True story: I was waiting for a flight at the Kelowna airport the other day when I decided to make a last minute change to my return date. I called up Flightcentre.ca (with whom I made the booking) and was immediately connected with the agent who originally handled my booking, I believe he picked up after the first ring.
His name is Gordon. I requested to change the date, Gordon happily accommodated with a flurry of quick taps, informed me of the additional surcharge (less than I expected) and wished me a happy flight. Total talk time from dial to disconnect: 1 minute 38 seconds. The service was fast, succinct and delivered with a warm and familiar cheer as though he knew me as an old friend. I’ve spoken with other Flightcentre.ca agents in the past and they’ve given me a similar level of care and familiarity.
A funny smile crept across my face and I realized I was beaming with that bemused afterglow that comes on when things go exactly your way and the service or product you’ve payed for actually delivers on all of its promises (sometimes described in the businesses world as the Holy Grail of good customer relationship management).
Using my iPhone (and the airport’s free wi-fi) I jumped on to Facebook and looked up FlightCentre.ca’s page. I found it immediately. They have 8500+ likes. I not only liked their page but I left a positive comment on their wall:
I’ve had a great experience, super friendly customer service and no hassle bookings – thanks to Gordon at the Vernon office.
I signed off and boarded my flight. Total transaction time from phone call to Facebook feedback: under 5 minutes.
Anecdote’s caveat: I have NEVER given positive customer feedback before to any company, about any service, product or experience. EVER.
Why?
Well it”s not that I haven’t been treated well before in my various dealings with the consumer world. Certainly the opportunity has existed in the past, mentioning that helpful store cashier to her manager, dropping off a heart-felt note in the company suggestion box, emailing the client support account etc etc. I guess the channels available to me never piqued my interest nor the time delay and murkiness of what actually happens to my correspondence once it’s received. But a social media response offered me an entirely different avenue.
The flightcentre.ca Facebook page gave me a forum where I could not only express my satisfaction of the company’s service but publicly reward the specific agent who helped me (remember people do business with people not companies). Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the entire transaction was how easy and accessible it was. I was already going on Facebook, checking up on the Flightcentre.ca page was just an afterthought. They had presence in a social space I was using anyway and that made it incredibly convenient (for me) to translate my positive experience into valuable customer feedback for them.
Now here’s where it gets really interesting: when I went back to check on the Flightcentre page later I discovered another user, one who had not had such a positive experience, had left a disparaging comment on my post accusing me of working for Flightcentre and calling my positive comment bogus. I engaged her and explained that I was simply a satisfied customer from my own personal experience. Maybe she did have a bad transaction, it’s really not my concern. I only know what happened to me. But in this context I am now not only leaving a great response for the company but actively defending it from its detractors within a public forum. The day before I couldn”t have given two licks about Flightcentre, now I’m acting as its surrogate PR champion.
Are you beginning to see the importance of maintaing a strong PR presence within the social media sphere? I am perhaps the world’s most apathetic consumer and yet here I am actively participating in a public conversation available to all my friends and the thousands of people who officially like this company, generating the sort of word-of-mouth headwind most companies would die for, and it didn’t cost Flightcentre a dime!
Good customer service + active (and savvy) social media presence = self-generating marketing powerhouse.
