Business leaders packed one of the biggest seminars in the North-East to learn how to keep and win more customers.

Almost 200 delegates, from companies ranging from manufacturing to banking, attended the Service Excellence seminar at The Sage Gateshead yesterday.

They came to hear advice on how to thrive by differentiating their businesses by exceeding customer expectations, from UK and US businesses which have done that.

The seminar, chaired by Sage chief executive Paul Walker, was hosted by The Journal, commercial law firm Robert Muckle LLP and the Eaga Partnership.

Speakers included vice president of people at New York company JetBlue Airways Vinny Stabile, managing partner of Robert Muckle Stephen McNicol, chief executive of the Eaga Partnership John Clough and co-founder and former MD of Rackspace UK Dominic Monkhouse.

Paul Walker, who revealed that Sage was spending $50m in the USA on improving its customer information systems, said: "I think it's great that we are having an event like this in the North-East and getting this kind of perspective about what service excellence means to businesses and getting this quality of speakers."

John Clough told delegates that Eaga, which aims to double its annual turnover to £1bn by 2010, had been so impressed by the service excellence programme that it had bought the company which organises service excellence tours to learn from US companies.

"Service is a culture, it's not an initiative. You have to be prepared to adopt a culture that enables your people to shine," he said. All the speakers emphasised that the key was recruiting the right people, enthusing them and empowering them to give excellent service.

Vinny Stabile explained how JetBlue Airways had grown through its service excellence programme from employing 1,600 people five years ago to about 11,000 today.

"I want people whose default position is smiling. If you get people whose attitude is right, then I think you can teach them everything else," he said.

"Delight your people and your people will delight your customers. If there's one message you take away today, remember that."

The presentations were followed by an enthusiastic question and answer session. Delegate David Cheetham, principal of Gateshead College, said: "It was fascinating and inspiring and will be a great help to businesses in the North-East."