Client Service Success at United Airlines

The airlines have been taking it on the chin for as long as we can all remember. While some of the criticism may be justified, a great deal of it is just piling on. I wonder how you or I would hold up under the daily stresses of working on the front lines in the airline business. It can't be easy.

A few weeks ago, my wife and I were running well behind schedule trying to catch our United Airlines flight from Boston to Denver. Totally our fault. We arrived at the ticket counter hopelessly late when, despite being extremely busy, the ticket agent overheard us talking to another UA representative, and called out, "Are you two on the Denver flight?" We of course replied, "Yes."

At that moment she came from behind the ticket counter and said, "Follow me." She physically walked us all the way to the front of the line at security - not a short walk at Logan's C Terminal. As we breezed through security, she offered instructions as to what to tell the agent at the gate so we could board (nothing unethical mind you). She waved goodbye and wished us luck. We made the flight by a whisker.

Unfortunately, it all happened so quickly that I didn't catch the agent's name who helped us. I wish I had, but in the absence of that, I believe she represents the majority of the people who assist us with our air travel each and every day. She, and others like her, work under tough circumstances to say the least. It should give us pause not to be tough customers. As hard as it is when we want to get where we want to go, we should remember that the airline employees are there to help us if we will only let them.

Client Service Success at Bose

In the second installment of Client Service Success at... week, I'd like to talk about Bose. Bose provided me with a shining example of how a small, inexpensive gesture can offer big returns in customer loyalty.

My wife and I each own a set of the QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headphones; we don't travel anywhere without them. Whether listening to our ipods, watching an inflight movie, or trying to avoid unwanted conversation, they can't be beat. During our vacation, I discovered that one of the removable cords that runs from the headset to the ipod (for example) was missing. We couldn't find it anywhere.

Since I had to travel through the airport in Denver, I remembered that Bose had a station there, where they offer for trial, and presumably sell the headphones. I figured they might carry extra cords that I could buy. When I asked about the cords, the Bose representative quickly located one and gave it to me. I asked, "How much for the cord?" "Nothing, you can have it," she replied.

She might as well have given me a new set of headphones. I had every expectation of paying for the new cord, yet the Bose people knew that the only thing keeping me from enjoying my headphones was this silly cord. I came to realize they would not even think to charge me for it. That's not who they are.

In a world where we often get nickel and dimed for every little item, Bose takes the longer view. I look forward to buying my next Bose product someday soon. And when I do, I'll not only feel great about what I'm buying, but more importantly, who I'm buying it from.

Client Service Success at Dell

We can learn a great deal from industries outside the public relations profession about the mindset, dedication, and execution involved in the relentless pursuit of improving the customer experience. I thought I'd begin the next 100 posts with some personal experiences I've had over the last month that serve as shining examples of client service excellence.

Let me start with Dell. My daughter Taylor starts college in the fall. Her older sister Kristin wanted a Mac when she started school last year, but Taylor wanted a Dell. Interestingly enough, she asked specifically for the Dell brand, in the way that people have come to ask for Kleenex rather than tissue.

Thank goodness she did. Prior to her request, I had researched a number of manufacturers and despite my being pretty experienced in the world of online commerce, I was often frustrated navigating most of the sites. They were visually and logically bereft of any understanding that a consumer may not be an expert on their particular product line. The sites were built to suit the internal needs of the respective company, not for the customers they need to serve. The shopping experiences were cumbersome and tedious.

Conversely, I found the Dell experience to be visually appealing and extremely intuitive. I could customize every aspect of Taylor's computer from the exterior color to the processing speed. Easy. (Don't worry I asked what color she wanted and gained a solid understanding of her needs before I ordered.)

What makes this story interesting for me is that after placing my order, I called a woman from Corporate Communications at Dell whom I met at a Ragan Communications conference earlier this year to advise her of my outstanding experience. Interestingly enough, she said the company had just completed a redesign of the site. Lucky for me, I reaped the benefits. She was thrilled that I was so pleased with my experience. You could hear the pride and ownership in her voice. I have a feeling it permeates the entire organization.

That said, you can have the right mindset, but achieving client service excellence is hard work. Dell did the work and everyone wins as a result. DIRECT2DELL's post describing the web site redesign will give you a glimpse of the process and the work it took to provide a customer experience I'll tell my friends about - starting right here.

