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.”

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.

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