I was fortunate to attend the New Media Dayton 2nd Saturday meet-up on Saturday, February 13, 2010. The guest host was Gina Kay Landis. The speaker this month was Brad Ditzell, store manager of MacTown in Dayton. I would be remiss if I did not thank the sponsor of the event, 252West Salon. And of course, a very special ‘thank you’ to Carole Hicks .. these events would not happen without her passion for social media. Thank you! 

Brad’s topic was “The Art of Listening.”  He did an excellent job of relating this topic to real life. My favorite ‘exercise’ was when we shared some of our most frustrating customer service experiences. It is interesting how long many of us remember a bad experience. There was a lot of passion too. One of the experiences went back almost 25 years. My personal experience occurred about 7 years ago and I still remember if vividly.  With the emotion surrounding these experiences comes one more bad thing … these stories have legs! When we have a bad customer service experience, we tell all of our friends. 

Brad made a comment that stuck for me. He said, “Customer service is dead”.  What? I am passionate about the customer experience, but what does this have to do with the ‘Art of Listening’? He went on to point out that it is not longer about customer service, it is about customer satisfaction.

What does this have to do with the ‘Art of Listening’? Far to often we hear what the customer says, but we don’t understand. One of my favorite books is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey. Habit #5 is: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood. Seeking to understand is not a passive activity. Listening to UNDERSTAND requires you to be proactive. What is the customer really saying? What is behind the words. Do you really understand what she needs?

I had a bad experience with an airline a few years ago. My flight was delayed. It was obvious that it was going to be several hours before the flight would actually depart. There was a problem with the mechanics in the wing and parts were scattered all over the ground. I could easily see the mechanics scratching their heads. The flurry of activity was all there for me to see out the window. Despite the obvious complexity and seriousness of the situation, the gate agent continued to insist that the flight was going to depart in 30 minutes. We were asked ‘not to leave the gate area’.  Several hours later, we boarded the plane. I wrote the airline and shared my story and frustration. All I really wanted was for them to understand the need for honesty. I can deal with weather or mechanical delays, just tell me the facts.  They send me a ‘standard form letter’ and a voucher toward a flight. I was not happy. They did not respond to my concern. How difficult would it be to personalize the response – to be remarkable? (Note: for a great blog post on being remarkable, read the comments by one of my favorite authors and blogger Seth Godin: How to be remarkable)

So, if you want to set your business apart, go beyond customer service and listen to understand and then generate customer satisfaction.

Rick

I just returned home from an overseas trip. I have observed some of the best and some of the worse customer service seems to occur in the travel industry. This trip was no exception and I wanted to share my experience as an example for those in the customer service business (that should be all of us).

I fly on many different airlines, but more often than not I fly on Delta. There is a particular Delta pilot, Jeff, that I met a last year on an international flight. I am not sure how it happens, but he has been the Captain on several of my international flights over the last 12 months.  What does Jeff do that is special? He stops and talks to passengers. He is authentic, and noticeable interested in his ‘customers’.  Jeff recognizes me, and will go out of his way to talk to me. He even stopped and talked to me once when we ran into each other while he was with his wife on vacation. He ask about my travels, my job and my family. He even stopped me on the way through customs today to offer a travel suggestion. He did this AFTER apologizing for a mechanical problem that delayed our departure out of Tel Aviv. He apologized a number of times. He has become a friend.

Now, a ‘bad’ example. I am on the second leg of my flight home (as I type this). Have you ever noticed that some flight attendants seem to see their role as that of the ‘enforcer’, while others see their job as that of an ‘agent’? What do I mean?  The flight attendant on this flight has a terrible attitude.  She is solely interested in herself and showing her authority. On an earlier flight this week, the flight attendants had wonderful attitudes. They accomplished the same job, while leaving the customers feeling good about the experience. Was it the same ‘job’? Not really, one was an agent, the other an enforcer. One was just doing her job, the other was creating an experience.

In “Trust Agents“, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith.. share an little equation for trust that looks like this: (C x R X I) / S = T.  The C stands for credibility; R for reliability; I for intimacy; and the S for self-orientation. I really like this book, and love this simply equation.  One key element of good customer service would seem to be trust. Jeff, the Delta pilot, has all of right elements and I have come to trust him. I have met many pilots and flight attendants over the years and the ones that maximize trust offer the best customer service. (Read the book …. it’s good).

By the way, the ‘bad’ attendant even missed our entire row when serving drinks. Perhaps she knew I was typing about her. I was not impressed. I will be writing Delta, but not about the bad experience – I want to recognize Jeff and his amazing work.

What do you think?

Rick