SYNOPSIS
What book are we doing?
Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers, by Fred Reichheld
Why are we doing it?
Because it’s a reminder of the importance of treating customers well
How can we use it?
Treat your customers like you want to be treated
Remind your clients to treat their customers like they would like to be treated
Avoid the temptation of claiming your “customer obsessed” if you don’t really live it
The focus of this month’s Book Value was intended to be The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille’s. Ironically, a customer experience I had while writing that review reminded me of another book’s simple but often ignored lessons.
Sometime around 8:30 on Friday night, I was sitting in the lounge at YYJ (the airport in my hometown of Victoria, BC) waiting for our 9:20 flight to Vancouver, where we would connect to Toronto and, ultimately, Cleveland which, also ironically, is where Fred Reichheld was born. My wife said to me, surprised and confused, “I think they just announced last call for boarding our flight.” YYJ is a small airport. It feels relatively informal. Flights to Vancouver leave frequently (every hour or two). Gate-to-gate time between the two cities is half an hour. Flight time is around 12 minutes, which consists of taking off, ascending to cruising altitude, immediately beginning the descent once reaching said cruising altitude, and then landing. The airports in these two cities are only 63 kilometers apart. This is not a complex flight that starts boarding (much less making a final boarding call) 50 minutes before take-off.
We arrived at YYJ early so I could write before we took off. My wife went to investigate at the gate while I continued to write and sip my half-full beer. I assumed that the announcement was probably for an earlier flight that was running late. Surely, I thought, they’re not making a final call for a tiny flight 50 minutes before scheduled take-off. A few minutes later, the gate attendant who’d check us in (for the record, this person was courteous, efficient, and kind. I was impressed with him at check-in and appreciated how he interacted with us) approached me in the lounge, and politely said, “Hi. You’re the last person to board. I know it’s early, but this is the last flight of the night. The crew often tries to push this one as quickly as possible so can finish their shift and get home. We can’t force you to board early, but we’d appreciate it if you would.” Fair enough. That’s a reasonable request. So I packed up my computer, left my remaining beer behind, and went to the boarding area, where I was met (not greeted) by two stern Air Canada gate attendants. Both scowled. Neither said a word to me. It was still ten or 15 minutes before the scheduled boarding time, and yet they leered at me like I’d arrive ten minutes after scheduled take-off. If only they were as hard on themselves when they’re late as they were with me for not being early enough for them.
Fred Reichheld is best known for creating the Net Promoter Score (The Ultimate Question 2.0: How net promoter companies thrive in a customer-driven world). Simply put, NPS is calculated by asking customers one question: How likely are you to recommend this product or service? Customers rank on a scale of 0 to 10. Customers stating 0 to 6 are Detractors. Those stating 9 or 10 are Promoters. And those stating 7 or 8 are Passives. NPS equals percentage of promoters minus percentage of detractors. The higher the NPS, the better. Simple. Brands that perform well on this metric are said to outperform the market by 3X.
More recently (in 2021), Reichheld presented another very simple premise, articulated and elaborated upon across 341 pages of Winning on Purpose, which boils down to one thing: enrich the lives of your customers.
This is easy to say. It’s also easy to post on a web site or paint on the wall of a corporate office. But, like many things that are easy to say, post, and paint in corporate land, it’s rarely executed.
Reichheld taps into something we’re all taught as children: The Golden Rule. Treat others like you want to be treated. Reichheld believes that corporations could learn a lot about customer experience from five-year-olds. In doing so, customers would be better off, as would businesses.
In The Opposable Mind, Roger Martin talks about it being better to say nothing than to make an empty claim that you fail to deliver. Air Canada claims that customer engagement is a core to their Rise Higher corporate strategy. In their 2022 Annual Report, under the heading Elevate Our Customers, they talk about their kindness being what makes them their customers’ “first choice, time and time again.” I think they’ve be much more likely to Rise Higher if they were more grounded.
I don’t hold much faith in the idea that companies like Air Canada who operate in monopoly or oligopoly markets will change. A lack of competition, sadly, removes most of the incentive to be better. But for most companies, treating your customers like you like them is good for business.
Don’t read this book. Use the eight hours you’d spend reading it to implement its simple central idea. Treat customers like want to be treated. Convince your clients to do the same. Call them out when they fail to do so. Your business and theirs will be better for it.
Our landing on Friday presented a final irony. We arrived in Vancouver early, the pilot shut the engine down, passengers all got up, and then nothing. The door stayed closed. After a minute or two, the flight attendant announced, “Hi everyone, sorry for the delay. Our attendants aren’t at the gate yet, so we just need to wait for them before we can open the door.” They ended with a line we’ve all heard countless times from Air Canada, “Thanks for your patience.”
Imagine if Air Canada extended to customers the same patience they so often expect from us.
