Last December, because my blog is listed on Guy Kawasaki’s media website, Alltop, I received an exclusive email offer to preview an advance copy of his upcoming book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions (Released on March 8^th).

Enchantment delves into the art and science of influencing others to pursue a particular course of action. This may sound manipulative but it’s not. Guy is very clear that if your motives are not pure (or if your product or service sucks), then the ideas in his book won’t help you.

After reading Guy’s book, I contacted him and posed several questions. My background is in hotels and a number of my readers work in that industry. For that reason, a couple of the questions are specific to hotels.

Steve: In a traditional, customer-facing role, what do you see as the greatest single obstacle to delivering “enchanting” customer service?

Guy: The single greatest obstacle is the CEO who doesn’t appreciate the value and joy of providing great customer service. As the saying goes, “When a fish gets rotten, the head stinks first.”

Steve: Readers learned the story behind your preferred airline, Virgin America. What is your preferred hotel chain and why?

Guy: How about if I describe the perfect hotel room? Sure, I’d like a suite so that there’s a place to work and a place to sleep, but the little things are just as important. First, for crying out loud, a desk with more than two electrical plugs—both currently used by the lamp and router. I’m carrying a MacBook, iPhone, iPad, and Sprint MiFi device. I need lots of outlets. Second, an Internet connection faster than AOL dialup five years ago. I need at least 5 megabits speed. Third, powerful shower pressure. There’s nothing worse than wimpy water pressure. Fourth, flexible late checkout. If the checkout time is at noon, it’s not like the maids are rolling in at 12:01. Sure, if everyone requested late checkout, the hotel would be in trouble but most people won’t check out late.

Steve: If you managed a hotel, what is the first action you would take in order to enchant more hotel guests?

Guy: Free Wifi. I cannot understand why hotels that cost $100/day provide free Wifi and hotels that cost $500/day charge you for it. When you couple this with the fact that the Wifi I’m paying for is slow, it makes me crazy.

Steve: If you managed a new group of people tomorrow, what is the first action you would take in order to enchant them?

Guy: I would communicate that I will not ask them to do anything that I wouldn’t do. In other words, I will suck it up and do what it takes to succeed—and I expect them to do that too.

Steve: If you wrote a customer service blog and had a chance to interview yourself about Enchantment, what question would you ask that I did not? And how would you respond to that question?

Guy: I’d ask, “How do I enchant my boss so that I can have the freedom to do what I want to do for our customers?” And my answer would be that the key to enchant your boss is to drop everything else and do what your boss asks for. This might not sound like it’s optimal for you or the organization, but that’s what it takes. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to do what you should do.

Steve: One could argue that this “yes” manager you are endorsing, from a productivity standpoint, would be less effective than his counterpart who would ask the boss, “Which of my current priorities would you prefer that I set aside in order to devote the time needed to accomplish this (most recent) request?”

Guy: I understand the intellectual basis for this response, but in the real world, you’re increasing the workload of your boss. Now he or she has to analyze the tasks in front of you to decide on your priorities. In other words, when your boss asks you to do something, the enchanting response is not to effectively say, “I will do that if you tell me what not to do instead.” That’s creating more work for your boss. Suck it up. Do everything. I never said enchanting people is easy.

If your interest in Guy Kawasaki’s Enchantment has been piqued, I encourage you to pick it up today. Here is the link to purchase the book directly from Amazon.

Disclosure: I do not receive any sort of compensation for recommending books. Heck, because of Colorado state tax laws, I cannot even take part in Amazon’s Affiliate Program.

What can I say? I’m just enchanted by Guy’s new book. And when you’re enchanted by something, you can’t keep quiet. You’re compelled to tell others about it! Enjoy!

The title of this post is a quote by Guy Kawasaki. Guy is a “somebody.”

I had my first interaction with Guy in 2009 when I approached him through Twitter to see about obtaining ten signed copies of his book, Reality Check.

Although he was busy with a leading blog, How to Change the World, a media website, Alltop, a venture capital firm, Garage Technology Ventures, and numerous writing, consulting, and speaking projects, he took the time to personally respond to me and fulfill my request.

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True story: My original request was for ten signed books. This was the number of books ordered and paid for in advance.

When the box of signed books arrived from Guy’s Palo Alto office a week or so later, there were only eight books in the box. 20 percent of the order was missing!

I immediately wrote Guy a note on my stationery thanking him for taking the time to personally sign the books and fulfill my order. I also mentioned that, for some reason, there were only eight books in the box, instead of the ten books originally ordered for which I had prepaid.

I’ve never met Guy but know from his writing and speaking that he has a great sense of humor. With that in mind, since he had sent me only 80 percent of my original order, I decided to send him 80 percent of my original thank you note and business card.

After carefully snipping 20 percent off the right-hand sides of my business card and thank you note, I then mailed the remaining 80 percent of the note and business card to Guy.

About a week later, two more books and an Alltop t-shirt arrived in the mail.

Fortunately, the 20 percent strips from my original thank you note and business card were still on my desk. I mailed them to Guy the next day.

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Months later, I sought Guy’s advice pertaining to an unconventional marketing idea that my wife, a marketer, opposed.

In his response, he endorsed the idea saying, “Steve, tell your wife that the way I got to be Guy is by doing stuff like this when I wasn’t Guy.”

