Can good come from bad? The answer is yes at United Airlines.
Many of you know about the media frenzy that followed Dave Carroll’s visit to the RightNow User Summit last fall. The story of United Airlines losing his luggage while he was on his way to speak to 750 customer service executives about them breaking his guitar just had too much irony not to get major media attention. Within 48 hours, a thousand tweets had broadcast the event and the story had appeared on the cover of the New York Times business section and CNN – 27 major media hits in total.
The great news is that good can come from bad.
Every organization occasionally misses customer expectations; however, rapid, sincere intervention often results in higher customer loyalty than if the problem had never occurred in the first place. So when things go wrong, we are really being presented with opportunities to build customer loyalty.
This week United Airlines came through with flying colors for me.
On Thursday I was flying from Denver to Washington Dulles on United flight 932. I upgraded to the last seat in business class, but when it came time for meals they had run out of my selection. Rather than the expected, “that’s your tough luck”, the flight Purser Wendy Zazzero (file 133825) took the time to personally come and apologize to me, kneeling down next to my aisle seat so she could look me straight in the eye. She even sweetened the apology with a free bar of Ghirardelli chocolate and an offer of anything from their snack box collection. We agreed on a settlement, but then she returned with an unopened bottle of the wine I was drinking as a thank you for accepting the alternative meal.
I was impressed. She had done everything right. Certainly it would have been better if my meal had been there, but she could not magically make another meal appear. What she did do was recognize she had an issue, own the problem, apologize and use the authority she had to make it right to the best of her ability. I am more apt to pick United next time I travel, because they care.
Coincidentally, this week I have a meeting with the SVP of Customer Care at United Airlines. Maybe something good will come from the whole Dave Carroll episode.
Greg,
As you know, outstanding customer care is all about ensuring your folks have the necessary skills and resources they need in all environments, then empowering them to do what is required. It sounds simple, but the secret lies in developing organizational structures and systems that build and sustain the “customer focued” culture.
Good luck with the SVP of Customer Care at United.
Henry
Hi Greg,
Thanks for sharing this.
The most delightfull aspect of this behavior is the fact that Wendy kneeled down to look into your eyes, by that taking you serious and that her behavior was authentic. Often these of staff in these circumstances just try to make it up by giving away gifts.
Good luck with your meeting (you will have a topic to talk about…)
Ronald
Ripples Business Development
The Netherlands
Henry & Ronald,
Thank you for your comments. I agree that an important component to customer experience excellence is your people. As Henry points out, training and empowerment are crucial; employees should be empowered to step outside of the process when appropriate when it makes a difference for a customer experience. Also, to Ronald’s point, personality and passion really make a difference – your customer-facing employees must really care about your customers.
greg
Good Afternoon Greg,
your article points out that every time we are in contact with our customers it is an opportunity to strengthen our relationship, by providing a listening ear and a solution to the problem.In the world of Turnaround Management many of our clients have forgotten this very important step. They find themselves spending all of their time trying to think their way out of the problem. Instead they should be focused on finding new sales opportunities .First, through existing customers because they are accessible, and second, through new customers. This is why CRM software is so important. it does not allow them to take their eye of the ball.
What a great story to tell on the appointment. In a world of Customer Service nightmare stories, it is heartwarming to hear some positive news that airline chivalry is not dead. These are the people that make the difference in retaining customers.
This is an encouragement to those of us who have to deal with the customers! Thanks for sharing. The amazing thing to me is that United Airlines was serving meals~I bet there was an extra fee wasn’t there?
I’m glad to see that United seems to be getting it together. I’ve noticed that they really seem to be making the most of their Twitter feed (@UnitedAirlines) by publishing both new annaouncements as well as customer stories, both good and bad. By allowing their users to share their problems, they’ve also found a new way to showcase their methods and efficiencies at solving these same problems.
Here’s to hoping that Right Now can play a role in taking United’s CX to the next level.
Hi Greg,
I’ve often used the airline industry as a prime example of how the lower echelon of paid employees often have the highest impact on customer satisfaction and bottom line revenue to a company. Certainly the corporate execs, pilots, and mechanics have ultimate responsibilities for policies and safety, but the people that most affect whether our flying experience is worth repeating are the ticket agents and flight attendents. As you point out, they are the ones that can turn poor experiences into positive memories.
Too often companies treat their call center staff as robotic wage earners with minimal training, standard responses, and restricted procedures. Instead of ensuring customer satisfaction, they are more concerned about management satisfaction.
Nowadays, it seems as though staffing requirements are filled by searching for candidates with matching work experience and no longer for trainable people who own particular skillsets. Purser Wendy knew what she could do to improve your experience, but your lasting impression beyond the settlement trinkets was the way she presented herself and made the important eye contact (demonstrating true desire to please). I wonder if you can find out from the SVP of Customer Care at United what part of Wendy’s action was United training, policies, and procedures versus and what part was Wendy taking personal ownership and doing a superior job.
I agree. One of the biggest lessons for us in our business is that “culture fit” is actually the most important characteristic for successful hiring. Hiring a genius with lots of great experience, but no cultural fit will result in lots of broken glass and eventually separation.
Hi Greg,
Is your company currently available for public investment and trade? (stock market)
We are traded on NASDAQ under the symbol RNOW.