Entrepreneurs are always trying to improve their business. What better way to do that than to learn from the experience of others?

Marquis Jet has an outstanding team of employees led by a management team of entrepreneurs and professionals with long and successful careers in business, sports management and entertainment.

The company features the Marquis Jet Card, which offers fractional jet ownership plans. Through their exclusive alliance with NetJets, Marquis Jet Card Owners can purchase 25 hours of flight time and use them at their leisure.

Marquis Jet Card Owners not only have the benefits of being able to schedule flights on their time, but they’re also treated like royalty by receiving special value-added benefits from Marquis Jet’s world-class alliance partners. Some of these benefits include access to the Mayo Clinic Executive Travel Response program, which offers Card Owners and their guests access to top medical services from Mayo Clinic while using Marquis Jets; the Avis Chairman’s Club, an invitation only membership to the most exclusive level of service Avis has to offer; Savoya Global Chauffeured Services, providing Card Owners four complimentary hours in a Savoya sedan anywhere in the United States; and the PennVet VIP Program, which provides Card Owners quality veterinary care anywhere in the Unites States when traveling with pets. I recently had the chance to speak to Randy Brandoff, Vice President of Marketing for Marquis Jet, about the company and the tremendous amount of success they’ve had since its founding.

What is the number one thing you feel it takes to run a successful business? Passion. You have to love what you’re doing and build a team that is bright, energetic and ready to fight for every loose ball.

Without giving away your secrets, do you have any tips when it comes to successful marketing? To the extent possible, track the return on all your marketing expenditures. Tracking not only minimizes wasted budget, but also enables you to increase spending in the areas that perform the best.

What is your philosophy of customer service? We refer to our clients as Marquis Jet Card Owners and our philosophy is to treat them the way the owner of a private jet should be treated. Marquis Jet and NetJets combined have 7,000 plus employees to call upon all of the resources at their disposal to meet and exceed our card owner’s rightful expectations. We are dedicated to responding to owner’s needs quickly, intelligently and always with integrity.

How does your company rate the effectiveness of their customer service? We conduct semi-annual surveys of our owners. And while we’re not surveying every owner multiple times throughout the year, we do survey what we feel is a meaningful amount. Ideally, we want to find the satisfaction level of existing card owners and what our retention rate is. If either is not where we like it to be, then we need to do better. Company leaders are very much involved with our card owners and get to know them at the events we sponsor and also during the sales process. For a lot of them, it’s not just the surveys, but they want to see first hand if our owners are happy or unhappy.

Why is repeat business so important? Customer retention makes it easier to maintain your size and easier to grow year after year. Our company relies heavily on word-of-mouth, and people are going to talk amongst their circles about the kind of service they received. If you provide great service, it leads to repeat business, and those customers will refer new customers.

What are some common customer service mistakes that you’ve seen other businesses make that could potentially cost them customers? First and foremost, I think it’s not responding to, or not immediately responding, when a mistake happens.

We’re in a high-touch service business. There are some times when service may be less than perfect, such as if an aircraft was late or the catering wasn’t as expected. We respond immediately and to the highest level of the organization. If we’ve made a mistake, we’ll go over the top to make it right.

The key is to acknowledge your mistakes, respond appropriately, and offer the highest level of response to make up for it.

I read an article in which Kenny Dichter, chairman and CEO of Marquis Jet, said that your customers aren’t customers; they are owners. Can you tell me a little bit more about that? Our customers really are the key driver of our business. They are considered owners because they have a fractional-based jet card. When they travel, it’s 100 percent as if they own that aircraft. They pick their passengers. If you go back to when we founded the company, it wasn’t about founding an aviation company as much as it was about creating a lifestyle enhancement tool. Unlike commercial airliners, where you absolutely have no sense of command and near guaranteed delays, we give our clients the ability to control time, saving a handful of hours if not longer on every flight. The ability to save a meaningful amount of hours during travel is an unbelievable perk and opportunity.

What kinds of things do you do to promote a positive work environment for your employees? We treat our employees and our staff at Marquis Jet very well. We think that translates into a rewarding work experience and a positive work environment. We have a lot of young people in the company and we have to continue to create new opportunities for them to move up the ranks. Taking care of our employees is just as important as taking care of our Marquis Jet Card owners. Also, we know that our employee culture translates to our Marquis Jet Card owners being treated well. — Lynn Celmer