Here’s a nice piece of personal input from a staff member at Southwest Airlines. Although they do have a reputation of doing things a little different, the thing that really matters is the fact that they let staff ‘add value’ and be real people.
I like it…. I’d be interested to know if you do, or if you’d find it annoying?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0KbDUUt63M]
For startups, simple service innovations and staff input cost almost nothing. If you’re lucky, 25,000 people will see it on the internet!
This guy can get away with it and make it work, make it fun and still appear credible but you can’t train these things though. Although I believe Virgin has tried.
Pilots are expressly told not to make jokes in most instances because many people are fearful flyers and few people are considered funny by everyone.
Cool forever. If I get sick of it, out come my earphones. I love the initiative and the personality.
This is the sort of thing that people tell others about (hence featuring on Steve’s blog) – and it beats the hell out of “ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls” one airline bangs out on each and every flight.
@samotage
“if you don’t we’re going to resent you”
Love that SWA are able to trust that their staff will do a good job by bringing themselves to work, rather than just regurgitating the corporate boilerplate.
I don’t think you would ever see that line above in any official material when dealing with customer service but the fact that it was geniune means it was excellent and much more likley to conenct with the audience (opps…paying customers)