Comments on: Why can’t every customer service interaction be this good?

By: 242Tourism

242Tourism — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 21:07:25 +0000

It’s truly encouraging and amazing to see that ‘the industry’ still has a few good persons. I’m currently pursuing a BSc Tourism Mgmt Degree in The Bahamas and realizing more than ever, especially in these times, that customer satisfaction is the ‘moment of truth’ for most if not all businesses.

Since my country’s (slow but) hard-hitting economic downturn, we have seen a 150% turn in the quality of service given to our customers. Although that percentage seems miniscule to some, it means the world to those businesses whose employees have been giving such service as they tend to have 1- loyal customers, which result in 2- continued business (hopefully profits).

Customer service is indeed the key to a SUCCESSFUL business and I do believe that we all should realize that fact!

By: rosanne skopp

rosanne skopp — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:26:56 +0000

How about NO SERVICE? That’s the AirBaltic story. Most of you have probably never heard of AirBaltic. That’s good! We looked for a creative way to get from Zurich to Tel Aviv and we found AirBaltic, an airline that charges for water and usually provides one toilet for over 100 passengers. But even AirBaltic outdid themselves with our return flight from Tel Aviv to Riga. They changed the 5:15 a.m. ungodly hour flight to 8 a.m. Doesn’t that sound swell? Oops. They never informed their passengers, including this dummy who spent the money to phone Riga and verify the time. “Yes Madam.” is what I was spouted. So we two senior adults woke up at 1 a.m. to catch our flight. We weren’t lonely. Over 100 other hapless passengers did the same thing. And then we sat and sat and sat at the airport, when we would have preferred to sleep. Three hours! Exhausting. How about an apology from AirBaltic? Facebook no. Customer Service no. Nothing. Stay clear.

By: MattR

MattR — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:19:09 +0000

Absolutely agree with @static – it takes a subtle refocus of the lens to get Service and Support to be seen as a key part of the marketing strategy. As companies try and search for ‘the edge’ I think we’ll find more of them coming to the same conclusion.

Those that don’t will be left largely by the wayside.

Great story of good service though.

By: Customer Satisfaction

Customer Satisfaction — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:53:49 +0000

Customer service plays an important role in an organization’s ability to generate revenues, and as such, customer service should be a fundamental part of any company’s “valued customer” approach. In fact, there’s an enormous body of research, which strongly indicates that customer satisfaction and loyalty; are major contributors to profitability.

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and insight.

Best wishes.

By: Beth

Beth — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:55:25 +0000

@static You are spot on and the young newbies only know how to respond with poorly written form letters, instead of real insight and common sense. Kudos to the American agent who did the right thing for the right reason.

By: static

static — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:23:50 +0000

More Customer Service transactions would be that good *if* the companies would view Customer Service as a MARKETING function, and not as an Operations function (ie: a drain on their finances).

Those of us who are trained and highly skilled in Customer Service, the true professionals) are usually replaced by entry-level, 20-somethings for $10.00 an hour. Pay peanuts, get monkeys.