Dell didn't simply satisfy a customer; it built a relationship and won a client. Nicely done.

Client Service Insights...(CSI/Season 2) Just Getting Started

When I stepped back in to the blogosphere after I concluded Season 1, I promised myself that if I were going to get started again, I'd be in it to stay and have even more fun than I did the last time. The former will serve as an ongoing commitment, and I am enjoying my blog more than ever. I hope you are as well.

While my posting pace may pale in comparison to some of the uber-bloggers out there, I'm pleased to have reached 100 posts in just inside of four months - March 21, 2008 to date. I tell people all the time that a blog is a bit like a plant, you have to water it regularly for it to remain healthy and grow. What's more, you have to use good water. I try to provide quality content with each and every post. It's the least I can do when I consider the quality of the blogs I most enjoy reading. I do my best to return the favor, and I take that commitment very seriously.

During Season 1, I celebrated 100 posts as a milestone. Today, I know enough to simply note it as a foundation for offering new, fresh content for the future. That said, if you like what you see here at CSI/Season 2, I humbly ask you to spread the word. Invite your friends, link to your favorite posts, engage in the conversation with your comments, subscribe to the RSS feed, and most importantly, tell me what you'd like to talk about in this forum.

I look forward to inviting more special guests, celebrating International Talk Like A Pirate Day (a valuable client service skill BTW), and bringing back CSI's Halloween contest, where you recount your scariest client service story for a chance to win your favorite scary movie DVD to watch on Halloween! Will Lauren Vargas win again? Or will your scary story prevail?

Thank you all for everything. Your generosity is what makes this fun!

Client Service And David Whyte

In 1994, David Whyte published a book titled The Heart Aroused, Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America. I happened to pull it off my bookshelf for the first time in years, and I found a passage that serves as a nice follow up to yesterday's post Client Service And Conversation. Let me just say it's far more poetic and poignant than anything I could write:

"Other people's words may raise from our throats at the drop of a hat...excellence...total quality management...number one...but we struggle to remember the simple character of our own voice. It takes only a modicum of psychological savvy to admit that a corporate culture that constantly repeats the word excellence to itself must still have endless reservoirs of mediocrity on which to draw, and is deathly afraid of facing up to this fact. We open our mouths and too often utter the same phrases and opinions that might be said by a thousand other toilers in a thousand other companies."

Sound familiar? Next time you're wondering why clients/prospects say that all the agency presentations sound the same, think about this quote and find the "simple character of your own voice."

Client Service And Conversation

While conversation is a common word to describe blogging, it's every bit as important when it comes to presenting your capabilities to a prospective client. What's more, it's a prospect predictor to who you are and the kind of client service you'll provide.

Having been on the client side, let me just say there's nothing more insufferable for a prospect than sitting through a 40+ slide PowerPoint presentation about agency capabilities. I especially liked being talked AT for 40 minutes and told to hold all questions until the end, so as not to disrupt the flow of the presentation. As if there actually were a flow.

Here are ten tips for your next agency capabilities presentation:

1. It's the prospect's meeting, not yours. You're there only to impart information that's relevant to them, not to expound upon what fascinates you about your own firm.

2. Engage in an actual conversation. Toss the PowerPoint. (Or if you can't help yourself, at least minimize it). Get to know one another. Everyone thinks capabilities are about qualifications. Maybe it's actually about capabilities. Are you capable of being fun, likable, smart, funny, human, etc.? Would I want to spend two hours with you in a car? Or would I likely jump out of the moving vehicle?

3. See to it that everyone in the room is well prepared about the prospect as well as its competitors, industry trends, etc.

4. Illustrate, don't explain. Tell interesting (short) anecdotes to make your point.

5. Show rather than tell. If you want someone to think you're creative, actually BE creative in every aspect of what you do rather simply list it in Times Roman as some kind of core agency strength.

6. Structure your presentation/conversation not in terms of what you want to TELL them, but in terms of the take-aways. Think of it in the bigger picture as it relates to the two or three conclusions you want the prospect to reach about you.

7. Ask great questions. In my mind, he/she who asks the best questions will make it to the next round every time.

8. Use the time to carefully evaluate the prospect in terms of whether it's a good fit for you.

9. Be yourselves, otherwise you'll never really know.

10. If you think it will be a good fit, then go after this prospect with a smart follow-up strategy - something specific to your meeting and designed to advance the relationship.

Let me know how it goes!

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