Dear Airline , under the ‘ P ’ of Promotion sits a very useful tool called Public Relations which contrary to popular belief , is not about managing the media but about managing stakeholders especially your customers .
flight , you may be forgiven for not paying attention to the exact words but clearly the shock on most passengers faces after being told the refreshment cart was selling snacks was quite evident . Even worse was the discomfort on the flight attendant ’ s face , as she pushed the cart in the aisle , and was heard asking - “ Would you like to buy something ?”
Dear Airline , the art of selling is a skill that must be learnt . It is not automatic that a flight attendant whose primary focus is customer safety and customer satisfaction and has been trained on the same , will know how to sell tea , sodas and snacks . Do they have targets on each flight in terms of revenue they must collect ?
Seven rows later , she finally got to a customer who asked for a cup of tea . “ How much is the tea , “ asked the customer ? The stewardess replied , 200 shillings .
Dear Airline , the ‘ P ’ of Price is something that customers are very sensitive about . It is not the actual price in terms of shillings , but rather the value that one gets from the item . In this case , it wasn ’ t a mug of tea . It was more like a 2-gulp sized paper cup , with no fresh milk , but a sachet of powdered milk . One would expect the price
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Dear Airline , under the ‘ P ’ of Promotion sits a very useful tool called Public Relations which contrary to popular belief , is not about managing the media but about managing stakeholders especially your customers .
of the overall ticket to be much lower , given that there are no frills on this airline , and they do not have to purchase additional food and beverage . That doesn ’ t seem to be the case .
The ‘ P ’ of Physical evidence was the airline boarding pass . A rather interesting document , that was linked to a ‘ P ’ of Promotion in the form of a sales promotion with another partner , that is predominantly a food outlet . Perhaps the idea was to starve you during the flight so that the customer could then go purchase the chicken . On the back of the boarding pass was a QR code for a loyalty scheme designed to give loyal customers rewards .
Dear Airline , you lost out on an opportunity to create awareness and interest in your loyalty scheme . Your salesperson / flight attendant never mentioned anything of the sort during the personal selling exercise .
Is customer experience a thing of the past ? Are we dismissing its value or do we think it no longer is worth the trouble ?
Dear Airline , Customer Experience when reviewed from end to end , can be your secret weapon . Please take a second look , before the competition takes market share away .
Thrity Engineer-Mbuthia is a marketing professional with over 25 years ’ experience in corporate and academia . She is also a Certified Executive Coach specializing in career & leadership coaching . You can reach her on mail at : Mycoach @ thrityengineer . org .
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