Articles
Thought News from Frank Maguire
Jet Blew It. Will You?
by Frank Maguire
Jet Blue made one big mistake just before Presidents Day Weekend; they decided not to cancel flights in advance of a big east coast ice storm. They wagered that other airlines would cancel scores of flights, and if the storm turned out to not be less serious than was predicted, Jet Blue would be well positioned to scoop up the business.
Their mistake was going for the sale at the risk of losing the customer. They got the sales, but then they seriously – some say permanently – damaged their relationships with thousands of customers. And no matter how much Jet Blue’s CEO publicly apologizes in the weeks that come the scars will remain for a long time.
This isn’t a problem just faced by the airlines. Every business has to decide how much it values customer loyalty. Have you ever gone to return something and had a bad experience with the salesperson? Often that experience means a lot more to you than the value of the item you’re quibbling over. In the end, if you don’t feel you’re dealt with well, you won’t go back there and you’ll tell many others all about it.
For every customer everywhere, the experience of dealing with your firm is more important – and more memorable – than will be the purchase itself. If you put your customers first, it will show, and ultimately you will be rewarded.
Want to improve things? Schedule three meetings.
I frequently talk with CEOs and technology leaders in small groups around the country, and I’m asked how to improve productivity and morale. I tell them it’s not complicated. Have three meetings.
“Three meetings?” they say. “We have meetings all the time. How will that help?”
I tell them it’s actually quite simple. Each meeting has only one agenda item.
• The first meeting: What are we doing around here that we shouldn’t be doing anymore?
• The second meeting: What are we doing around here that we should be doing better?
• The third meeting: What aren’t we doing around here that we should be doing?
But be sure you are willing to listen to what people say. Try to sit back and be silent. (Have you ever noticed that “silent” is made up of the exact same letters as is “listen”?).
Spend an hour or more with your key people on each of these three topics and you will collectively gain insight and direction that would have been tough to get any other way. Just be sure you end up with an action plan that addresses the issues that surface, and plan to schedule three more meetings in six months. You’ll certainly have new challenges to address.
Do you ask the right questions?
The next time you conduct an interview, focus on “how” questions, not “what” questions.
Most people make a common mistake when they interview a job candidate. They carefully look over the resume, and then they start to ask almost entirely “what” questions. They ask “What did you do at XYZ company?” “What made you leave and go on to ABC company?” “What was your biggest challenge?”
But the truth is, you’ll learn much more by asking “how” questions, according to Peter Robertson, author of Always Change a Winning Team. Ask candidates how they accomplished their goals, how they increased profitability by 25%, how they dealt with a notoriously difficult CEO, how they dealt with their biggest challenge. Listening to those answers will give you a window into the individual’s approach to risk, knack for innovation and ability to cope with failure. See if the candidate really understands what it took to get the results they ultimately achieved.
Frank Maguire
Contact: Julie Sloway, Prime Time Speakers Bureau, (800) 905-3233 or email julie@ primetimespeakers.com.