I’m always impressed with good customer service. In fact, one instance stands out in my mind 17 years after it took place.

Back in August 1994, my ex-husband needed new clothes for work, and we decided to check out a store that just opened at a mall across town. It was the sale that brought us in but it was the salesman who got him to buy more than he planned. He wasn’t a hard-sell kind of guy; he just “got” my ex-husband — he picked up on his preferences, the price point he was willing to spend, and made excellent suggestions. The tailor came quickly to mark up his trousers. While the salesman was writing up his purchase, he overheard us debating our dinner plans. Since we were unfamiliar with the area, the salesman asked, “What do you like?” Italian sounded good to us. Not only did the salesman make a recommendation, he called the restaurant and made reservations for us. We would have become return customers based on our shopping experience alone, but that extra effort got us talking about that experience with friends instead of keeping a trip to the mall to ourselves. Plus, we got to rave about a new restaurant find.

Now imagine if you and the other businesses in your business district did something like that once , twice, or even three times a day.

I’ve kept looking for that level of concierge service since then, and I haven’t come across it, but it makes sense – especially for small retailers. While word of mouth can never take the place of all the other components of advertising, marketing and public relations of a company on its own,  it lends itself a level of street cred you just can’t buy and it costs nothing to share. Don’t think of it was “doing something” for your neighbor or competitor; think of it as turning your downtown or business district into the most delicious kind of stone soup.

Bonnie Caprara is the social media and media relations director for Community Marketing Associates and editor of Berkley Live, which will launch on Sept. 6, 2011. She can be reached at bcaprara@commmktgassoc.com and at CommMktgAssoc on Twitter. Updates on BerkleyLive can be found on Facebook and Twitter.