On our 25th wedding anniversary, my wife gave me some beautiful diamond cufflinks. Unfortunately, I could not find French cuff shirts in Dallas.

On a speaking engagement in Burlington, Iowa, I was told of a store in Fort Madison run by Doyle Hoyer. The next day, I asked Doyle if he had any French cuff shirts, and he said no but he would order them for me. Doyle shipped them to me and called to see if they were satisfactory.

I assured him they were more than satisfactory, and I became a customer of Doyle Hoyer's for many years. I wrote about him in my book on selling, and I speak about him in my recordings. As a result, many people called Doyle and he sold them thousands of dollars' worth of clothing. The point is, the "little" sale he initially made turned out to be a huge one.

My Australian friend, Doug Baumber, owns "Parts Overnight," a multi-million-dollar company that services Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Doug's leading customer recently ordered nearly $400,000 worth of computer parts over a five-month period.

Doug got the account when two of the prospective company's high-tech professionals called to order a thousand dollar's worth of parts. Doug helped make the sale and showed them how to fix the problem without the parts. Sensing his interest in doing the right thing, they became steady customers.

Message: When you genuinely care about other people and what they want, you've taken a huge step toward building your business and converting small sales into big ones.

One thing about going that "extra mile" is the fact that it's one part of the road that is seldom crowded. You'll stand out — which means you'll move up in business. Take that super-service approach, and I'll see you at the top!

To find out more about Zig Ziglar and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com. Subscribe to Zig Ziglar's free email newsletter through [email protected].