Lately I have had the great fortune to travel to both the east and west coasts of the United States. I travelled on various airlines and experienced excellent service; from front-line customer service and gate agents, flight attendants, informative captains, right down to receiving my luggage each and every time.
With over 13 years experience in the airline industry, I’ve learned that exceptional customer service should be number one at all times. Statistics show acquiring new customers can cost five times more than satisfying or retaining a customer. So, when it comes to picking your team, attitude and interest must over-ride skills and experience.
Skills and experience can be learned and cultivated over time, but attitude is essential. Your team must strive toward the same goals – service to the customer – each and every hour of every day. The process by which they will go about giving exceptional customer service can be provided through training; the desire to give exceptional customer service comes from within. Therefore, choose your people wisely.
During a recent journey that took me through Newark Liberty International Airport I witnessed first hand an exceptional example of this type of true desire to give.
I was flying Edmonton, Alberta to Newark, New Jersey, and had a scheduled change of planes in Washington, DC. Whenever I am at an airport I always have my radar on watching the staff and passengers. The flight I was about to board had only one agent at the gate.
The first announcement made to the travellers of flight 11 was to inform the passengers that the flight to Newark was oversold. The agent went on to say that anyone who was not in a hurry to get to Newark, and would be willing to give up their seat, would be booked on the next available flight and receive a credit towards a future flight. I, being the savvy traveller (and not in a big hurry to arrive at my destination), was one of the first up to offer my seat. The agent was extremely pleasant, explained the situation again and noted that she may not require my seat in the end, but wanted to be prepared.
Her second announcement was not for us, rather to board another flight that was departing from her gate. Now, in amongst all this announcing and pleasantries (to me and other passengers), she was dealing with an irritated elderly gentleman who was confused as to why he did not have a seat on the oversold flight when he had a paid ticket.
What I need to emphasize here is this agent was pleasant, smiling and compassionate with each and every passenger and still by herself, dealing with an irritated passenger, an oversold flight, and boarding another flight. YES…all at the same time. How many ways can you say “Major Multi-Tasker!”
In the end my seat was not required; the irritated elderly gentleman was able to get a seat, and both flights left on-time! When I went through the gate, I commented to the agent that she was doing a fantastic job and to keep smiling. She took my hand, looked me straight into the eyes (with that desperation look we as airline personnel know), smiled, and thanked me for my comment.
Once the plane was wheels up my mind wandered back to how well this agent handled the entire situation. I resolved to write a letter to the airline to ask that they commend this gate agent for her talents, skills, abilities, but most importantly, her desire from within to provide a higher standard of customer service. I followed through with this resolution, and included the recommendation that if they want to keep this caliber of employee they ensure enough staff allotment to handle delicate situations such as these.
Where does the desire to give exceptional customer service come from? Are we born with it? Or is it an actual skill that is learned early on in our life? Either way, choosing people for your team who have the desire to serve is extremely important to the success of your company.
