Here’s a story that should be of interest to anyone with a company that has ever let down a customer or client. If that’s not you, may I suggest that you’re almost certainly kidding yourself!
Flying on Virgin Atlantic recently, my partner and I were split up due to a difficulty we experienced trying to check in online. By the time we checked in at the airport, there were no seats left next to each other, and despite the ground staff’s best efforts, they couldn’t swap people around to seat us together.
I asked an air stewardess upon boarding the plane whether she could see if anything could be done to seat us together. About 15 minutes into the flight, she tapped me on the shoulder to say that it was very full and there was nothing she could do for us.
At the same time, she gave me a glass of champagne and some chocolates to say sorry, and asked where my partner was sat so she could do the same for her.
A small gesture can go a long way
Well you can imagine how much better we felt. It was such a small gesture at the cost of no more than a couple of pounds to the company, but it completely changed how we felt about being split up for nine hours, and also about Virgin Atlantic.
Despite the fact that they failed to seat a married couple together who’d booked their flights at the same time, on the same credit card, we had a warm glow – and not just from the glass of bubbly! What’s more, at the end of the flight the same stewardess insisted on giving us a bottle of wine “to enjoy together”.
Good companies nowadays are in the business of selling themselves – their brand – as much as their product. We bought a flight, but came away feeling cared for – which I would suggest is one of the things Virgin want their customers to feel. It’s part of their brand values. They managed this having, at least to our minds, messed up. Next time we will try harder to book online – and also try to book Virgin Atlantic if we can.
Exceeding the expectations of customers, shareholders, suppliers, clients and staff should be built in to how all companies operate, and this was a great example of a company succeeding in doing this in practice. How does your company do this? Is it skilled at turning wrongs to rights? Looking for ways to improve in this area is a great use of management’s time when you want to stand out from the crowd.