In other words, the way Guy became a “somebody” is by doing things differently when he was a “nobody.”

Fast forward to Dec. 23, 2010: Because my blog is listed on Guy’s media website, Alltop, I received an exclusive email offer to preview an advance copy of his upcoming book, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions (Available March 2011).

Guy’s thinking is that, because recipients of his offer are bloggers who are loyal to Alltop, there’s a good chance that they will dedicate a blog post to his book around the time of its release in early March. As a result, Guy will gain exposure to his fans’ fans and the endorsements (and book sales) will multiply.

This is an unconventional (and brilliant) marketing strategy. Guy knows that anyone who has been introduced to his work through social media, by reading his books or blog, or hearing him speak at an event, and, further, has taken the time to register their blog with Alltop, will likely be receptive to his offers. And, due to the exclusivity of this particular invitation, I suspect his response rate will be quite high.

Contrast Guy’s unique approach to engaging with and marketing to his fan base with the familiar and predictable patterns of other well-known business authors and entrepreneurs who set up Twitter and other social media accounts in order to “connect” with their fans.

In my experience, these high-profile accounts generally connect with each other (i.e., well-known “somebodies”) and are indifferent towards others (i.e., lesser-known “nobodies”) and their attempts to engage.

In so doing, they may be unwittingly forfeiting opportunities to enchant their fans and influence their hearts, minds, and actions—in the way that Guy Kawasaki does so masterfully.

Last May, I contacted a Twitter celebrity or Twitty (Twit + celebrity = Twitty) to see how I could go about buying ten signed copies of his latest book. My plan was to send a copy to every 1,000th follower of my Twitter updates with a note as a way of recognizing their milestone follow and connecting in a meaningful way.

When I finally reached this particular Twitty, I was referred to his assistant. I left a message for the assistant and never heard back. So, as I’m accustomed to doing when I have options, I contacted another Twitty with the same request. Within an hour, I had received a personal response from @GuyKawasaki with instructions of how to obtain ten signed copies of his latest book, Reality Check which I’ve reviewed at my website.

Within two weeks, the signed copies appeared on my doorstep with an Alltop t-shirt and a note from Guy. So far, between milestone followers and others, I’ve given away all but three copies—which means I’ll be placing a second order before the year’s up.

Now, I realize that @GuyKawasaki has many more income streams than his books (as does the first Twitty I contacted). Even so, successful entrepreneurs rarely compartmentalize the quality of their personal service, meaning that how they handle requests for a small number of signed books is reflective of the quality of their personal service overall.

Sure, there are probably many ways that one can rationalize what happened during my first attempt to obtain signed books, but that’s unproductive. Don’t we often hear excuses from those who fail to meet our expectations regarding one thing or another?

The bottom line is that, as a consumer of business products, my experience has lead me to order books from and become a promoter of @GuyKawasaki. Add me and my book orders to the thousands of others who have had similar experiences with @GuyKawasaki and you begin to get a sense of how one’s personal service contributes to his or her overall success—whether it be the best of times or the worst of times.

Steve @enthused

Here are two separate stories I received this week that share a common theme: restaurateurs who made meaning by expressing genuine interest, conveying authentic enthusiasm, and providing pleasant surprises. Those who practice these memorable customer service behaviors cannot help but succeed—even in a fragile economy.

Lynn from Kansas writes:

“When I went to pick up my taxes this morning in Paola, I parked in front of one of my favorite restaurants—Beethoven’s 9th—across the street from my accountant. It’s a fantastic German restaurant run by a German couple and their son. It was only 9:30am, and they don’t open until 11:00am.

I was making a call on my cell phone in the car when the restaurant owner came out and herded me into the restaurant. We talked as they made breakfast (no, they don’t open for breakfast, but that’s what I got!) and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves! What a pleasant surprise!

On top of that, they never gave me a bill to pay, so I left double the price of what I thought the breakfast would cost, as a “tip.” What wonderful people they are!”

Erin from Colorado writes:

“On Saturday, Fran and I went out to breakfast at a little restaurant that we frequent—the Country Road Café in Kittredge (highly recommend if you’re ever out this way!). It’s known far and wide in Evergreen, Morrison, and beyond, for its incredible food and is always packed.

While we were there Saturday, the owner, Mark, was out serving tables and topping everyone off with coffee, being very attentive to diners’ needs. He and his waiters kept coming by our table to try and top my coffee off, so finally I said, “Thanks, but no thanks, I’m pregnant, so I’m just trying to stick with one!” He seemed a little embarrassed, but said sorry and then something clever and walked away.

A few minutes later, he came back, and proceeded to tell us that he couldn’t believe he didn’t tell me congrats—and also told us about how much he enjoyed being a father. Later, as we got ready to pay our bill, it was marked, “No charge, congrats!”

Fran and I already loved this place, but we’ll be sure to continue going back after that kind of service and attention – and we’ll definitely share our great customer service story. And in this economy, we know a free meal means more, both to him (since people aren’t dining out as much) and to us, so it was an especially nice gesture.”

Guy Kawasaki in his book, The Art of the Start, describes why some succeed in business while others fail. He suggests that those who succeed in business set out to “make meaning, not money.” And contends, “Those who set out to make money, will not make meaning or money.”

These restaurateurs are out to make meaning. And their businesses, clientele, and reputations reflect that.