The Editor’s View
Invite the
Grinch to
Celebrate
I’ve been
focused a
great deal
on customer
service lately.
And I guess
this is as good
a time as any
to comment
again as we
head into the
fourth-quarter-make-it-or-break-it selling
season, where our customers are ready to
shop, celebrate … and virtually report how
we did on every level of service to their peers.
How I love and hate this age of virtual
commentary. One thing the specialty retail
business has going for it is that it’s not the
restaurant business; but the retail business
is only one heartbreak behind what our family
business deals with on a minute-by-minute
basis: online customer reviews complete
with photos.
So watch out, the next customer coming
through your door might be a valued contributor at Yelp.com, TripAdvisor.com or the
myriad other peer-to-peer virtual reviewers
out there.
Remember when secret shoppers meant a
company you hired to see how you and your
staff performed ad lib? Those days are over.
Today’s secret shoppers have a completely
different agenda.
I am reminded of this now as I travel to
Peru (for more on Peru, click here) on
Delta. I have had a great trip so far, even
though I have not left the ground. I am
a member of the Sky Club, so I was able
to work while I waited for the flight (a
privilege I pay a hefty tariff for annually).
I also have a good “status” with Delta and
I have paid for the Economy Comfort Seat
on this flight (can you imagine having your
customers so scared to lose their status
and be treated like third-class citizens? I
sure wish I could figure out how to accomplish this in the magazine world!), so as I
type, I am sitting a class above the cattle
a row behind me (albeit with no Business
Class curtain, only a $40 surcharge).
Anyway, as we were preparing for takeoff, I
heard this “good old southern” flight atten-
dant I will call Jane talking about the crazy
people she met already on the flight. “He
was trying to argue wit’me about baggage
… Uh-no you don’t,” she exclaimed to her
“nice” passenger audience. “You want a
$4,500 fine ... keep on talkin’!”
She continued on. And on. I tapped the
man on the shoulder in front of me and
said, “Thank goodness she’s working the
other aisle this flight.”
He smiled and laughed, “Don’t be messing
with her!”
I sat back and listened as she continued
to list the things that annoy her about
argumentative travelers (aka Customers)
all the while a flight attendant call button
was dinging and dinging and dinging.
