Consumer Centric

Daily course of a rather busy day led me to some nuggets of examples:  one not-so-good actual customer service interaction and one really great idea.  The primary criteria I use for evaluating these types of things:  does it help someone and make them like you even more?

Bad example first.

Story.  Well, we’re opening a new account with Salesforce.com to track some opportunities and stay organized, etc.  I’ve used it at a large company before, but was trying it on for size (free trial period) for small biz use.  I’m ready to buy, but the options online were different from what I recall, and the features and fees were not clear — I needed to chat with someone to decipher the fine print.

When I first clicked that I was ready to buy (end the free trial and pay them money!) I got the automated email from my personal sales rep almost immediately.  How cool, right?  Well, his email informed me he was out of the office until the 16th, but “so-and-so” was covering him the 8th – 11th.  So, no worries, I can contact that gal in his absence.  Which I promptly did, forwarding the mail I’d sent to my personal rep.

I asked:  ”I only need contacts, accounts, leads, opportunities.  That’s it.  What is the best solution for us?  We’ve been using it now for a few weeks.”  I provided a little more context and background info.

Her response:  ”I am actually at an off site meeting right now.”  She continued:  ”You can actually purchase directly from your trial if you are ready to move forward. You can review the feature comparison on our main page to see what edition may be best.”

Basically, she let me know that, although she’s the one my personal rep has covering for him from the 8th – 11th, that she, too, is not able to break out of a company meeting to help me.  What’s more, she thought she’d tell me to read it myself and figure it out, as if I’d not already spent time doing just that, only to arrive at some questions that silly me thought a sales person could answer!  When I shared my surprise at her response, she let me know she’d be happy to talk with me on Friday when she gets back.

Wow! And the funny thing… Salesforce.com sells a tool to help you stay in contact with your customers and your prospects to help sell your product.  Oops!  Maybe they should work on the human side of interacting with their customers… not just relying on technology.

On the positive side… I can’t take any credit for this. But it’s such a great idea of demonstrating value to people in a customer service perspective that I had to share it.

David Armano posted this tweet mid-day:

It speaks for itself.  It’s an example of thinking from the consumer experience to create a relationship that keeps people coming back.

This type of thinking, however, only comes when a company truly puts themselves in the position of why their customer behaves a certain way.  When you think about it from that perspective, an airline can realize that people on the plane love getting a surprise visit to the first class seats… those seats are their greatest relationship-building asset.

Wen you think about it from that perspective, a software company can realize that people wanting to buy their service sometimes need a short conversation to understand how to buy the product they’re most likely to use, not the one most likely to make the company the most money.

You see… when a company thinks about people in that way, consumers become people who purposefully choose to enter into a relationship with a company.

Relevance. Utility. Authenticity.

It’s about connections. It’s about being real.

Once or twice a week I get this email from American Airlines.  It’s their weekly AA Net SAAvers Fares. I live in Austin, TX.  Naturally, my home airport selected is Austin’s airport. And, each week, the email starts out like this:

So, my weekly “custom” promotional email from American Airlines starts by telling me they’ve got some great weekend deals from Austin, TX only to say immediately after that there aren’t any Net SAAver fares from Austin next weekend. Gee… thanks! I feel special!

But, that’s only the beginning.

My “custom” promotional email then tells me about the special weekend getaway fares they have from Dallas, TX.  I should point out that the DFW airport is about a 4 hour drive (give or take) from where I live. So to enjoy these weekend getaways I’d need to drive up to Dallas, then hop on a plane.

Here are the wondrous trips American Airlines picked out for me this weekend:

(1) DFW to Killeen, TX for $58 each way.

(2) DFW to McAllen, TX for $81 each way.

(3) DFW to Amarillo, TX for $47 each way.

(4) DFW to Corpus Christi, TX for $74 each way.

Interesting offers since I’d pass Killeen in my drive up to Dallas. Not to mention the other locations are within drives for me, too, and the price offered isn’t anything to write home about for these short flights.

Finally, the one time I did see something interesting on this email (flight to Germany out of Dallas), I clicked on the email and was taken to the AA site through typical online booking and it was the exact same price I could have gotten if I just went to their site to begin with and searched for flight to Germany, but left from Austin.

Sure, I get that they’re just trying to alert you to the low fares. But, it is presented as something special and just for me. It’s like me sending an email to a prospect or client of my company, PURSUIT, and offering the following:

(1) Here is your PURSUIT special marketing innovation solution just for you this next quarter.

