I’m writing this while sitting in seat 11D on an airline flight to Chicago. We just finished the beverage and snack service and the flight attendants have come through the cabin to pick up any service items we’d like to discard. As you can imagine this part of the in-flight service is NOT particularly sexy, exciting, or fun!
On today’s flight one of the flight attendants (let’s call him “Bill”) decided to make the early morning flight that was delayed for an hour, fun for the passengers. When he came to my row the passenger next to me gave him a magazine to throw away. Bill asked, “Is there any good news in there?? I only want good news!” They both laughed as Bill looked at the cover and tucked it in his back pocket and said, “I’ll read this later!”
More Coffee?
As Bill collected more trash, I heard a passenger request another cup of coffee. Bill let him know (nicely) that he would need to collect the trash first, but would come back as soon as he could with a cup of coffee. Bill made sure to ask how the passenger wanted his coffee (black) and then proceeded to go on his way.
A few minutes later Bill came back with a cup of coffee and told the passenger, “I got this from a passenger in the back who decided not to finish it! Don’t worry, it’s still almost full!” The passenger (who had been working on his computer) then replied, “As long as it was from the customer in 15D, he looked safe.” They both laughed … and so did I!
So many times you can make the mistake thinking that providing excellent customer service is about the “big things.” As Bill proved sometimes creating great customer experiences can be as simple as:
- Having a sense of humor
- Showing your sense of humor
- Choosing creative ways to connect with each customer
- Smiling and having fun
Budget Friendly
You know what I also love about this? It’s about as budget friendly as it gets…it’s FREE! You don’t need to spend money to be nice. You don’t need to use resources to smile at every person you interact with. You don’t need to break the budget to be creatively memorable with people. All you have to do is want to do it!
Why is this important?
I know it might seem obvious to you why creating amazing customer experiences is important, but I have had enough awful customer service experiences to know that it never hurts to remind ourselves why this is important.
- Happier customers are easier customers
- Easier customers make your life easier
- Happier customers remain your customers
- Happier customers refer their friends and family
Lastly, your customers DESERVE to have amazing experiences with you. (Yes, even the ones that drive you crazy!) Once I embraced this idea it made my life so much easier (well, most days) and fulfilling. It helped me enjoy what I did a lot more-and helped me set an example for the people I worked with and led as well; which in turn helped all of us create better experiences, which in turn helped our bottom line as well. In other words, it’s good business.
What do you do to create amazing customer experiences??
