Does your organization have the fundamental systems in place to serve your customer’s needs? It seems a simple question, yet often the most basic concepts are overlooked. Here’s an example:
Bad Systems: An Example
Imagine buying a full vacation package for your anniversary through a major airline. Then, when booking your flight, that airline chose to seat you with strangers rather than your spouse. Sounds common enough, the flight was just too full, right? But then, when aboard the plane, you learn the other passengers in your row were traveling together but separated by the airline so you and your spouse could be seated apart as well. Here’s what it looked like for my wife and myself:
This seating layout could not be coincidence. There’s only two reasons three traveling parties would be so poorly organized. Either the company intentionally separated us, with the hopes of extracting more money by pushing us to purchase upgraded seats, or their seating systems lacked any ability to meet their customers most basic needs.
In a situation like ours, customers would expect the vendor, who had more information (and money) from us than even their typical passenger, would accommodate our most simple needs by placing us beside each other. If that is not possible, the vendor may consider allowing us to pick our own seats, as Southwest Airlines (a servant leadership company) does.
Ask yourself:
- What are the fundamental needs of my stakeholders?
- What systems do I have in place to ensure their needs are met?
For anyone interested, the company in this case was Delta Airlines / Delta Vacations. Please know though, I’ve already tried to coordinate through their customer service, so to quote the Bloggess, don’t “go all angry-villager” on them. Instead, just know there are airlines out there that give better attention to your needs, like Southwest Airlines.
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