Giving WOW! Customer Service

By Terry L. Brock

Dateline: Sydney, Australia; Tuesday, May 27, 2003

It is now 4:00 AM in Sydney, Australia as I type this.

I’ve been up since 1:30 AM. Yeah, that jet lag stuff is something, but I love it. It always gives me a lot of time to get more done when others are sleeping (at least here in Sydney!) and I can be productive. Eventually, I’ll be on Australian tine, probably just in time to return to the States and repeat the process in reverse! Ain’t life wonderful!?

Which leads me to this week’s message about giving WOW! (must have an exclamation mark in there!) Customer Service. The trip here was nice. Yet, I learned about customer service, what it is and what it could be.

Today you have a marvelous way to boost your top-of-mind awareness with customers and boost the desire among your customers to do business with you.

And here’s the best part: It doesn’t cost a great deal. Sometimes it doesn’t cost any more than what you’re already paying. You can add the all-important “extra” by addition of some simple extras.

For instance, on my way over, I flew Southwest Airlines (one of my favorites) from Orlando to Los Angeles. Then I had a layover at LAX and then flew the Australian airline Qantas, from LAX to Sydney. It is a trip of about 4 years (or at least that 14 hours seems like 14 years!).

I had flown Qantas before within Australia, but not internationally. It was a good experience flying on their domestic Australian routes, so, I was looking forward to this international flying experience. Since I normally fly Business Class or First Class with other airlines, I wanted to see how this one would be flying Economy.

How was the flight? It was the kind I like: Uneventful, nothing happened. The flight crew did their normal good job. They served meals and were friendly and chatty, where appropriate.

However, as I got off my flight I was thinking that the trip was nice, but not great.

Then I started thinking about how they could have turned it into a great flight or a WOW! Customer Service Experience. It wasn’t that the experience I had was bad. However, if I had a chance to fly someone else instead of Qantas I probably would be open to it and consider it strongly. In an age when company loyalty is very low, anything that a company can do to improve customer relationships and bond closer to that bill-payer (my preferred term for customers, clients, etc.) is worth considering.

Here are some ideas that I had on how Qantas could take their already-good service and tweak it to the next level. Think about how you could take these ideas and, with a slight twist, make them work for you in your business.

1. Communication prior to product or service use. With an airline, you often book the flight before using it. That means you have days, weeks, even months before you use a service that you have already paid for the flight. During this time, the company could send e-mail messages, at very low or no cost, thanking the customer for the purchase and offering additional services or products. For instance, what would be wrong with a message similar to this? “Dear Mr. Brock: Thank you for choosing to fly with Qantas Airlines. Just to confirm, we have you booked for the flight from LAX to SYD on May 1st at 18:00 hours. The flight should take about 14 hours. During that time you might want to relax and listen to some music of your choice. To make that easier for you, we have an arrangement worked out with a special partner, RelaxSound, which provides relaxing music during the flight on a special MP3 audio player. We’ve negotiated a special discount for you as a Qantas passenger so you can save 40% off retail when you rent the device. If you decide to purchase, you can do so for even further savings and RelaxSound will include a special 2 hours of relaxing music. For more information, click here for details.” You get the idea. They could offer several of these, of course, only if the passenger selected the option to have special offers sent. Qantas could benefit and my imaginary “RelaxSounds” company could benefit. Most important, the passenger could benefit and begin a wonderful relationship with one or both of the companies.

2. Coupons after check-in. Many passengers get to the airport early for check-in. This is a good move in today’s high-security environment. Why not work out an arrangement with a vendor at the airport for a special treat or discount while passengers are waiting for the flight? For those not going to an airline lounge, this can be a welcome benefit. For instance, I noticed they have Java Juice, a smoothie maker, at LAX. I like to stop at their other locations when traveling out West. Why not have special coupons with appropriate directions to the location in the airport, where I can purchase a smoothie while I wait for my flight? I could also get a coupon or bonus redeemable when I visit a local smoothie shop outside the airport. This would also help bind me more to both the smoothie shop (for instance) and to Qantas (a great airline that looks out for my other interests).

3. Special Portable Kiosk with Flight Supplies. I noticed while waiting at the gate for my flight that they had a stand with a few drinks and light snacks that passengers could purchase. This was a great idea. Why not expand it to include items we can use in the flight? Some of these could include ear plugs, the nice noise-canceling audio products now available, audio cassettes (for listening during the flight), MP3 players, CDs, slippers for the flight, etc. You get the idea. Think of items often used by passengers while in flight and provide them. Yes, some of these items are offered elsewhere, but why not make it more convenient by having several of the most-requested items available at the gate right before passengers get on the plane? They could all have a Qantas offer or contact attached to tie me further into Qantas.

4. While in flight, provide postcard-sized thank you notes with a message. On many flights when I’m flying Business or First Class, the flight attendants will come around personally and thank each passenger, by name, for flying with them, chat warmly and briefly and help to make the experience delightful. Why not do this in a memorable way in Economy as well? It could be done with a special thank you note the size of a postcard (very low cost) that includes a special benefit or offer from either the airline or a partner. It would help to bond that passenger more with the airline and create additional revenue for the future.

5. Send note after the flight. It seems that often the airlines forget about us once we disembark from the aircraft. They think they have done their job, and they have. But what if they sent a nice e-mail thanking us for flying with them and offering a special for future service? They could provide real, sought-after value (prices, packing tips, tips about specific locations, etc.). Technology makes this easily customizable and would create a desire for passengers to keep e-mail from that airline rather than hitting the delete key thinking it is just another junk e-mail.

Of course every airline could do these things like these little extras. Think about how your own business could do extra customer service activities that generate a smile from your customer and create that WOW! Customer Experience. Most of the cost is minimal or none-existent.

It boils down to this: 1) Establish relationships with other complimentary vendors. You don’t have to do it all yourself, but you can be the hub in the spoke of providing customer needs. 2) Work hard to create an overall WOW! experience for customers that are doing business with you.

This means 1) Do an exceptional good job at what they expect you to do and 2) Do something unexpected that makes them smile and say WOW! every time they do business with you.

Qantas is an excellent airline. It would just be nice to see them, and other airlines, take it to the next level with some 21st Century marketing ideas. Why not think about it for your company? Let me know what you think.

Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, consultant and author in the fields of business productivity, technology and marketing. He is a syndicated
columnist for Biz Journals across America and can be reached at 407-363-0505 , by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com or through his website at www.terrybrock.com

Copyright © 2003, Terry Brock, All Rights Reserved Internationally. No portion may be reprinted or used in any way without prior written permission.

Terry Brock is an internationally recognized professional speaker, consultant and author in the fields of business productivity, technology and marketing. His is a syndicated columnist for Biz Journals across America and can be reached at 407-363-0505 or by e-mail at terry@terrybrock.com