in a hole, do whatever you can to get them out of it – even if you aren’t obliged to;

• Be personal in what you do – people do business with people, not faceless companies.

If you haven’t done these things, now is the time to get busy quickly. Customers need to be reminded constantly that you value them and are doing more than just giving them what they pay for. People hate being taken for granted and being treated as if you have the right to their money and you need to make an emotional connection with people to get them to stick with you and your business.

So, take action NOW – this week, find a way to go the extra mile this week for at least one of your key customers, whenever or however you can.