How to Alienate Customers, Loose Business and Look Foolish ? or ? Can You Spot The Difference?
How to Alienate Customers, Loose Business and Look Foolish ? or ? Can You Spot The Difference?
Have you ever heard of Jet2 airlines? Don?t worry if you haven?t, it seems it?s not worth it. Mick Skee, a 47 year old disabled passenger who lost both his legs and booked a flight to Mallorca was told by the airline that his spare pair of prosthetic legs are excess baggage and he had to pay for it. Trying to appeal to common sense, humanity and customer service, Mick still fails: ?I have been told that Jet2 are not prepared to budge?. Jet2 said it did not want to comment on individual cases.
Now just how often can you shoot in your own foot? One should think that business people are intelligent enough to know that only a happy customer is a repeat customer, and it seems to me that especially in times like the current, where business isn?t necessarily booming, companies would do what they can to keep their customers. Here was a chance an opportunity for an airline to demonstrate greatness and with an empathic smile and common sense waive the fee and let this disabled man take his artificial limps on board. But greed eats brain. The airline chooses to insist making extra ? 20 over making a customer happy.
A wise decision? I think not. They have won ? 20 and lost a customer who certainly is worth more. Bad enough that Jet2 shop floor staff seems to suffer from a bad attitude and a lack of customer service training, but blowing a chance to make good by stating that they won?t budge is just goof. If they had nonchalantly apologised and offered a pair of complimentary tickets, it would have not been a big deal and they probably would have made friends for life. But Jet2?s PR skills seem to be as developed as their customer service skills and so Mr. Skee will travel with a kinder airline in future.
The interesting thing is that there are other, shiny examples of airlines that seem to have a far better talent for offering service experience.
Have you ever heard of ?Palmair European?? The tiny British airline with only one plane and just 50 staff has been named the third best in the world. Palmair, which flies its 34-year old Boeing 737 to 14 European destinations, beat giants like Virgin Atlantic and BA in a poll by Which?, the consumer magazine. Travellers were asked to rate the cleanliness of the airplanes, the amount of leg-room, catering quality and the cabin crew performance.
Palmair is lean and doesn?t sport posh building and large overheads. It has a member of staff who draws up the seating plans from her kitchen table and then greets the passengers as they board. Seats have been removed and the cabin and lavatories are brightened up be fresh flowers every day.
We can learn an awful lot from this small business. For example, that you don?t need to be big, have lots of resources or be a big brand to compete successfully in your market. If we forget our ego for a moment and just do what needs to be done, perhaps we could find it in us to carry out task that we usually fell would be below us, and also put in some extra hours at our kitchen table. It?s the little things that matter. Keeping your premises clean and putting up flowers is something everybody can afford doing. And perhaps we are reminded about what great customer services really means: Being a great host and make customer feel cared of, and not allowing greed to eat brain, and squeeze as many customer into an airplane as possible. No to forget that personal service matters: Palmair was founded by its late chairman Peter Bath in 1957 and until 2006, Mr. Bath made sure he was in the departure lounge for each flight to greet the passengers, and then stood on the Tarmac at Bournemouth Airport and waved off every single flight.
David Skillicorn, managing director of Palmair says “Singapore Airlines has 100 planes including the A380 which is the largest plane in service, on-board massages and a choice of DVDs. All we can offer is the choice of tea or coffee – that is why I feel so flattered.?
No matter in what line of business you are, it?s not the posh glass towers that make a great company, nor the latest and expensive equipment or the size of teams and budgets. It?s the attitude of the people that makes a great company, and just like David (Skillicorn) can beat Goliath, a great attitude and a hands-on approach can outperform multi-billion pound competitors. So, do we have any excuse left for not pulling our weight and not winning?
Eugene Rembor ? www.remborpartners.com
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