Rants and Raves is our blog dedicated to things that go wrong, jobs-worth hats that people are wearing, things that are that shouldn't be and everything else that is genuinely ridiculous.
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Australian security avoids customer relations
Customer Relations is about improving the contact between a supplier and customer. In many cases companies need to remember that they are providing a service. Australian security at Perth Airport need to go back to basics. First of all employ people who can not only speak but a language that people can understand.
The Australian CR model
Just a couple of weeks ago, we had to run the gauntlet as we started our return to England. At 4 am there are not many people traveling. We had been traveling through security systems around the world with the same hand baggage contents since 2003. It seems that the comb which Jo uses is multi lingual except for Australian. Presumably its perfect, clipped English was too much for a team that could hardly speak at all. We were both somewhat astounded when the bag was taken and became the subject of gibberish, which was eventually turned upon us.
First I was asked to open my own bag and to show them the nail clippers. I did not even know they were in the bag - but they passed them as approved to travel.
Next they turned to Jo's bag and asked to see the comb. This inoffensive little object with its long teeth, each carefully encapsulated in a plastic ball tip which could not break a rice pudding skin at any time, clearly did not speak Australian gibberish. Fluency in many other languages had been proven over many thousands of miles, including the French and they invented awkwardness. Interestingly the same object had been checked through by her colleagues just 14 days earlier. But that was then. We were about to learn how Australian logic works.
Using her limited vocabulary, gained in some foreign land, she refused a flight ticket for the comb. Neither could she explain why the offending article had been checked through by Australian Security just 14 days earlier. Interestingly this little discussion took place in front of a picture showing that cutlery i.e. KFS would be refused. But when I asked for the logic in refsing access to these items, at this point, when the steward on the plane would give me a posh new KFS set with every meal and in metal not floppy plastic, there was no explanation. I cannot answer you was all that kept coming, like a stuck CD record. So we gave up, went through and into Duty Free and bought another one!!!
Learn, digest and then avoid the model above
The point for companies to note is the way in which customer relations can be wrecked by unskilled, untrained staff. The first point to make sure - train your staff so that the image, tone and integrity of your company all work together.
Nobody minds rules providing they are logical, simple to understand and can be seen to be effective. In the case above Australian Security broke every rule devised to improve Customer Relations.
Do not fall into the same trap.
Remember:
1 Train your staff so that they know how to respond professonaly.
2. Make sure that your customers are able to support your requirements.
3 Ensure that your CR systems are simple
4 Make sure that your CR are seen to be required and are effective.
If you want to improve your Customer Relations then look at my web site - www.andwords.com
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