How to deal with celebrity patrons

Only kidnappers stay away from celebrities. Media personalities are so high profile, the publicity that may ensue from their abduction is not good for any kidnap-for-ransom business.

Most legal establishments, however, encourage personalities to patronize their business, which is why there are celebrity endorsers.

But having celebrities come to your establishments can also have its drawbacks. Only a few years back, a popular spa got unwanted public attention when a dramatic actress, basically known to be quiet and private, complained about a botched job (it has something to do with a type of massage that uses heat and the actress’ back got burned). That made the rounds of movie talk shows.

A lot of businessmen I know, however, would still prefer personalities visiting their stores or restaurants and using their products. Some restaurant owners often offer huge discounts to celebrity patrons or sometimes give an extra dish on the house. To celebrities who cannot refuse such offer, reciprocate by giving a hefty tip to the wait staff.

There are also business owners who enjoy making friends with celebrities and in some cases the friendship forged turn out to be long lasting.

These days the best way to meet celebrities is to drop by skin clinics. The Belo Medical Centers have a lot of them going in and out of its doors on a daily basis.

Flawless isn’t behind either in terms of having the most number of celebrities dropping in regularly in its several branches.

But I’ve always wondered how the people from the business side feel every time there is a celebrity around. Do they get excited? Are they star-struck? And are they supposed to give these personalities extra attention?

I had a chat recently with Dr. Evelyn San Luis, who had been with Flawless since 2002. She remembers the first celebrity patient she had: Lorna Tolentino. For the doktora, it helped that she and Lorna had mutual friends. But Dr. San Luis never had a conversation with the actress — until Lorna came for a glutathione treatment (not to get fairer since she’s already mestiza, but as an anti-oxidant and to boost her immune system).

While she’s always careful when handling every patient, Dr. San Luis recalls being even more extra cautious with Lorna — “para walang masabi.” As she would later discover, the grand-slam queen turned out to be the sweetest. The lady doctor and the Flawless staff also soon noticed another one of Lorna’s positive traits: “She is very patient and is the type who doesn’t mind waiting for her turn,” volunteers Dr. San Luis. “She will never ask for any special treatment. She waits if she has to.”

But how should establishments treat celebrity clients? As a doctor, Dr. San Luis always sees to it that she is very professional about her approach — although at times she admits she couldn’t help but get star-struck. “But that feeling is there for only a few seconds or minutes. I get over it eventually,” she relates.

The first step she does is to get the patient’s confidence (celebrity or not). “I tell them what will happen — what to expect. If the procedure will hurt or if it will have any downtime,” she explains. During the treatment, she totally forgets that it is a celebrity she is handling. In her head, what is of utmost importance is to carry out the procedure correctly. And she does that with all her patients, regardless of status.

Having celebrity patients, of course, has its fringe benefits for people working in the clinic because they get to be friends with them. Mark Herras is their little boy in Flawless and he calls everyone “Ate.” “He is so lovable,” gushes Dr. San Luis. Yasmien Kurdi is her baby — even Maja Salvador, when this Channel 2 talent was still very new in the profession.

Her maternal instincts also drive her to give advice to these young celebrities like Jason Abalos, who always got constant reminders from Dr. San Luis “to finish his studies because education is an important tool in life.”

Some celebrities, of course, couldn’t help, but tell her their problems. Yes, the doktora also becomes their confidante. Of course, their secrets remain that — secrets, especially since the doctor always works on getting the person’s trust because that is important, especially in a patient-doctor relationship.

My other businessmen friends agree with the Flawless doctor. You need to get the trust of the client, especially celebrities. From them, I gathered a few tips on how to deal with celebrity patrons.

Don’t over fuss. Some get annoyed with the extra attention,  particularly those who just want to be normal people by enjoying a good and quiet meal at a restaurant or shop in a store in peace.

Never announce their presence, unless it is a party where the celebrity is expected as a guest. A girlie joint one time made the mistake of acknowledging through their public address system the presence of an actor, whose passport to get out of the house was to tell his wife that he was attending Bible studies. The married actor left in a huff and never returned.

Instruct the staff not to enumerate to other clients the names of the celebrities who patronize the establishment. A lot of them value their privacy and wouldn’t want details of their lives and activities known publicly. I only published the names of the actors mentioned above because most are official Flawless endorsers and some have become Dr. San Luis’ personal friends and they don’t mind getting associated with Flawless.

Treat your customers equally. Celebrity or not, give them the best service. Sometimes, giving personalities extra attention boomerangs on the poor celebrity. I once dined in a restaurant and when former First Lady Imelda Marcos walked in, the wait staff gave her all the attention in the world — even if she wasn’t asking for it. When the orders in the other tables got delayed, everyone blamed Mrs. Marcos. Now, you can go accusing her of various martial law offenses, but she was totally faultless at that point. And so don’t give celebrities that kind of disservice — if you know what’s good for your business.