David J. Danto
Principal Consultant,
Collaboration/ AV / Multimedia / Video / UC
Dimension Data
Director of Emerging
Technology
Interactive
Multimedia & Collaborative Communications Alliance
eMail:
David.Danto@DimensionData.com Follow Video &
Technology Industry News: @NJDavidD
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Dear United – You Asked
Dear United – apparently,
what we have here is a failure to communicate.
I and
others have written dozens of blogs and articles, frequent flyers have made
hundreds of posts to flying themed websites and your Facebook page, and your
employees and retirees have created online forums – all just to help you
understand our needs in an airline.
Despite the clear messages common to all these sources, you still email
me and others with requests to provide feedback and let you know how we
feel.
While
a more cynical person than I (was there
ever a more cynical person than I) would conclude that you’re really only
pretending to be interested in the opinions of your customers and employees,
I’m going to assume that you really have the best of intentions and really do
want to be educated about how we all feel about you. Below are the points most often made when
your best customers and employees talk about you. While taking action on some of these would
incur costs in the short term, they would build customer and employee loyalty
which would actually improve your bottom line.
Then, for others on the list, there is no cost involved at all. For these, a simple, free change on your part
would make a whole lot of people feel a lot better about you.
· Stop Lying – Now this one may be difficult - as we
understand it is second nature to the management team you have in place, and
they apparently never learned the value of honesty from their parents - but it
is a really important point. When your
organization says one thing and then does something else people could conclude
that you are not a sincere or trustworthy organization to do business
with. For example, please go to any one
of your hubs – Newark, Houston, Denver, San Francisco, etc. – and ask ANY of your customers by your gates or
in your clubs if ANY of them think
you are “flyer friendly.” EVERY ONE of the people you’ll chat
with will explain that is the absolute last phrase any of them would use to
describe their experiences with United nowadays. More than that though, when your existing
customers and employees hear that phrase over and over - in contrast with the
increasingly lousy experiences we are all having - it becomes genuinely
offensive to hear. Regardless if the
lies are just how airlines always work (like showing a flight as on-time when
the arriving aircraft will be hours late) or are specific to United (like
saying you’re interested in hearing about our experiences yet do nothing to act
upon the feedback) it would be sooooo easy and
inexpensive to just stop offending everyone.
· Stop The Safety Video Intro – Very related to the
above, all your customers and employees see your current CEO as the biggest
liar of the bunch. From the first days
of the United-Continental mash-up (“changes
we’re going to like”) he continues to say the opposite of what is
true. Is it really necessary to have him
be the first thing your upset customers and employees see on a video screen as
soon as the cabin door is closed? What
it says is that United enjoys rubbing salt into the many wounds he caused. It would cost nothing – and actually save
money – if his segments no longer needed to be recorded and edited and inserted
into the video distributed to all aircraft – and it would please a whole lot of
people – almost as much as if the board fired him altogether…almost.
· Learn “Penny-Wise, Pound Foolish” – I realize this is a
difficult one for you too, but it may help to remember the Continental history
about “making
pizzas so cheap that no one will want to eat them.” When your business people cut costs by
outsourcing you lose employees that cared about their job performance and get
contract workers that couldn’t care less.
The work product is at best cheapened and at worst possibly endangers
safety. How many high value passengers
do you lose because of such decisions?
How many costly delays do you incur? How many times do you have to put
people up overnight in unheated army barracks? It’s important to finally learn that some
savings have hidden costs that bean-counters often don’t understand. If they can’t be taught (which is a given by
now) then maybe get some people in there that do understand the value of
checked bags being delivered rapidly, agents being courteous and knowledgeable,
mechanics performing excellently, etc.
· Treat Your Customers Well And Your Employees Better
– If
you show disdain for your employees they will not perform at their best –
that’s human nature. But if you treat
them with respect and dignity, rewarding them for exceptional service and
paying them a reasonable wage and benefits package, then they will likely treat
your customers with that same level of respect and dignity. I think there was even a book written about
that – specifically within the airline industry….something about worst and
first….maybe look it up to be
sure. If all your executives took a 2%
pay cut and spread it around the rest of the workforce you wouldn’t believe
what a great outcome you’d experience – and how much good press you’d
receive. What is that – like one less
day of resort vacation and a few less outfits hanging in a closet for each of
them to experience a windfall of good outcomes all around as a result?
I
could provide a lot more feedback here – like how bad is it that you promise
upgrade benefits to your premier flyers then sell them to others before they
can be realized, or how meaningless you’ve made the bottom two or three tiers
of status – or how no one at your firm understands the concept that loyalty is
a two way street – but understanding and acting upon the four simplified points
above would make a very good start. The
onus is on you now to show that you’ve heard this feedback (from many more
people than just me) and actually do
something that addresses it to let us know you have. If it’s not crystal clear, removing the CEO’s
safety intro is probably the easiest to do as it represents less effort and a cost savings.
The
point is that if you continually ask what we want, but then do nothing to act
on the responses, people will start to compare your management to the fabled
boy who cried wolf and begin to ignore the requests. That can’t be a good thing – unless it is
actually your intention to frustrate your customers and employees and make them
stop doing business with you. I missed
the day in business school when they detailed how that was a smart strategy.
This article was written by David Danto and
contains solely his own, personal opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.