Check, check, check this. This is Marty's Minute Audio Podcast. Today I have to rant about a situation I just experienced. My daughter was trying to catch a flight home on a frequent flier ticket I'd given her.
When she booked the ticket, she had to pay a minimal fee of $5 to cover taxes and airport fees. A few weeks later, the credit card that she had used to pay these fees was compromised and the bank issued her a new card. Now fast forwarding to now, if she goes to get her boarding pass, the gate agent asked her for that credit card. When she told the agent that the bank had issued her a new card, she was told that the system would not pronounce her boarding pass and that she would not be able to get on the flight.
Now why the system wanted the credit card is another story completely since the $5 was already paid. But the frustrating part was the poor agent who was on the front line had to tell my daughter she could not fly home over a process somebody created who knows where and for who knows what reason. No matter how many supervisors or people she called, no one could tell her how to solve my daughter's problem. Now you can imagine what a traumatic experience it was for really both parties.
Here's a girl trying to get home, a ticket agent trying to get her home and nobody can help based on a corporate process. Have we gone too far in the automation of our systems where we take the service out of customer service? Have we become a society where we trust no one, not even our frontline agents to help our customers? General Charles Krulak, one of the great generals of our time, has a theory he developed.
Krulak's law is simple. The closer you get to the front, the more power you have over the brand. And really isn't he right, the closer you are to the front, the more power we should give our people. I think we've tipped the power and responsibility quite frankly in the wrong direction.
I believe that companies that embrace Krulak's law will be more successful, have greater customer satisfaction, and in the end, make the world a better place. Until next time, I'm Marty, make every minute count.