We Are All in Sales

Airlines losing money, as normal course of biz.

I recently sat on a flight that was 30 minutes past departure time, and there was zero communication to the passangers (also known as customers, the people who create the revenue). 4 flight attendants were standing 3 rows up from me in the bulkhead, having a jolly good time with one another, catching up with who knows what.

Meanwhile, the customers (many who missed connections the previous day due to weather and were anxious to get on to their destinations) are ignored. I wondered if the owners/managers of the business were present if the flight attendants behavior would have been different?

What if the flight attendants were outside their business and were now the customers, being ignored by the store they were considering shopping in. Would it affect their purchasing attitude? Would they share their negative experience? Is it any wonder the airlines as an industry are losing money?

So, now, let's look to your business. What messages are the people in your company sending to their customers on a regular basis? Create a system to ensure you know regularly and that all can be consistently aware.

We are all in sales, just don't realize it enough.

Test the System

How bad is the economy? Imagine trying to make a reservation for a hotel room at 9pm in the evening for a date 2 months out and being told to call back tomorrow at 8am when "reservations" is open! When I laughed and said I had never heard of such a thing, the hotel rep asked "what?". I said that I never heard of a business telling a customer to go away, she replied she wasn't doing that, just to "call back tomorrow after 8am".

Is this what the owner had in mind? Could the person on the line have asked for my contact info to followup that I didn't go elsewhere?
Here's the icing on the cake. When I related the story to my wife, she said she runs into it "all the time".

This is all happening when unemployment is north of 10% and the economic news is reported as dismal. I know 10 year old kids who are more enterprising!
Lesson: check what's being said regularly by your team with the customer. Be a customer and "test the system". Are you welcoming business or sending it away?

Opportunity!!