Community voting begins today for the world’s largest service prize. Ten Lansing area businesses are being recognized as finalists. Tens of thousands of public votes are anticipated, and will determine this year’s award recipient! All community members can be participants in telling stories of their own and voting for their favorite businesses.
The award has three goals. One is to use the power of storytelling as a teaching and training tool for Celebration! Cinema & Studio C! employees, who advocate for business finalists based on direct experiences that have inspired them. Secondly, the campaign aspires to be an encouragement to business nominees, each of whom receive promotion, movie perks and an invitation to an annual ‘Art of Celebrated Service’ workshop. Finally, Celebration! Cinema hopes that the campaign can be one factor contributing to people’s expectation that this is a region of the country marked by world-class hospitality.
Public voting for the finalists begins Wednesday, November 8th, and runs through Monday, November 20th. The finalists for Lansing & Okemos can be found at https://celebratedservice.com/lansing/ where the community can vote, tell stories and determine the award recipient. Award recipients will be revealed at www.celebratedservice.comby noon on Tuesday, Nov. 21.
The award is supported by sponsors Beene Garter LLP, Mercantile Bank, MLive Media Group and Zingerman’s Community of Businesses.
“Celebrated service creates a great vibe in the community” says Raymond Reitsma, of Mercantile Bank. “When customers come into Mercantile, I want them to feel like they’ve been heard, they’ve been helped and their objectives have been met.”
“With exceptional service and care, you can stand out. You can make a difference,” shared Jamie Dionne of MLive.
Business recipients receive six months of recognition on Celebration! Cinema movie screens, lobbies, web site, Facebook and radio. The award also includes a $5,000 cash prize, specialized training at ZingTrain (in Ann Arbor) and movie watch parties for the employees of the business recipient. Past award recipients have appreciated the encouragement they have received from their customers and reported that the recognition has contributed to the health of their businesses.
“Our customers are awesome, and they deserve every little bit of creativity and attention that we can give to them,” says Mike Gilpin of FastSigns, one of the past award recipients.
“Celebrated service is making your business feel like its your customer’s home,” adds Ron Veihll of the Getty Street Grill. “It carries on to the rest of the community for the rest of the day.”
One business will win a Celebrated Service Award in each of the six markets that Celebration! Cinema theatres operate. Those markets are Benton Harbor, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Muskegon, Mt. Pleasant and Portage/Kalamazoo. The value of award packages for the six regional recipients total more than $300,000 in value.
“Celebrated Service helps create the culture of West Michigan,” says Tom Rosenbach of Beene Garter. “I think that people want to come here because they know this culture exists, and they are attracted to it.”
SOURCE: PRESS RELEASE
