Always 'on'

Being ON for your customers

After speaking at a recent tradeshow, this writer flew Southwest Airlines from Las Vegas to Tampa with a stopover in Nashville. The flight from Las Vegas to Nashville was the type of flight I enjoyed and had come to expect from Southwest: flight attendants and crew members engaging in conversations with passengers, telling jokes, tossing bags of peanuts, singing, and generally engaging the passengers.

They were quite proud of their additional efforts. At the end of the flight, this announcement was made, "Thanks for flying our airline. If you had a good time, this was Southwest flight 157. If you did not have a good time, this was Delta flight 1."

In Nashville, all but five passengers got off. Oddly enough, the five of us all sat in the same area. We had a discussion among us about our flights as the Nashville-to-Tampa flight was quite different from the first one. On the second flight, the pilot—the same as on the first—was "matter of fact" with his comments in the one time he spoke to the passengers on the second flight. The flight attendants, while also the same crew as the first flight, gave the usual type of service experienced on airplanes. They served the customary drinks and snacks, but something was missing.

Passengers were not given the individual attention that we had in the first flight. The flight attendants did not give passengers a sincere look in the eye or smile at them. The fun was gone, and now the Southwest flight attendants were performing their jobs in the same manner as flight attendants on other airlines.

The response by the Southwest flight attendant, while lengthy and filled with a combination of explanations, could be summarized by the last sentence she gave. "Hey, we can't always be on."

Of course, anyone can have an off day: a headache, a cold, a problem at home with the kids, or dealing with personal finances. Almost everyone has an occasion where he or she has gone to work with a less-than- ideal personal situation.

However, when it comes to interacting with customers, co-workers, management, or even the delivery person from UPS, being "on" is not an option. If you are truly a professional at what you do (sales, installation, service, office support, warehouse or delivery personnel), your job requires you to be "on" when you perform your duties.

This writer remembers from his days of store ownership when a radio announcer was emceeing a contest at our business. The announcer, after performing part of his duties, began to complain about the microphone, the speakers, the acoustics of the building, and the lack of time to warm up his voice. His remark was, "I am a professional. I have to have things just so when I work."

Tiring of a complainer, my response was, "Gee. I thought being a professional meant you could do your job in any circumstances." I remember that was the last of our discussion for the day.

On the other hand, how many times have you worked with someone who always has a smile on his or her face? You know—the person who always has a kind word for co-workers and at least two kind words for each customer. These are the staff members whom customers ask for by name.

The pleasant disposition is not something that can be taught. More simply, it is something that can be pointed out to a new staff person observing a co-worker who is enjoying his or her work or interaction with the customer.

Imagine the scenario as you and the new staff person observe and discuss the techniques and skills shown. After several of these efforts, you should expect the new staff person would be able to handle his or her duties.

Of course, there are some people who just are not suited to work in situations where they interact with customers.

This writer remembers speaking to a group in South Carolina last year about this issue. Visiting with one of the attendees some six months later, she said that as I spoke she knew exactly the person in her business about whom I was talking.

While her business rarely had a customer complaint, she said she was surprised if the complaint was about anyone other than this one staff member. She went on to say that she had a restless night thinking about the situation; and that when she went to work the next day, the first thing she did was to terminate that employee. Hearing that story, I gasped and asked what happened next. Her response was, "That was the best thing I ever did for my business. And I felt a lot better afterward."

Not recommending this as a cure-all for any business, there are two other points that need to be made. The first is that the person who is not "on" is indirectly working to cause all of his or her co-workers to not be "on." It is like algae in a pool. It spreads, and it spreads rapidly. Like the algae, it does not just go away on its own; it has to be dealt with.

The second point is that a management person who is "on" can do more to get the rest of the staff in the "on" position than the lowest ranking staff person can do to get his or her "on" position to filter up through the business.