Customer Service

New Professionals & Customer Service

Let’s say you’re about to graduate from business school or law school. This week, you plan to hop on a flight that will take you to an interview with a prospective employer. You know that today’s business world requires new professionals to demonstrate an absolute commitment to providing superlative customer service. In fact, you have become super-attuned to the very concept of client service, noting its existence or absence with every transaction you make. Fundamentally, you understand that client service is all about getting along.

Let’s hope you don’t catch a flight like the one I took Sunday from Kansas City to New York City.

For the sake of full disclosure, let me note that I am a Delta frequent flier.  Since moving to NYC, Delta has become my airline of choice. And most of the time, they serve me extremely well. In fact, whenever they have the opportunity to do so, Delta upgrades me to First Class, something that they were kind enough to do on my most recent flight.

But here’s what I encountered in First Class: After declining the airline’s pre-packaged lunch, I asked if I might obtain a package of peanuts to snack upon. The First Class attendant told me the ground crew had failed to restock the plane.

Peanuts!?!?! What airline doesn’t pass out peanuts or some equivalent snack on a two-hour flight?

I guess I should count myself lucky. The First Class flight attendant reluctantly (and I mean really reluctantly) retrieved a snack for me from the main cabin crew. The gentleman seated next to me was not as fortunate. When he asked for a bottle of water, he discovered that he was plum out of luck.

For years, business travelers have complained that airplanes have been transformed into cattle cars and air travel has become about as glamorous as hopping onto a Greyhound bus. I suspect most flight attendants feel the same way. But for heaven’s sakes, Delta, surely you want to give your employees the tools they need to provide great customer service to your most loyal clients. Don’t you?

What Do You Need to Know?

Providing customer service is a critical success factor.
 
 

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