The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Service Winning Business
Monday - October 24, 2005 03:57 PM in
by Peter Leppik
Lots of people (myself included from time to time) expel a lot of hot air talking about customer service as a way to win business from the competition. Most of this hot air just does what hot air normally does: it rises to the ceiling and dissipates. But every now and then there's a company which truly understands how service can be used competitively, even in a commodity business, to create and sustain an advantage.
Today, I'd like to share my recent experience with one such company. Partly because I think it makes a great example, but also because (like any new convert) I want everyone to know about this transcendent, almost mystical experience I had.
The company is an airline, which may seem unlikely since travel has become a miserable experience in the past few decades (and especially the past few years), and with so many airlines currently in bankruptcy one wouldn't think that customer service would be a priority anywhere. The source of my incredible customer experience was Midwest Airlines.
Those readers who have flown on Midwest are probably smiling and nodding already. If you are a fellow traveler, you know how this story goes.
It began when I had to make plans to fly to Boston at the end of last week. As is my usual custom, I checked with one of the major travel web sites to find the cheapest fare which met my needs. Here in Minneapolis, 80% of the flights are on Northwest (which is one of the above mentioned bankrupt airlines), so much of the time you wind up flying Northwest, but sometimes there are cheaper flights elsewhere.
This time, Northwest wanted well over $1,000 for a round-trip ticket (that's the penalty for booking a flight at the last minute). Midwest, however, wanted only a fraction of the price. I had never flown Midwest before, but the price was right, and it got me where I needed to go when I needed to be there, changing planes in Milwaukee. So I booked the flight. I noticed something about "Signature Service" on Midwest's website, but every airline has marketing copy about how great its service is. Words alone are not enough to relieve the utter misery which is flying coach.
My first surprise came when I checked in. I asked for a window seat in an exit row, since I like to watch the clouds go by but I'm not a small person (which is a bit like saying that Einstein was no dummy). I was assigned seat 14-D, which in a six-across configuration would be an aisle, not a window. The counter agent explained that Midwest's jets seat four across, so D is the right hand window seat.
Many small regional jets seat only four or even three across, and it was no surprise that they'd be flying a very small jet for a short hop from Minneapolis to Milwaukee. I started wondering if I should check my suitcase, since regional jets often don't have enough space for larger carry-ons.
But when I boarded, I got my second surprise: this was no regional jet, but a Boeing 717, a small airliner normally fitted out with seats five across. Every seat on the entire plane was configured like first class.
Being the not-small person I am, I usually approach air travel with a certain dread: the same dread small fish must feel just before being packed in oil and sealed in a metal can. When I saw the roomy seats my mood immediately began to lift, and I began to contemplate the possibility that this flight might even be pleasant.
It was the third surprise, however, which changed my flight from merely good to the transcendent experience of being treated well by an airline. As we taxied to the runway, the cabin began to fill with a familiar and comforting smell. Sure enough, shortly after takeoff the flight attendant walked down the aisle and handed everyone chocolate-chip cookies, still warm and gooey from being baked onboard the plane. I will grant that chocolate chip cookies don't help much with my not-smallness, but they really do make me feel like I'm getting something special. Hey, this airline actually treats me like a human being, not like part of a herd-of-cattle-who-might-be-terrorists.
I always look forward to going home, but this was the first time in recent memory I actually looked forward to the flight itself.
It didn't take me long to decide that this treatment is worth paying a little bit extra for. I'm still going to check for the lowest fares, but then I'll check to see if Midwest Airlines comes close. As long as they're within shouting distance of the best price, I'm flying Midwest.
Because any airline can transport me from Point A to Point B. But this is the only one I've found which has managed to make me enjoy the experience.
| | |