Wednesday Wisdom: True Blue Customers

Wednesday Wisdom, Business Success Strategies for Women Entrepreneurs, Female Business Owners, Small Businesses

A vase of bleeding hearts in sight just off the corner of my computer screen depict feelings brewing inside me as Jet Blue’s one hour, 48-minute wait time music plays on my iPhone as I type this Wednesday Wisdom. After spending an entire Saturday rebooking an out-West trip due to a change in original air schedules, we receive a message less than 48 hours after booking the new flight that it has been altered again. I’m a fair person so trying to get someone on the phone to discuss the situation was my priority, but I couldn’t reach anyone without the long wait.

I finally bent the rules a bit and called Jet Blue’s travel package line instead of the general flight line and got a human being on the phone within 5 minutes. After calmly explaining my situation, she only said, “I can’t help you, I have to transfer you to the general flight change number.” Explaining to her my conundrum about the length of time to get someone on the phone, that was the only thing she could do. I was excited to find out the new wait time was 1 hour, 30 minutes. I somehow lost 15 minutes of wait time. Amazing, right?

When you are a True Blue Customer and credit card holder of a company, you assume some priority when challenging situations arise, but alas Jet Blue doesn’t see it that way or the pandemic has automated everything so human beings don’t exist in customer service anymore. Jet Blue isn’t the only company where you can’t get a real person on the line for support. Could this realty be a secret advantage to small businesses if our customers actually reach us personally when they have an average or urgent matter?

Everything can’t become so automated that doing business with a long-standing company turns sour. I fly Jet Blue for many reasons, one of them is safety, but depending on how long this real wait time is and whether I get a person on the phone will decide if I look for other airline options. To expect business to return to normal after the pandemic is realistic to some degree. I think women owned businesses can stand out from corporate competition by offering the services people really want – humans to help them, not computers.

This Wednesday Wisdom, as I still listen to the music playing during my wait time, is to motivate you to seriously look at the way you are or will be conducting business with clients in this new-era. Will you only rely on automated systems to respond to problems? What is your average “wait time” responding to customer needs? Do premium clients know how to reach you if its really important or to satisfy an immediate issue? What is your primary way to hear from disgruntled clients – via text, phone calls or only emails within office hours? How do you handle after-hour calls? Make sure you set your policies, post and follow them.

“True blue” customers might not be there for you if you ignore them for too long. The secret to business success is answering and returning calls, emails and requests from loyal clients as soon as you can. Don’t keep them waiting. Do better. Be better.  

Note: It took 1 hour and 11 minutes on hold to talk to a Jet Blue representative finally.