And what you should be doing about it

     by Morry Morgan

Of course, all airlines have occasional ‘issues' with their high-tech fleet. The only difference is that poor service has been dogging China Eastern for as long as I remember. To emphasise the degree of poor service, my company has an unofficial competition -‘The longest flight delay'. To date, the record is seven and a half hours, and is held by  you guessed it-China Eastern Airlines. This record is even more notable in that the entire time was spent within the aircraft, not the terminal. The staff member sat squashed in his seat on the tarmac at Shanghai's, Hong Qiao Airport. My circumnavigation of Pudong Airport comes in a close second, for now. It is followed by a flight, late last year,which saw me waiting in a non-moving aircraft beside the Beijing Capital Airport terminal for five and a half hours.

No news ..... is not good news

Possibly the most worrying factor amidst these travel horror stories is the lack of information given to passengers when a delay occurs. For example, on my aforementioned flight from China to Australia, no official information was given to passengers as to the reason for the delay. We were simply herded off the first broken aircraft and onto the next. The cause for the emergency landing had to be coaxed from a stewardess by a passenger, who then disseminated the information. ‘No news is good news' seems to be the prevailing
attitude.

This, of course, is a complete fallacy, as proven by an incident at Shenzhen airport in May last year. The flight, again China Eastern, was in the second hour of its delay when the ‘tipping point' of discontent occurred. Some 30 frustrated passengers surrounded the boarding gate desk, demanding an explanation. Even though the nervous staff gave the answer, "poor weather" - which was most likely true - they did not share the possible departure time. The 30 customers left waiting grew frustrated at the lack of any clear information and decided that they had had more than their fair share of delays. Within minutes, a megaphone miraculously appeared and
the chanting began. When the delayed plane finally landed, docked and unloaded its passengers some three hours late, four of the protestors refused to board. Ironically, this delayed the plane further, as their baggage was located and removed from the Shanghai-bound aircraft. It is, therefore, clear that poor service is no longer tolerated by Chinese air-travellers.

Travel Travails

So, if customers will no longer tolerate such poor service, what can airlines like China Eastern do to improve? The clear answer is that they must improve communication between staff and customers. I am the first to admit that China's customer service has improved in leaps and bounds. Over the seven years I have been in China, customer service standards have moved from near non-existent to much more acceptable. Unfortunately, ‘impressive' is still rare and is certainly not consistently delivered. To date, the airlines have been the worst
offenders.

So, how can airlines - or any other service provider for that matter- improve their communication and maintain a high-level of service? First, let's obliterate the notion that ‘no news is good news'.
Frustration results when customers are ‘left in the dark'. Providing information, no matter how limited, shows the customer that you care about their feelings and are doing your utmost to resolve their problem - this instantly puts them on your side. Once the customer is on your side, you are unlikely to face the wrath of an angry mob, such as the one at Shenzhen airport. Rather, you become an aide and confidante of the masses.

"Let's obliterate the notion that ‘no news
is good news'."

 Second, employees have to understand that they are part of a total customer experience. Here's an example. Last year, my wife and I were returning from a week in Beijing to witness the Olympic Games. Our original flight was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. However, as our friends had been able to acquire tickets for the football finals that same day, we called the airline and had our seats postponed until Sunday. On arrival at terminal 2, we approached the ‘Ticketing'
counter to arrange for new tickets, knowing that we needed to pay a penalty fee. The staff member, with a wave of her hand, told us to go to the ‘Check In' counter instead. We followed her direction, and waited in the Shanghai-Beijing Express queue for 10 minutes.

However, once we were served, we were told that we could not check-in as we had not paid the penalty. We had to return to the ‘Ticketing' counter. My wife ran back from where we had just come. At this point, our frustration had been sparked. Counter No 8 was the only one free. However, the staff member informed my wife that she "could not deal with money." She added that my wife should go, "over there".

I would like to step away from this specific example for a moment to introduce the concept of customer service ‘flash points'. The term ‘flash point' is used in policing and peacekeeping to describe a geographical location that could easily become violent due to a mixture of tension, violent tendencies, and available weapons. Flashpoints can be entire cities, suburbs, or streets, but the one thing they all have in common is that trouble can be prevented with
foresight.

Now, let's return to the ‘Ticketing' counter at Beijing Capital Airport. A customer who appears frustrated is a ‘flash point'. Instead of receiving courteous assistance, all my fiancé got was a nonchalant, "over there". She should have heard, "Please speak to my colleague at Counter No. 9. She will be able to assist you with your request, because she is responsible for re-issuing tickets." Eventually, the staff at counter No 9 printed out two tickets, and my wife returned
to the check-in counter. Imagine our surprise, and increased frustration, when the check-in staff member then announced that we could not board our plane because the flight had been closed.
Apparently, we had not checked in 30 minutes before departure. Startled, and confused as to why we had just been issued an irrelevant ticket, I looked up above the check-in desk. In bold white writing, in both English and Chinese, it read: "Check in must be 20 minutes before departure." According to their sign, we still had 9 minutes
remaining! Boom! Flash point ignited!

"A customer who appears frustrated is a
‘flash point'."

The moral of the story is that three customer service staff members (and an erroneous sign*) were involved in our total customer experience, but each one treated their ‘segment' of our experience as separate, isolated and unrelated, rather than as a whole. Each had an opportunity to douse the ‘flash point', but none did. So, we made a complaint. The manager asked us to write down our story in a book, where we read of other frustrated customers and their experiences. They all told the same tale -one part of the process was  not co-ordinating with the next.

Implementation

Unfortunately, the total and informative customer service approach is not easy to introduce. It takes leadership from above to initiate a total customer focus before it can become endemic throughout the organisation. However, the starting point is acknowledging the need. From this point, there are a number of ways to determine weaknesses in your customer service. Sit beside phone operators as they handle incoming calls, work as a ‘trainee' on the front desk for a day, play the role of ‘mystery shopper' and ask for assistance, or involve a training company to do that on your behalf. Regardless of your method, stop reading about improving customer service and
be actively involved in improving it !

Now that China has successfully orchestrated its entry into WTO, and is seen as a tourist hotspot thanks to the Olympics, the time for raising the customer service level is upon us. And, not just for airlines! As the Shanghai Expo 2010 races towards us, failure to improve your business's customer service is not only an issue for your company's wellbeing, but ultimately the longevity of a healthy Chinese economy.

Morry Morgan trains ‘Needs based selling' across China, which includes customer relationship management as a key component to repeat business.