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It is a rare occurrence for an airline pilot to return to the gate once it has pulled away, not to mention almost reaching the point to take off and returning to the gate.  Well, that is exactly what happened for an Arizona family who gave thanks and praise to the pilot and Delta Airlines for delaying takeoff so that they could board the plane to be on time to make their father’s funeral.

Missing the flight was no fault of the family.  A 90-minute delay in their flight from Phoenix did not give them enough time to make a connecting flight so that they could be on time to board the Memphis flight.  Memphis is where they would say their last “goodbyes” to their father at his funeral which was scheduled for the following morning.  If the pilot had not made the decision to return to the gate, they would have been devastated and missed it.  You see, that was the last flight of the day to Memphis.

We have all seen it.  A well-established company making an unintentional blunder which causes, at the very least, a retraction and in some cases, settlement cases valued in the millions of dollars.

The New Year is Almost Here !

The new year is less than two weeks away.  By now, you have probably finalized plans on how to ring in 2016. You probably have given considerable thought to what you will wear, who you will be with, where you want to celebrate and perhaps you have set a budget on how much you will spend to celebrate.

Now, let’s talk about how you can apply the same energy to reviewing, updating and implementing your organization’s customer service philosophy and action plan.  Many organizations understand the importance of making customer service a philosophy, not just a department that reacts to complaints.

Now is a Good Time to Give the Customer Experience Serious Thought

Customer dissatisfaction seemingly are an inevitable   fact of business life. Many brands have gone out of business because of poor customer service. Few organizations can afford to run the risk of tarnishing their reputation due to slacking in the area of customer service.

According to New Voice Media, this is what happens after continuous poor customer experiences:

• 56% will never use the company’s product/service again
• Over 25% will recommend to friends to never patronize the business
• 20% will take revenge by posting a review online
• 14% will share a poor experience on social media
• U.S. businesses annually lose an estimated $83 billion due to poor customer service

The Holiday Shopping Experience

Now that the official day of Black Friday shopping along with its accompanying frenetic activity has come and gone, how was your customer service experience?

Were you run over by other customers? Were you ignored by clerks and managers because, for lack of another explanation, they were busy with other “issues”?  Did sales associates go out of their way to accommodate you?  Did you have an amazing shopping experience?

Did You Have an Ecstatic Cyber Monday?