Like a constellation of praise, the little stars that represent restaurant and hotel ratings tell us we’re looking at something special. We do the same in business, from dry cleaners to daycare, choosing companies because their reputation for value spells excellent service.

But in these super-charged, 24/7 information-overload times, more often it’s the personal experience rather than the professional review that tells us what’s worth our money. I was recently planning a birthday dinner for a friend, talking to a colleague over coffee about her new restaurant, when a young man at the next table leaned over and said, “Don’t go there! The food is overcooked or too cold. The staff ignores you and it’s way overpriced.”

Amused, I thanked him and figured he’d had a bad experience, as a high-end restaurant couldn’t be that bad. But it was. Even worse, the manager was unsympathetic when I mentioned the problems. Multiply my experience, and the young man’s, by dozens of others, all with Twitter and Facebook friends, and you know how far our no-star ratings could spread. Kudos from your professional colleagues are great, but have you checked with your customers to see if they rate your service as five-star value?

How do you ensure that your customers think your product or service is top-notch?

Ever see a receipt bearing the words “thanks to you, our valued customer” – and how often do you scoff? Especially when the receipt comes after you’ve scanned and bagged your own groceries, punched in your own loyalty code and made your own change. Oh yes, you feel valued: you’re doing the work of an employee and paying for the privilege.

This self-service practice, seemingly everywhere, saves money for the companies who pay fewer employees to deal with customer concerns, but what does it do for customers? “I went into a store where I’ve shopped for years and found new management,” a busy woman said. She’d stopped in, planning to buy a baby gift for a friend having twins, but she couldn’t find what she wanted and none of the employees offered to help. “I finally left because the manager was too busy talking on her cell phone to answer my questions,” she said.

This scenario could be repeated in any chain store coast-to-coast, with profits up and customer service scarce. “But we take care of the customers in my business,” you say. Can you anticipate what a customer may want or recall a service you provided a year ago? The gap between saying you value your customers and demonstrating how you value them is the difference between the customer who migrates elsewhere and the one who takes to heart the notation “we heart our customers.”

What new ways can you show your customers their value?

In these tense economic times, job seekers are constantly told by experts to bring something extra, stand out from the crowd. “It’s the added value that’s the difference,” they’re reminded, between being hired and being forgotten.

Of course the experts who haven’t been “out there” have wacky ideas on standing out. One newscaster reminded job hunters to “wear a clean shirt” and “share your experiences about backpacking in the Amazon.” Wait, let’s write that down!

An enterprising job seeker had a better method. The company he’d targeted needed to launch a quarterly newsletter, but they’d left the post open for a year. “I’ll show you how I’d do it if you’ll give me a tryout,” he said. Dubious, the hiring manager agreed to the audition and was instantly impressed. The job seeker showed his immediate worth, drafting a newsletter format and suggesting ways to promote it. His bold move showed the company the value of its newsletter idea – which was upgraded to a weekly edition – and the value of having someone experienced to handle it.

“Show me the money,” Jerry Maguire yelled. More likely, show me the value…of a product, a service, or a better way to go. Your employees illustrate that every day.

Have you paused lately to consider and comment on their value, for the moment and for the future?

The credit card commercial’s catchphrase tells us to blithely charge all those pesky expenses like clothing, computer accessories, or even hot dogs at the big game – just pay right there with a swipe of this card. But it also reminds us that some things can’t be paid for with plastic, the “priceless” experiences like sharing the fun of that game with a favorite friend or beloved child.

“Priceless” – meaning you can’t put a dollar value on it – can apply to everyday experiences, too, from a double rainbow in the summer sky to a brilliant idea for making your business more efficient. Not every idea qualifies as priceless, but the flow of ideas and opinions is an asset no credit card can pay for. When a customer seeks you out with an idea for something he’s thought about, it demonstrates how much he not only values your service but wants to see you do better. An employee’s suggestion tells you she’s thinking on, and off, the job.

You may need to streamline and tweak the ideas you’re offered before putting them into practice, or you may find them naive or impractical for your business. No matter. The value of input by those paying attention to what you do is indeed “priceless.”

What ideas are you hearing that will keep customers, employees, and you smiling?

“What’s this worth?” It’s the question at the heart of Antiques Roadshow. No matter how junky or strange the item, no matter how useless it appears, everyone’s hoping they’ve scored a prize worthy of a giant price tag or a spot in the Smithsonian. The real value of anything is in the mind of the buyer or customer. A visit to eBay tells you the same thing. A buyer recently bought a vintage needlepoint design first manufactured in the 1970s. She’d stitched one for a friend while in college but always regretted not making one to keep. The original price on “Siamese Cat in Wicker Chair” was about $8, but she happily bid four times that amount as soon as she spotted it online. “I had to have it,” she explained. “It’s as lovely as I remembered and brought back the happiness I felt when I first saw it years ago.”

If value is intangible, especially in business, the memory of value is even more elusive, but is the key to success. A returning customer recalls that he’s been treated well and values the ease of today’s transaction. In a crazy-busy world, the value of that reassurance beats any treasure on Antiques Roadshow. How do your customers rate their repeat experiences with your business?