When I run sales workshops I always test the temperature of the audience by asking them about their favourite customer; not necessarily the biggest one, but one that they like. This is to help me to get a feel for their business, how they deliver their products and to look at how to replicate their best practices, based on successful customer case studies.

Occasionally some members of the audience look at me blankly and reveal that they dislike all their customers. I feel they are more in need of personal counselling than sales coaching, but do my best to rectify what must be a terrible situation for someone in a small business. In a large organisation you can at least look forward to the monthly salary cheque. But in a small organisation the buck stops with you. There is one consolation: you are allowed to make some mistakes, as long as you rectify them swiftly.

This was an observation made by Richard Richardson, who has seen both sides of the equation. He had a successful career in advertising, and his favourite customer was John Barnes at Kentucky Fried Chicken. They used to spend many hours cooking up new business ideas, just for fun.

But one idea seemed to have some traction; what about the original British fast food: fish and chips? The best-known name, Harry Ramsden’s, was a single restaurant at Guiseley in Yorkshire, with a few other, differently branded, outlets. The owners were looking to sell and Barnes and Richardson saw the opportunity to build a great brand.

They had complementary skills; Barnes the charismatic ideas man, Richardson the completer/finisher. They shared common values, particularly a love of customers and customer interaction.

They raised some money and then set about building the Harry Ramsden’s brand. They developed a style which they captured in their book Marketing Judo; the idea that you use the opponent’s weight to your advantage, using leverage, rather than brute force.

They kept the team lean, but instilled a sense of customer awareness by insisting that everyone in the 25-person head office called at least five unhappy customers every week.

This caused some bemusement among customers, with one then resolving to take parties of visiting Chinese business people to Harry Ramsden’s.

Richardson explained that a small business is allowed to make mistakes, as long as you resolve issues swiftly and personally. He felt that many large companies seem to have an ethos of never admitting failure, which can be disastrous.

Once the brand became established, they decided to grow their business by franchise, as it meant that ownership of the brand was closer to the customers. But while the brand can be promoted generally by head office, it is still down to the local entrepreneurs to do what they can, often without much of a marketing budget.

In Marketing Judo, Barnes and Richardson have many tips for doing just this, including extending your offering in interesting ways (the Glasgow branch offered haggis) and providing complementary services (arranging coach trips for senior citizens to show off local buildings after a fish supper).

They refer to this as “getting the crowd on your side”, using emotional leverage rather than just marketing muscle.

If you do this, not only will you grow to love your customers, they will love you right back, and do your marketing for you, by word of mouth.

‘Marketing Judo: Building Your Business Using Brains Not Budget’ by John Barnes and Richard Richardson is published by Prentice Hall