Traveling for work is a frequent occurrence for me. While my loyalty tends to be with Delta, it isn’t always feasible for me to fly the friendly skies with them.
Traveling for work is a frequent occurrence for me. While my loyalty tends to be with Delta, it isn’t always feasible for me to fly the friendly skies with them.
On my most recent trip, I was on a layover in Charlotte waiting on my flight back to Columbus and noticed that the screen at the counter said “first class seats available.” Having a few dividend miles under my belt with this airline, I decided to go ask if and how I could be upgraded to first class telling myself the worst they could say was no.
It was a long shot, but wasn’t anticipating what happened next. I walk up to the counter and say, “I see there are seats left in first class. How may I be upgraded?”
Pay close attention to the following steps to learn how to treat your customers poorly:
Step 1: Make them feel completely unimportant
The woman behind the counter smirked at me and said, “Are you silver, gold or platinum status with us?”
“No.”
Step 2: Be snarky and wield your power
She then laughed and looked at her screen and said, “Then it will be $83.00 for you.”
“OK. Never mind.”
Step 3: Let the customer go away without saying another word
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That encounter made me feel so special! It was such a pleasant experience that I can’t wait to continue flying with them until I become important enough to be a valuable customer. The kicker to me was that those first class seats sat empty for the flight. Rather than make a great experience for one of their customers, the airline (represented by that oh-so-friendly attendant) decided to stick to it’s “policy.”
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Do policies stand in the way of good customer service at your institution, or have they affected your service at a business? Comment below and share your bad customer service story.
Amanda
Contact me to learn more about how MarketMatch brings these philosophies to credit unions and community banks across the country.
