As a business owner, there is nothing better than people spreading the word in a positive way about what you do.

The good news according to Peter Shankman is, to achieve this all you need to do is “be one step above crap.”

Shankman is an expert in providing a valuable, helpful customer experience as a business. This is exactly what he did to grow Help a Reporter Out into an email list of hundreds of thousands of people with a 79 percent open rate.

His secret has always been to be a good, helpful human to the people he interacts with. He believes businesses can do the same by being honest, genuine and truly caring about the people they serve.

And when you do that, your business can stand out and skyrocket to the next level.