Before you read on, I suggest you read this short blog by Dave Kurlan: United Airlines Uses Customer Service this Way to Impact Sales.
While Dave does an excellent job of pointing out how customer service sells the organization to the customer, my response to Dave included something deeper. The service agent’s behavior in this situation is, in my opinion grounds for termination. However, what the customer is experiencing is merely a symptom showing itself as a manifestation of a huge problem.
Having the experience Dave has in his story could certainly be the result of an employee who really is in the wrong position in the company. Were this the case, individual incidents can surely be dealt with. But Dave indicates this is now the second time in a row with the second experience being completely disconnected from the first, situationally speaking.
This indicates an organizational culture which makes me wonder why company employees would consistently act this way toward customers. Dave is right, employees of this particular company can be downright mean! When employees actions toward customers are anything less than positively remarkable, the employees actions are a direct reflection of how employees are treated by their own company.
Whether you’re business is large like an airline, small like most businesses or mid-market, it will have customers. How is your customer service? Are you getting undesirable hits and complaints about how your employees treat customers? Are you showing up in widely read blogs like Understanding the Sales Force?
The tendency is to throw some horsepower at more customer service training, which over and above standard onboarding for employees will be wasted because the problem isn’t being addressed. The problem being the organization generally treats its employees poorly.
Perhaps United upper management were to decide to change how executives treat management and how management will then treat the rank and file. I wonder if they see these types of stories, make the connection and take responsibility for the problem, rather make the excuse of having a few bad apples. It appears the excuses will continue.