The cover story on this month’s issue of Inc. magazine is about Yelp!, a way for consumers to rate businesses online. Anyone can share recommendations and complaints with thousands of other consumers, which can be great for businesses with good reviews and potential trouble for a business with even one poor review.

We all have a customer service story, in fact, usually several stories both positive and negative. In the past, we shared our stories – in particular the negative ones – with our friends, family and co-workers. It was truly a small circle. Today, we can share our experience with millions and we can do it immediately.

With that in mind, businesses should be even more conscious of how they take care of their customers, responding to concerns, complaints, questions and praise. Businesses need to be constantly monitoring what their customers are saying – both online and off. If they aren’t paying attention, they can’t respond quickly and in this day of constant communication, a delay of 24 hours can cause serious damage to a business’ reputation.

Aside from addressing customer complaints immediately, what are other key components of top-notch customer service? Share your best tips and we’ll address them in upcoming blog posts.