I recently had a conversation with a young man who is a new business owner. I'm the president of the Freeport Downtown Development Foundation this year, but I was also wearing my marketing consultant hat when I met with him. (Like I ever take that hat off!)

We talked about the importance of having a vital downtown and I thanked him for investing in the downtown with his business.

Then I told him that prior to our meeting, I had been casually asking people about his business. I gave him the feedback I'd received - both positive and negative - and have to give him credit because he really was thoughtful about all of the feedback. But, he made one comment that stuck with me about some of the negative feedback.

"Well, people have to give me a chance. I've only been in business for a couple of months."

The problem with that statement is that you only get one chance to make a first impression. If people don't have a good experience with your company or, even worse, they have a bad experience - they will not only not come back, they will tell their friends about their experience. Unless you do something fairly unusual in your marketing - like Domino Pizza's new advertising campaign, "We've changed our crust, sauce and cheese and hopefully your mind" - you don't often get a second chance.

So - put your best foot forward, shine up your shoes and be sure that when you meet your customers - especially for the first time - you always are on your A-Game. And if you make a mistake (not if, when, because we all make mistakes) be sure to correct it as soon as possible and apologize to your customer. They will reward you for your honest attempts to make things right.