Making your customers feel they are missing out

I have just spent an hour organising flights for a rather complicated trip zigzagging across the Tasman and around Eastern Australia. I choose to fly Air New Zealand both domestically and internationally, but travelling between two Australian cities necessitated travelling with a competing airline and my heart sank. Admittedly, I did not have a major personal crisis but I did experience an emotional reaction rather than just thinking, oh darn. I clearly felt disappointed. Then I thought about flying to North America and how I get that sinking feeling in my stomach as we approach Los Angeles, San Francisco or Vancouver because I know I will be transferring to a domestic airline where the experience will not be as good. Similarly, when I return to those cities, my spirits lift because I will soon be back in the hands of Air New Zealand. Thinking about this made me realise Air New Zealand has, in my mind at least, gained a competitive advantage because they have created a situation where I, as a customer, feel I am missing out if I do not fly with them.
Because that is what we all need to do, I started thinking about how Air New Zealand has created this feeling and gained my loyalty. I discovered that, for me, although price and loyalty rewards are factors, they are not really that important. I will readily pay a little more if it is going to make my travelling easier or more comfortable, and the air points are just a nice bonus.
There are four other factors that are much more important in gaining my loyalty.
First, I find Air New Zealand to be fast and easy to do business with. I especially love the Business Class check-in at Auckland’s International Terminal. I actually look forward to checking in because I know it will take only ten minutes from the time I park my car to entering the Koru Lounge.
The Business Class check-in area is also a very comfortable place to be and it provides a quiet refuge from the noisy terminal. The Koru lounges are world-class, certainly better than Air Canada’s and United’s and at least on par with the likes of Emirates. More importantly, they are consistently excellent.
Thirdly, Air New Zealand makes me feel valued as a customer. I rarely fly Business Class so my experience with the Business Class check-in and the Koru lounge comes from being a frequent flyer. When I interact with Air New Zealand or its staff, I feel just as important as if I was paying Business Class fares. I am always treated politely and with respect.
But most importantly, I have learned I can trust Air New Zealand to solve my problems. For example, recently my flight to New Plymouth was delayed “due to engineering requirements.” It was estimated to depart at the same time as the next scheduled flight. A one-hour delay was no problem but anything longer would make me late for a speech so I had a dilemma. Should I remain on the original flight and hope it left at the estimated time or transfer to the next scheduled flight? I asked an agent in the Koru lounge what he recommended I do. He went into the system, saw the next flight was on time, suggested I re-book on that, gave me a new boarding pass, went and found my bags, put new tags on them and returned to give me the baggage receipts. The next day, my flight home was cancelled because the weather was so bad the incoming flight could not land. We were told there was one more flight to land that evening but there was limited space available and because the next day was Saturday, those flights were pretty full too. I went to the check-in desk but there was a huge line-up. I walked over to the car rental desks but again there were queues. I dialled 0800 737 000 on my cellphone, punched in my Air Points number and was instantly talking to an agent. After I explained my situation, he went into the system and said, “Sir, you have automatically been booked on the next flight.” Wow! Problem solved, as long as the weather cleared, and since nobody could control that, I returned to the lounge for another glass of wine.

The trust factor
These great stories are examples of what I regularly experience and consequently I have learned to trust Air New Zealand to solve my problems. That trust is what makes me loyal.
Customer loyalty comes from causing your customers to feel they are missing out if they do not do business with you. This, in turn, comes from the attitudes and behaviour of staff, whether it is senior managers who build systems that work for customers, or it is the friendly, can-do attitude of empowered front-line staff who genuinely want to help their customers.

Dr Ian Brooks www.ianbrooks.com is a leading expert in customer care and chairman of the NZ Association of Customer Excellence