management matters
By Russell M. Linden, PhD
The Art of Customer Service
(and the perils of using airports)
(and the perils of using airports)
is very ill, we just learned about it
yesterday, I have to get out there to be with her!!”
At this point, I couldn’t restrain
myself, so I butted in: “Excuse me, but it looks like
your 30 minute policy applies to people who have luggage to
check. Can this woman board the plane if she carries her
luggage on board?”
Woman (sobbing heavily now): “I
simply have to get on this plane! I can’t wait for
another flight, I have to be with my sick mother
…”
Agent: “Just one moment” (and
she walked away from the counter).
At this point I had to run for my flight,
and never learned how it worked out. Perhaps the agent asked
her supervisor to make an exception. Perhaps she asked her
supervisor to tell the woman she couldn’t board the plane
(after all, it was now about 28 minutes before departure!).
Perhaps she just took a little time out.
It’s scenes like that which make
frequent travelers roll their eyes and think to themselves,
“Surely there’s justice in a world in which
airlines that treat customers this way end up going
bankrupt!” Why was the agent acting like a bureaucratic
control freak? More important, what can we learn from this
little episode?
THREE TRENDS IN CUSTOMER SERVICE
An employee who acts like the USAir agent
could be responding to a number of factors:
• She was trained to never make
an exception.
• A number of customers had
been venting their own frustrations at the agent, using abusive
language, and she’d had enough.
• She once made a similar
exception, caught hell from her boss for doing so, and vowed
never to go through that experience again.
• She has one of the lowest
paid, least appreciated jobs in the airline. Nobody asks for
her input on decisions, she has no influence on her
organization’s direction, and it feels good to have a
little control every once in a while (like saying
“No” to a customer).
The author is the principal in the
firm Russ Linden and Associates, a management consultancy based
in Charlottesville, VA. He is an accomplished author and
teacher with experience in the public and private sectors,
including the Federal Executive Institute, Virginia Innovation
Group and the International City-County Management Association.
If you want to get into a discussion with
someone at an airport, just offer one of your worst flying
experiences. You’ll make an immediate (if temporary)
friend, who no doubt will be more than happy to entertain you
with an equally horrible experience. Here’s my
“favorite.”
I was flying from Charlottesville on
USAir. While standing at the ticket counter, I noticed a woman
who was trying to check in with another agent. The agent looked
at her picture ID, checked her watch, then told the woman that
she couldn’t board the flight. Here’s the
conversation, as I recall it:
Agent: “You can’t board now,
it’s less than 30 minutes before scheduled
departure.”
Customer: “What do you mean I
can’t board now? I bought a ticket … are you
overbooked?”
Agent: “No, we’re not
overbooked. But we have a new policy, see that sign?”
(She pointed to a sign 20 feet away.) You have to be at the
counter at least 30 minutes before departure…
it’s now 29 minutes before departure.”
Customer (astonished): “What?!? I
bought my ticket, I have to get on that flight!!”
Agent: “I’m sorry, but as I
said, our policy now is that you have to be at the counter at
least 30 minutes before the flight departs. It’s 29
minutes now. You can’t board the plane.” (No,
I’m not making this up!)
Customer (starting to sob): “This is
impossible. I have to get on the flight, I have to get to
Denver! My mother