Lean Creates Perceptions That Improve Profit

If you travel as much as I have, flight cancellations are frequent and present a minor inconvenience (I have never been stranded anywhere for longer than a few hours.). During a recent trip to Chicago, my “cancellation senses” were tingling after the fourth weather-related arrival delay was announced. In preparation for the inevitable, I found a later flight with the same airline that had yet to be delayed.

When the cancellation announcement came, rather than become panicked or irritated (as many often due), I grabbed my gear and headed for the nearest customer service counter. It is at this point where the experience shifted from a minor inconvenience for me to a clear lesson as to why effective customer service requires the integration of lean practices.

What I thought might be valuable would be to view this situation from the perspective of a case study, as there were several very significant issues that presented themselves during my 20-minute wait, all of which might provide insights into why lean is a valuable tool in managing the customer service interface.

Here were the four most prominent.

Doing The Right Things at The Right Time

With 10 people awaiting assistance (all from the same flight) and three customer service attendants available to assist, one would expect minimal wait times. It became clear, however, after waiting in line for five minutes, that only one of the three attendants was serving customers from the canceled flight. Any new arrivals were quickly jettisoned to the single line if their problems appeared to be related to the canceled flight.

The sequence in which customers were dealt with was as follows:

Step 1: Greet customer and offer assistance.
Step 2: Assess customer need.
Step 3: Provide direction or support to meet customer need.

Now this might seem reasonable, however it is during Step 2 that incorporation of lean would ensure that all customer needs are clearly understood before a solution is prescribed. More importantly, lean would ensure flexibility exists to deal with exceptions beyond typical needs. Let’s consider how this process would be altered through the integration of lean.

Step 1: Greet customer and offer assistance.
Step 2: Apply active listening and clarifying questions to determine customer needs.
Step 3: Contrast customer needs against pre-determined customer support options.
Step 4: Discuss recommended options with the customer to confirm recommended solution met with customer approval.
Step 5: Offer assistance to customer in implementing actions.
Step 6: Re-affirm with the customer that actions meet their needs and support has met with their expectations.

Notice the difference?

Lean offers us a broader perspective relative to assessing and supporting customer needs. The focus turns from maximizing the use of time to maximizing support to the customer in the most efficient and effective manner possible; two very different perspectives.

Processes Require Flexibility

Lean ensures that customer service processes, particularly those that interact directly with the customer, remain flexible. Flexibility was not present in this situation. Customers who remained in line awaiting assistance from the lone service attendant (who was arduously slow) grew increasingly agitated, with some choosing to approach once again, one of the two attendants who were not assisting with the canceled flight, only to be directed back to the sole attendant.

If, for example, the most effective means to addressing the customers concern was to forward them to an attendant who specializes in a specific area, then that would be understandable. However, we are talking about a canceled flight, something that happens regularly. Even if this situation warranted a specialist (which I doubt), the magnitude of the problem and the severity of the outcome (based on customer satisfaction) clearly identifies the need for an improved response to minimize customer discontent.

Figure 1 demonstrates how increases in magnitude and severity of a customer service issue are directly proportional to the degree of customer discontent.

The Right Tools For The Job

Now this situation does get better, for me at least. Noticing a supervisor who arrived on the scene, I approached the counter (again) and requested his assistance. After he reassured me that I had to wait for the sole attendant, I asked why he could not move me to the later flight. He paused, and then called up the flight number to confirm status. Several more clicks and the supervisor agreed that he could in fact make this change for me.

What followed appeared to be somewhere near 5,465 keystrokes to move me to the new flight. Noticing this appeared to be a hassle, I mentioned to the supervisor how being compensated by the keystroke would likely make him a wealthy man. He turned the screen of the computer around to show me what appeared to be something of the Atari era, making a comment about the inefficiency of the system.

Now I will be the first to admit that new software can be a costly venture, and my experience has been that most companies jump into investing in technology before truly understanding what the customer would value; but in this instance, and based on my experience in customer service technology, I can reassure you that this software was not only inefficient, but was likely a contributing factor as to why the other customer service attendants were directing customers to the sole attendant dealing with the canceled flight.

My premise here is not to pick on the inefficiency of customer support in the airline industry (although from my experience this would be an easy target). As a practice, lean places emphasis on the customer, driving a constant contrast of the activities being performed against those activities that directly support what the customer needs and is willing to pay for. Fully integrating lean into customer support activities will not only result in more efficient processes, it also will improve customer perceptions of the value of those services, and in the areas of customer service, perception and revenue are directly proportional.