Faculty corner, Creative Customer Service

To what extent can organizations lend their hands to create a seamless experience for the customers, create a wow experience for a customer and bring a smile on his face?

If customer needs are anticipated, systems are in place, employees are trained, the company runs like a well-oiled machine. But what happens when the unexpected happens? When customers have an "unusual" request or they simply don't know the rules of the system? The unexpected, I suggest, provides the opportunity to stretch the system, improve the system, or even forget the system. Here is an experience that I would want to share with you all today.

The clock was ticking so fast on a Friday evening, as I managed to reach the airport right on time, my tired eyes searched for the check in counter in that huge doom shelter.

Dragging my bag slowly as the queue was shrinking the little basket kept on the counter grabbed my attention. A little peeping helped me guess what was in it, the airline tag of course. Two gentlemen at the counter (with one out of two computers not working) were lost in helping the passengers. Finally I got my boarding pass, panting and dragging my bag reached at gate#3 after the security check.
As I was about to get into the bus I heard some one saying "Ma'am your little bag does not have the airline tag I am afraid you have to go through the security check again"??? Now what do you think my reaction could have been. I was already exhausted, and as I did not want to argue much, I just said "Alright I will get this done however it is your responsibility to take care of all these at the check in counter itself. I do not want to miss my flight at any cost".

After a painful struggle to just get aboard, I see that the bag can not fit in anywhere. Gosh!!!!! Why me??? I asked the airhostess to help me out with the bag. Just then I saw a gentle man dressed all in white with stripes on his shoulders. He was the co pilot. „Sir, could you please help me dump my bag somewhere" was my request. 10 minutes to take off and my poor bag still did not find any place. He quickly replied saying "sure ma'am. He immediately called some one to put it at the rear end of the aircraft. He also instructed the air hostesses.

He got back to me and said, "No worries ma'am , you will receive your baggage when we touch down" What a relief the gentleman seemed like an angle to me at that time. Being the copilot it was not definitely was not his responsibility to take care of the luggage. He still did! We took off, cruised and landed. The same gentle man came out of the pilot cabin and said "please come with me ma'am, my apologies for the inconvenience, and please fly with us again" I replied saying "No way! I have experienced enough today" He then started explaining that this issue has been taken care of. He called the person in charge of baggage and informed him about my baggage and addressed him to give the baggage immediately when we got down from the aircraft. The officer said, We can not give the baggage on ground. These were the exact words to which the copilot said, "I have promised the lady to give her baggage on ground and I would like to keep up my word, Company Ka izzat ka sawal hai". I looked at his ID and found his name and said, „Mr. Mukherjee it was a roller coaster experience today. I really appreciate for going that extra mile to help me out today thank you so much, you did something really great today thank you so much".

"Pleasure is all mine please fly with …. again" he replied with a pinch of American accent. I left the airport with a smile on my face. I came home and wrote about my experience and of course about Mr. Mukherjee in the online customer feed back form.

For companies with excellent systems in place, the next frontier in customer service is "Wow experiences with each customer" handling the unexpected creatively. I have observed that companies and professionals practicing creative customer service successfully have one thing in common.

For Mr. Mukherjee it was not just a scenario and he was also concerned about the proper handling and safety and he personally decided to go beyond. How much did the officer at the check in counter care for customers like us? How much did the air hostess care? How much did Mr. Mukherjee acre?

The second commonality is that employees have authority. Even when people care, if their hands are tied they can't help like the person who denied to give the baggage on ground. In addition, employees who aren't caring might be motivated to be creative for customers simply because it feels good to exercise their authority.

With technology so advanced, doing a good job isn't good enough to separate from the pack. The prize will go to the one creating new frontiers. How far will you go to Wow a customer, is the question.
- Nirupama Jina(Faculty BPG)