Customer Loyalty

Who “deserves” exceptional customer service?

Do you have to have a Gold or Platinum membership to get good service? Really?!

I do get it, and I do benefit from it when it pertains to flying and being upgraded and service levels in hotels. And it does keep me flying the same airline or staying in the same hotel. Because heaven forbid you have to change brands—you get thrown to the back of the line and get the worst rooms when you don’t stay where you have status. But is it worth the cost of the customers they lose because they aren’t at these levels? Is this just the power of the 80/20 rule?

Recently, a friend and I were traveling to a funeral and the flight got cancelled. She tried to call the regular help desk and basically didn’t get anywhere. I called the Platinum desk and we got it all worked out. We got rerouted and arrived even earlier than we would have on our original itinerary, and they had us on standby for alternative travel in the event that we needed it. Talk about customer service! We were so appreciative! But…

We had to call in my Platinum status to get that service. Why? The story was the same. We had a funeral to get to. Why wouldn’t the regular help desk have the ability to do the same thing the Platinum desk could do?

What would happen in this world if everyone paying for a service got uniformly over-the-top customer service?

What would happen in your business?

If you are a business owner or leader, when was the last time you mystery-shopped your own business? What percentage of your business are you leaving on the table because a new customer comes to you and hasn’t yet built up their Platinum status? How often are you really asking for feedback from your clients? When you get feedback what do you do with it?