Service

Apart from the fact that “service” is in my name these days (so to speak), I have been a proponent of service excellence since my first retail job. I joined local jean retailer Starship Jeans in 1978, and over the next five years, learned from some ex-Slack Shack pros the prime directives of customer service. Know your product. Understand your client’s needs by asking questions. Propose solutions and work constructively with your client to explore all possible and viable options until they are completely satisfied. That is service excellence to me.

I had long-standing, loyal clients over those years, to whom I sold Cream Jeans from a series of seven stores I helped the owners open across the city. Our success was based on an excellent reputation for personal client service and a very select range of product lines. And anyone who was around then can tell you: everyone’s ass looked awesome in a pair of Cream Jeans.

I never forgot what “service” means: a complete devotion to bringing your client to a happy resolution of whatever problem they have brought to you. From time to time, I sent my customers to a competitor – if I didn’t have what my client needed, I made it my business to know who did – and I sent them there knowing full well that they would return another day. They always did, and they still do. Now that’s what I call a personal brand.