BUSINESS & LIFE: Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service

 This week, we wrap up our series on “Delivering Red Carpet Customer Service” and focus on what that term “red carpet customer service means”.  I was initially thinking of skipping this week as today, Easter Monday is a holiday. However, on further reflection, the Easter Triduum of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday demonstrates so vividly “Red Carpet Customer Service”.

On Holy Thursday, Jesus demonstrated humility; he did not behave as if he were better than his disciples, though in reality He was and is.  He washed his disciples feet and symbolized quite vividly that he came to serve and not to be served.  He served his disciples with love and led by example as he instructed them to go out and serve.  Good Friday is about selflessness.  Jesus paid the ultimate price for our salvation by accepting God’s will that He die to save us from our sins. It is about Jesus surrendering to the will of God, except for a brief moment when he felt that God had forsaken him but quickly recovered and prayed “Not my will but your will be done.”   Easter Sunday, a day of celebration and hope for Jesus has risen!  Easter Sunday represents rebirth, renewal, hope and life.  How does that, you may be asking have anything to do with customer service?

Red Carpet Customer Service, also known as Quality or Excellent Customer Service is about going the extra mile, putting ourselves in another’s shoes, making others feel as “very important person (VIP)”.  It is about saying “Yes” to a customer’s request and figuring out the how, according to Donna Cutting (2008). It is dealing with unpleasant customers with patience, understanding and friendliness.  It is recognizing that co-workers are customers too and treating them with respect, courtesy and love.  It is the appreciation of the good in and value of others so that there is no discrimination in service.  It is making an effort to know your customers by name, understanding and in some cases anticipating their needs.  It is about loving our work and being happy to serve and in so doing bringing a smile to someone’s heart.

Let us revisit the Easter Triduum and link it to “Red Carpet Customer Service.”  On Holy Thursday, Jesus knew that Judas would betray him that very night, yet he washed his feet and shared a meal with him. Good Friday, Jesus submitted to God’s will and died for the salvation of all including those who taunted, jeered at and crucified him.  He died, as the Bible tell us, even while we were still sinners.  Easter Sunday that glorious day, a day of hope and rejoicing as we are assured that Jesus triumphed over evil.  Every day we should be thankful for Jesus and God’s love for us, however during the Easter Triduum, we are reminded of Jesus’ selflessness.

This year, I was in Trinidad on Good Friday and went to Maracas at 4am to follow the Stations of the Cross.  I was in for a surprise!  It was not merely a solemn retracing of Jesus’s walk that day. It was a reenactment of the scene, with full costume: Jesus, Mary, Veronica, weeping women, children, the men from the Synagogue, Pontius Pilate and his wife, soldiers, scourgers, Simon of Cyrene, Joseph of Arimathaea, Nicodemus and the crowd.  As I made that pilgrimage, witnessing the reenactment with the jeering from the soldiers, the whipping of Jesus, the wailing of the women and the huge crowd following, I reflected on Jesus carrying the cross on which he would be nailed.

Here was an innocent man, who had done nothing but good and who had the power to walk away from it all, steadfastly carrying on.  There were these soldiers and the men of the synagogue with no mercy, whipping, jeering and taunting, appearing to take pleasure in showing Jesus that they had power and his fate in their hands.  Jesus all knowing, forgiving them for not knowing what they were doing.  The women and the majority of the crowd like helpless, unwilling spectators, yet incapable of walking away.  At the end of the journey Jesus was nailed to the cross to save all mankind.  This is perfect love.

And for the very first time, I made the link with “Red Carpet Customer Service.”  The ability to deliver excellent service even when things are difficult, our finances are low, our home life unhappy, our working conditions bad, our customers are unpleasant and our coworkers betray us.  If we focus on our work at hand and embody Jesus’ selflessness that is not our will but God’s will be done in our lives, we are able to look beyond our current circumstances to see the future and the prize we are working towards. We also appreciate that there is no situation that is worse or unjustified as Jesus’ crucifixion, and it makes it easier to forgive.  At The Trinity Church in Trinidad where Father Cornelius Phillip is the Parish Priest and Father Jason Grell, the Assistant Parish Priest (both Dominicans), Father Cornelius and some parishioners wore t-shirts that read, “Forgive, and when you remember, Forgive again”. A very fitting message.

The principles of red carpet are embodied in the Easter Triduum:

1. Think “Yes” before saying “No”
2. Service to all without discrimination
3. Co-workers are customers too
4. All customers are important – Treat them as VIPs
5. All customers are valued
6. Know your customers by name (At least try!)
7. Go the extra mile to serve a customer
8. Listen to the customer
9. Treat difficult customers with special love
10. Understand and anticipate customers’ needs
11. Be honest with your customers
12. Love your work and serve with joy
13. Consistently deliver great service
14. Make every encounter a positive one
15. Roll out the Red Carpet

Next week we begin the series “Doing Business in Dominica”.  We will cover the following topics “Starting a Business, Role of Small Business in Economic Growth, Challenges of Small Business, Profile of Successful Businesses”.

On Wednesday, April 3, 2013, VF Inc invites you to a lecture on “Embracing Positive Wellness Behaviours in our Daily Lives” by Dr. Sybil Allen-Jones at the Fort Young Hotel at 7:30pm, one of the activities in celebration and thanksgiving to mark our 7^th Anniversary.  We hope to see you there.