(2) Since we don’t do anything that you need, we don’t have anything to offer. But I’ve included what we did for another company who had a totally different need than you. But we’ll do what we did for them just for you at the same price we did it for them. Lucky you.

(3) Oh, and if you’d just call me and check what we offer, I would have just told you the same thing. In reality, I don’t have anything special to offer you. But I’d really like your business.

How’s that for Custom Promotions?

Please, American Airlines… don’t send me a custom offer unless it’s (a) real, (b) custom to something about me that you already know, (c) actually a better deal than it would be had I found it myself, and (d) something that makes me feel a bit better about you and your company.

That, my friends at American Airlines, is the difference between generic spam offers versus custom promotions… utility and relevance in my life.  As it stands, I ignore your emails except for the rare moments I look for entertainment to see where you want to send me from Dallas this week! Come to think of it, why don’t I just unsubscribe from that service… hmmm.

Certainly you’ve had a similar experience. Please share.

At the wrap of a busy week of travel, I worked my way onto the tiny plane to catch the final leg in my flight home to Austin.  I was surprised to find out I had been upgraded to first class–surprised not because of the upgrade as much as the idea that this sardine-can of a plane actually had a first class section!  

Anyhow, as I came to my seat I saw a woman in military fatigues in the seat next to me… I had no idea the impression the story I was about to hear would have on me.  I typically plug in my headphones and get work done on planes, but as Dawn told me her story I was taught a lesson in honor, commitment, and service in the face of adversity.  And I was taught it by a simple, honest, and humble woman from southwest Minnesota.

Turns out Dawn was on her way to Iraq via Fort Hood.  She is accompanied by her 21-year-old daughter and her 19-year-old son, each of them in the Army National Guard and headed to a 1-year deployment to Iraq (including 3 months of training they just wrapped up in Texas).

“I’m the luckiest person in the world,” Dawn told me. “I have three in my family serving our country.  I consider it an honor for me and for my family.”

Dawn’s unit will be stationed at the Iraqi border with Kuwait.  She and her daughter are in logistics and communications, mostly driving trucks she explained.  Her son is a gunner.

There’s a lot more to Dawn’s story.  She leaves at home her 15-year-old daughter and her husband.  The family is expected to be reunited in April on 2010.  Very fitting for Dawn, they leave for Iraq from Fort Hood around the 4th of July.

“The 4th of July is my favorite holiday,” Dawn explained. “I love the military and doing something for my country.”

It is not all rosy for Dawn, however.  In fact, she was obviously torn up inside with the pain of leaving her daughter and husband at home.  When she joined the National Guard in 2006, a unit from their area had recently been deployed, so she never expected to be deployed, at least not before her youngest was out of high school and on her own.

Dawn was fulfilling the commitment she’d made, honoring the choice she’d made three years ago to serve her country, and doing it in the face of leaving her family behind.  I couldn’t help thinking if more people put commitment before self in many aspects of life our society, our country, our families would be all the better.

To soothe her distraught 15-year-old (I overheard her talk to her on the phone right before takeoff and immediately after landing in Austin), Dawn explained they made a commitment to each other that helped give perspective.

“We told each other that every night when we look up into the sky, even though we’re so far apart, when we look up we will be looking at the same stars,” Dawn said.  The idea comforted both her and her daughter.  That, plus reflecting on the fact that our experiences in life make us stronger are what help Dawn have perspective.

“I think all things happen for a reason,” Dawn said. “If I can look at it that way it’s easier. But it’s still hard. But we’ll have email, letters, and Skype. I just don’t know how reliable it will be over there.”

Dawn’s humble, candid, and straightforward manner of facing life head on touched me.  And, apparently, not just me.  The Delta flight attendant, seeing her coming down the jetway in her fatigues pulled her aside and brought her to the first class seat where I had found her on the flight–a respectable move by Delta.

To Dawn, the act was kind, but not necessary.

“I don’t need to be honored,” Dawn said. “I feel honored to serve my country.”

You know what-she meant it.  I’ve heard, and worked with, many politicians who say the same thing.  But, Dawn… well, I believe she meant something altogether different, something very much from the heart.

Thank you, Dawn, and thousands more like you who serve daily with honor and commitment.  We can all learn a bit of how to face adversity and fulfill our commitments even when it’s not easy.

Dawn’s journey is one of genuine, simple endurance and service. Thank you for sharing!

