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  <body>&lt;p&gt;This last week on vacation, I thought &amp;ndash; a lot &amp;ndash; about excellence in business.  The &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.falkensteiner.com/en/&quot;&gt;hotel chain&lt;/a&gt; we stayed at is German, and does everything just right. We learned, during a horse drawn carriage ride in the mountains, that Falkensteiner began as a small hotel with a big idea about creating a fabulous experience for their customers.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They have absolutely succeeded and now have a slew of popular locations to choose from in Europe. It is tempting to believe that offering customers a special experience that they are glad to pay for is the luxury of wealthy companies, but today, I had the most incredible surprise arrive in the mail, which proved to me, once and for all, that this is not at all the case.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I ordered a singing bowl from &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sankofasong.com/&quot;&gt;Fabeku&lt;/a&gt; before vacation. During vacation, I checked my email to discover a really wonderful email thank-you from him, telling me that he had sent the bowl. In addition to that, he also complimented my website and said some things which indicated he actually took a look around, which &lt;strong&gt;made my day&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even more impressive, when I picked up the package today, I ripped into it in the Embassy parking lot, unable to wait to see the bowl. Imagine my surprise, and utter delight, when the first thing I saw was a handwritten card! Digging through the little white packing kernels excitedly, I then found a package of incense! Brilliant! THEN, just to make it even more amazing, the bowl was wrapped like a gift, and really, I still can&amp;rsquo;t stop grinning.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Can you imagine? What if we all ran our businesses with such awareness of our customer&amp;rsquo;s experience? I spent a fair amount of money to purchase the bowl, but getting it in the mail felt like getting a gift from a dear friend. As a result of this (and a stellar vacation at a place that demonstrates this sort of superstardom) I am completely inspired to offer that kind of care and attention to the people who choose to work with me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As Fabeku&amp;rsquo;s (now loyal) customer, as a loyal &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.falkensteiner.com/en/&quot;&gt;Falkensteiner&lt;/a&gt; customer, and as an entrepreneur wanting to offer the best of who I am, what I took away from my experience with them are the following superstar actions:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Entrepreneurial Superstar Actions&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt; *Connecting with customers personally&lt;br /&gt; *Making it special&lt;br /&gt; *Unexpected goodies&lt;br /&gt; *Heartfelt awareness of what you offer and why it&amp;rsquo;s awesome&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The marketing materials that both Fabeku and Falkensteiner put out are great.&amp;nbsp; You know exactly what you are signing up for.&amp;nbsp; But both of them go above and beyond.&amp;nbsp; You get what they say you get, and then some.&amp;nbsp; That, in my estimation, is what makes people keep coming back for more. Not only do I want to do business with those kinds of people - but that is the kind of business I strive to create.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;How do you achieve superstardom with your customers? What do you offer that no one else can? Are there ways that you connect with your customers and take care of them that create lasting relationships? Share the inspiration!&lt;/p&gt;</body>
  <created-at type="datetime">2009-11-02T11:38:07Z</created-at>
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  <permalink>being-an-entrepreneurial-superstar</permalink>
  <posts-count type="integer">4</posts-count>
  <published-at type="datetime">2009-11-05T09:56:37Z</published-at>
  <reviewed-at type="datetime">2009-11-05T12:57:39Z</reviewed-at>
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  <summary>How do you achieve superstardom with your customers? What do you offer that no one else can? </summary>
  <title> Being an Entrepreneurial Superstar</title>
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  <updated-at type="datetime">2009-11-05T12:57:39Z</updated-at>
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