Is it time for the customer to come first?

I saw an interesting video on social media of a pilot of Southwest airlines looking frustrated but who was helping to load passenger baggage at Denver airport on the 26th December. Unfortunately, Southwest Airlines had a major system collapse due to winter storms and a shortage of ramp staff. This led to many frustrated customers and many delays.

But what I found intriguing is the comments on social media about this pilot. A passenger onboard had filmed this guy who was speeding up the loading of the baggage so his airplane and his passengers could get to their destination. I thought it commendable but I was surprised at the number of negative comments. One from a Health & Safety bod who complained because the pilot probably hadn’t had any H&S training on loading bags and might injure himself. Have you seen the heavy bags pilots have to cart all around the world with constant loading on and busses and taxis? Not sure that would be a problem?

Then another comment from a fellow pilot who said that’s not his job he should stay on the aircraft preferable in the cockpit. ?I was surprised that very few people actually though about the customers in this scenario.

I’ve worked in aviation for over 30+ years and we seem to have lost the reason for us being in a job - yes it’s the customer. Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic change in people’s attitude of caring for one another to being focused on themselves instead. As a result, we are seeing more and more anger issues becoming common place on the front line in many industries.

How many times have you seen signs saying legal action will be taken if you get aggressive with staff in an organization that provides a service. Let’s take a step back, let’s look at 2023 as the year when people show respect to each other, give credit where credit is due and look for good in situations and not criticism.?People who work in Service organisations need to understand that without customers they would not have a job.

Back in the 80’s there was a strong focus on Customer First. A great book called “In search of excellence” was written by Tom Peters who was the guru of Customer Service.?He highlighted that the most successful companies at the time had a strong focus on customer service.?I believe this time has come again, all organization need to review their service and see if it’s fit for purpose. That means having a customer experience strategy that includes having the right number of staff, who are well trained and understand the psychology of dealing with people, and who understand the importance of good customer service

Too many organization have been led in to the trap of using technology instead of people and according to many customer service surveys is the single most frustrating part of dealing with organisations. In the long term the cost of losing good high value customers will highlight the false sense of cost saving when utilizing technology instead of people. Yes technology has a place, but it should be supporting front line staff not replacing them.

My prediction is that 2023 will be the year when many companies will realise that service experience enhancement and using real people instead of technology will bring them success and help them achieve more that their competitors.?Well trained staff will reduce anger issues, win back loyal customers and help increase profit for the organization. It’s a no brainer!

And as for the pilot at Southwest: Well done to him, he was probably one of the few people that day that focused on his customers and knew that extraordinary situations need extra ordinary solutions. There is hope yet.

Wishing you all a healthy, successful and prosperous 2023

Brendan Noonan is a L&D Consultant, helping organisations in Strategy, Leadership & Service experience development.?