UPDATE:  Had some questions, so I’ll add more of the story about Dawn.  

Dawn was in the Navy for 8 years earlier in her life.  After she started having children, she got out of the military.  In 2006, she was with her son meeting with the recruiter for the National Guard.  She decided to ask him, “you wouldn’t take an old lady like me would you?”  The recruiter knew she had been in the service and confirmed that, yes, in fact, they would be happy to take her as well.

So she joined at the same time as her son.  I’m not certain when her daughter joined–we didn’t cover that part.

I have so many other things I need to get done that I really should stop this post right now and get back to work. But, alas, some experiences offer such perfect subject material to demonstrate key concepts that you just can’t pass ‘em up. 

Enter American Airlines. [To be fair, you could enter any number of different names here and it would fit].

If you do any travel at all you’ve been here before:  Realize this morning a business conflict requires me to change my outbound flight. Simple change… need to leave Austin to LAX next Monday instead of Tuesday. Same itinerary. No change to other flights on Wednesday or Thursday. Easy. Right? Wrong. $485 later in extra fees, the change is made (to a ticket that originally cost $419).

For 45+ minutes of mostly wasted prime work time, I was the lucky participant in a game of, ha, you think this is about you, think again! The experience epitomized a near-perfect example of the opposite of being consumer-centric:  too bad for you, there is nothing I can do, and it’s not worth our time.

Too bad for you, #1. As far as frustrating voice-directed phone systems go, the American Airlines line has got to be among the most obnoxious. Have you ever used a system that actually responds to your request for a representative by scolding you: “I understand you’d like to speak to someone. If you’d like to try again, please say…”? Wow! So… basically… I know you want to talk to a human being but you can’t until you do it my way… you’re not going anywhere until I say so! You have to ask scary computer girl three more times before she relents! Hilarious if it wasn’t so frustrating.

Too bad for you, #2. You should have booked this earlier. Without the seven-day advance purchase, the change will cost you $335 extra plus $150 for a change fee (to a ticket from Austin to LAX to JFK to Austin bought for $419). Great idea! If only I had thought of it first… plan this last-minute change when I first bought the ticket more than seven days ago. Why didn’t I think of that? Duh…

There is nothing I can do for you, #1. Now I’m speaking with the shift supervisor. “The computers tell me the price for each flight, there’s nothing I can do”; it’s the computer’s doing if it costs more. During this conversation, supervisor extraordinaire actually quoted me $584, $785, and $900, consecutively, for changing the same ticket. She explained the (evil) computers change the ticket price almost every second as the flight gets more full–”that’s how we can afford to offer the really low advance-purchase fares.”

Luckily for me, my fourth call to the 800 number (two disconnects) got me to a new gal whose computer miraculously decided my incremental cost would only be $485 (I guess there was a massive sell-off of tickets on flight 311 in a period of 3 minutes).

There is nothing I can do for you, #2. My favorite such moment came after I asked my supervisory friend if she would please at least waive the $150 change fee given the circumstances. She replied that while she has discretion to waive or lower fees, American only does so if American is at fault. My situation was not their fault and, once again, there was nothing she could do more for me.

It’s not worth our time. After sharing my point of view and asking to do the same with a customer relations specialist, my friend the supervisor–just doing her job she assured me–explained American Airlines discovered it took too much time to answer calls and it was more productive for them to review emails rather than talk with people. “They get so much more done that way.”

My point is not to slam American Airlines. Rather, to ask… what would happen if American operated as if the customer’s world mattered most? Would they make more money? Or would they lose money? Done with genuine intent, they would most certainly make more money.

What if they knew I am a business owner? I travel a lot? I’m going on a cross-country trip next week (Austin to LA to NY to Austin) in a short time period? 

Well, they knew all that, and more, about me already–before I got on the phone with them (four times, no less). So, I guess the real question is what if they planned their marketing, their product, pricing, and service based on what they know about me (and you)?

1. They would incentivize their agents to solve my business conflict. 
2. They would let me talk to a person when I need to and work with a computer when I don’t. 
3. They wouldn’t double the price of my ticket for a 12-hour shift in the time I need to leave. 
4. They would close the conversation by asking me what other trips I have coming up so they could see what rates I could lock into right now if that would be helpful to set up sales meetings with my prospects.
5. They would… (enter idea here)

In short, they would have me at hello. That is consumer-centric. Actually, it is people-centric.

What they actually did… well, that’s the opposite.

Your thoughts?