Returning to the Art of Good Customer Service (Part 1 of 2)

I fly a lot. Anyone who says they love to fly is either lying or deranged. However, I fly so often that I have been driven from gate to gate when I have a close connection. Before anyone thinks I’m some big jet-setter, it only happens because I fly a lot. It’s the least they can do in an era of awful air travel mishaps — and in some cases, awful travelers around me. Lest anyone think air travel is as fashionable as it was in its heyday, just watch some disruptive passenger videos and you’ll see what I mean.

I recently flew a certain airline, and at the conclusion of my flight, the attendant handed me a card. After a three-hour flight and landing in Florida at midnight, suffice it to say, I was in a fog. I had the “What, did I forget to lift my seat back?” look on my face. I opened it to see:

Dear Mr. Schoppman, ​

Thank you for being a gazillion-mile flier on Airline X. Hard to believe you’ve flown 3.2 million miles with us. So glad you flew with us today, and we hope to serve you again in the future. Have a great time at home this weekend.

Flight Attendant X

Not sure I needed to be reminded that I had flown 3.2 million miles. Sure, my body feels like it, but that is like reminding someone they are old. However, I was intrigued that they knew it. Sure, they thanked me for my business (as they say, “We know you have a choice when you fly … ”) but I was more surprised they knew I was home. Could they have guessed? Maybe, but I would imagine since they knew my mileage count, they could do a quick search of their site and see I am a Floridian.

I still have this card in my possession, in part to remind me that when stuff hits the fan, there are plenty of nice employees at the airline trying to do their best. More importantly, we constantly read how customer service is dead. Whether there ever was a time where customer service excelled or it is has simply hit tragically new lows is up for debate.

How Are Your Client Relationships?

This got me thinking. In the construction industry, how well does your team do in the realm of customer service? Sure, you take them to lunch, maybe even have nice seats at a ballpark — but please don’t confuse marketing with good old-fashioned customer service. Pop quiz:

• If you are the project manager, do you know five things about your direct customer liaison, aside from their name and where they work?
• Do you feel like your relationship is always strained? Put another way, when you ask the most basic of questions, are you met with resistance?
• What does your customer really like about your project team? Are you just the best alternative because you were the lowest price, or do they see the real value you provide?
• If you are always selected on the basis of price — which is fairly common — does the building process with the customer always feel like a protracted root canal with no anesthesia?

There are plenty of businesses that would argue that customer service doesn’t really apply to them. This is about as incorrect as you can get. You may not need marketing expenses such as the football tickets and golf outings (who am I to take away everyone’s fun?), but the relationship that defines how you build and how the process goes during the building life cycle certainly matters. For instance, the airline had me captive, and more importantly, they had my money.

Additionally, the line about “having a choice” is somewhat of a fallacy. I may have choices, but if I am flying to certain cities, there are limited choices; in most cases, decisions will be based on price. The flight attendants did not have to be nice or even act as if I mattered. I was a human filling a seat, a dollar sitting on fake leather. The reality is that for those three hours there was a relationship, and while I have “choices,” it certainly was nice to have a positive interaction as opposed to a dreadful one.

Providing Great Service at Every Level 

The same characteristic applies to construction customers. Hard-bid, negotiated-bid, sole-sourced — people want to feel good about their choice and shouldn’t regret that experience. The adage of controlling the controllable certainly applies. For instance, if I fly a super no-frills airline that charges me for every item, I should understand that decisions have consequences. Independent to that is how I am treated as the customer. Maintaining a high level of respect and dignity costs nothing and should be what every business strives for. A hard-bid contractor that pursues realistic and appropriate change orders does not have to subscribe to the philosophy of being “Class A Jerks” to deal with. As one who interviews plenty of end users, I always find these responses to be the most refreshing:

• “Brand X Construction is fair but firm. They get stuff done, and you know what? If I had my druthers, I would choose to work with them.”
• “Sure, they are low-bid, but they are professional.”

People think that customer service is the province of only the high-end builders. One should expect a high level of communication, customer savviness, attention to the small things and, dare I say, “absorption.” (Read: Taking a hit for the client from time to time for the sake of the relationship.)

The first three items on that list are all freebies and should be part of any business model. There are plenty of accounts that began on the basis of price and migrated to a negotiated model simply because a customer said, “I like those folks.” Even if the law precludes a selection on something other than most qualified bid, isn’t it just easier to be nice? Imagine if contracting looked like those disgruntled passenger videos, where passengers are hog-tied and shuffled off to a “special destination.” Being nice works both ways and keeps everyone a little more sane.

Next up, we’ll discuss how to pack for a two-week trip in one carry-on.

Check out Part 2 of this series:

• Returning to the Art of Good Customer Service (Part 2 of 2)