For those of you in business and know the importance of customer service, there’s a great new book out that shows you how to deliver “red-carpet” service. Making every customer feel like a VIP is important and here’s what the author, Donna Cutting, had to say:

How did you come up with this concept?

 I was having a conversation with a friend about ideas she had for her business that, to me, sounded like the level of “star treatment!” She wasn’t sure how she would get it accomplished. I asked myself “Who knows how to deliver that kind of service?” The answer that came was “people who serve celebrities.” That sent me on a couple of year long journey of talking with business people whose customers are the likes of Tom Hanks and Halle Berry about what it takes to give that level of service. That led me to finding organizations and people who serve “every day” people, but give them celebrity level treatment.

What are some of the ways that red carpet service providers go out of  
their way to please customers.

The people who serve “actual” celebrities bend over backward to find solutions to their customer’s problems. There’s a story in my book about a company that had a hot, fresh pizza delivered to a customer from a pizza place in Chicago to his flat in London! Nothing is too great – there is no such thing as no. (Which may be a good thing, or not, depending on the celebrity.) They also go through every detail of the experience the celebrity will have and make sure every detail is taken care of.

That’s the key to creating The Celebrity Experience for your “every day” customers. Red-carpet service providers comb through the entire experience their customer has with them, removing the negatives and adding the WOW’s!

As an example, High Point University in High Point, North Carolina greets prospective students with personalized parking spaces and a beautiful reception room filled with snacks and drinks. Their tours include no more than 2 families (as opposed to 25-50) and they get driven around campus on a golf cart (as opposed to a walking tour). You better believe those students/families leave that campus saying WOW! HPU has had an increase of 150% enrollment since committing to giving extraordinary service.

How have blogs changed the ways that people do business?

Two things come to mind.

1. Companies like Southwest Airlines, Jobing.com, and Zappos use blogs, twitter, facebook to engage in conversation with their customers. I write about this in a chapter called Star Power – because the customers actually influence the direction of the business.

2. When you have a bad customer service experience, you no longer tell 2 friends, who tell 2 friends, and so on…… You post it on your blog. Others comment on it, repost it, forward it, etc. In a day millions of internet users can know about the bad experience you provided a customer!

However – the same is true of extraordinarily good service…..really WOW your customers, and you may find the news buzzing all over the internet!

What are 3 or 4 key things that customers really want?

Friendly Service

Quality Products or Service

Prompt, Personal Attention

Finding a service person who will stick with them until their question is answered or their problem is solved.

What is the reward for going the extra mile and really trying to 
please your customers?

Better bottom-line results…

I talked to a realtor recently who goes above and beyond in customer service – adds details her competitors aren’t willing to add. Her business is thriving, even in this down market. The Celebrity Experience is filled with examples of companies who give red-carpet service and are reaping rewards -such as a plumbing company who grew from a one man business to a million dollar business in six years, based on service.

Also – it’s FUN! It’s fun to be creative, to WOW people, to make them feel special 

When you do, you become unforgettable!

If you would like to get your own copy of Donna’s book, The Celebrity Experience, Insider Secrets to Red Carpet Customer Service , please stop by Amazon 

This guest post was part of a blog tour conducted by Key Business Partners

Yesterday, the blog tour was stationed at these locations:
Judy Davids/ Guitarist of the Mydols and author of Rock Star Mommy
Claudia Meydrech / Ebook & Book Reviews
Carol Deckert / Run Lancaster

Today, you can read more about her book here:
Kirsten Harrell / I Pop In
Pam Archer / I Do Weddings

Tomorrow, it will travel onto these blogs:
Karen Putz / http://deafmomworld.com/karen-putz-talks-to-the-celebrity-experience-author/
Debba Haupert / Girlfriendology
Glenda Watson Hyatt / Author of I can do it Myself – Do It Myself