Everyday PR

In today’s competitive environment for increased consumer selectivity and decreased spending dollars, bad customer service just won’t fly.  So when a group of us were recently unable to make airline connections due to inclement weather – as in gale force winds – the experiences with different airlines resulted in examples of good, bad and flat-out stupid customer service. 
 

Leading the pack for the single best customer service experience was Southwest Airlines. It took all of five minutes to chat with a well-trained, personable agent to take care of all our flight changes.  At one point, the agent actually apologized for the bad weather, like she had anything to do with it.  The thought of charging a passenger for making such a change never occurred to her. Nobody in our group was surprised.  Southwest’s extraordinarily positive reputation and brand remain in tack. (I understand Continental Airlines  charges a minimal fee to make reservation changes, but nobody in our group was flying with them.)
 
Runner-up for good customer service was Delta Airlines.   While agents initially assessed a fee for making changes to the original flight, those fees were waived when the customer explained the weather situation.  They did, however, charge a difference in fares or points.  The airline gets an average score for being helpful – after all, this is a service industry.  But for the customer having to fork over additional money, the thought still stings.
 
The worst consumer offender, hands down, was American Airlines.  If this airline’s reservations agents were responsible for protecting our borders, illegal immigration wouldn’t be an issue as they would either shoot or charge them to death before crossing.  Customer service features included:
·         Consistency.  Regardless of flight, fare or famine, American Airlines didn’t waive change fees for anybody.  They were merciless.
·         The average cost per person to change flights from one weekday to the following weekday was $1,000. 
·         Some of the group had purchased their tickets through the airline’s frequent flyer program, which was supposed to reward regular fliers for their business. Instead, these frequent fliers were punished for their loyalty by being accessed outlandish fees to continue to make an unavoidable flight change.
·         I heard one American agent tell a colleague, “Whoa, making that change is gonna cost you a lot of money. Let me check again as this can’t be right.”   He may as well have said, “You’re screwed”, like the ticket agent told Steve Martin in Planes, Trains and Automobiles .  When your own agents are openly balking at their employer’s data on their computer screen, something is wrong.  I know the airlines are hurting for dollars, but to hose your best users of your service is crazy stupid. And by the way, several in the group said they’d never use Amerian again.
 
As author Karl Albrecht of The Only Thing That Matters points out, “Many organizations fail at good customer service because their leaders don’t realize that the heart of the service journey is spiritual, not mechanical.  They will bureaucratize the whole thing.”  He must have studied American Airlines.

Was our situation a fluke?  You tell me.  Whether it was or not, the point is that these customer service experiences help solidify each airline’s brand as a good or bad organization.  Hence, one single experience can make or break your brand and its equity, or lack thereof.

What kind of good and bad customer service experiences are you willing to share?

While consumers are on hold with your company’s call center, they could be posting unflattering things on Twitter about their wait while simultaneously researching for blogs that badmouth you. And in today’s social media environment, consumers are listening more to consumers – not to your pre-recorded music or marketing messages.  Read more.

What do Chick-fil-A, Publix Supermarkets and Cracker Barrel have in common? Simple:   a good product, appropriate price points and excellent customer service.  At the end of the recession day and all other things being equal, these and other companies like them have a much greater chance of survival because of their attention to these common qualities.

Keys to survival: Right prices, good products, excellent customer service

 Chick-fil-A enjoyed unprecedented sales in 2008, its 41st consecutive year of system-wide sales gains.  Publix, a Southeastern chain founded in 1930, opened more stores last year – 79 – than ever before.  And for the 18th consecutive year, an independent poll by Restaurants & Institutions named Cracker Barrel “Best Family Dining Restaurant”.

Author Fred Reichheld of “The Ultimate Question: Driving Good Profits and True Growth” says an unhappy customer can hurt the company’s reputation by telling 6-10 people about the experience.  Today, that number can quickly reach hundreds of thousands, thanks to the Internet.  Per Reichheld, just a 5% increase in customer retention will yield a 25-100% improvement in profits.

I recently called our insurance company to check on two claims.  Once I reached a person named Patti, she said there was no record of the claims and to re-send via fax.  I tried unsuccessfully to send.  Two days later at 8:02 a.m., the phone rang.  It was Patti.  She wanted to know if anything was wrong as she hadn’t received the fax.  She also said further research on the claims showed that I should receive reimbursement by the end of the week.  I did.  If Patti and her co-workers provide that kind of customer service every day, the company will have a much better chance of survival and customer loyalty.