In April of 2013 I was flying out from Portland (Oregon) International Airport (PDX) to my home airport in Redmond (Oregon) (RDM) on Horizon (Alaska) Airlines on a busy weekday evening, My flight was delayed due to a mechanical issue with what turned out to be a leaking rear door seal. I went up to the check in counter to ask a question about the delay. I was second in line and waited for my turn.
When the customer in front of me had finished at the counter, I looked up to make eye contact with the gate agent before moving forward. I was greeted by Marta Plourde. From three feet away, her radiant smile and enthusiastic expression were amazing as she clearly had an expression of charisma written all over her face! Her look was warm and inviting. Non Verbally I knew that this interaction would be a positive experience, even if the news were bad, before I ever reached the counter.
The customer experience with Marta was exceptional. It is exactly what you would expect if you were flying first class, let alone on a one class regional airline. Marta answered my question both diplomatically and professionally with the information she had available to her. In a very tough and competitive industry, it is people like Marta that make traveling a special experience.
In my travels as an executive coach and management consultant I am constantly watching to see if front line people and operations are hitting the mark by doing it right. Marta was able to hit the bullseye and score a perfect ten in her ability to deal with tired, unhappy passengers especially on a delayed flight.
I engaged Marta in a brief conversation to learn more about her history with the airline. It turns out she has been employed with the airline for some twenty years. I wondered if she was involved in the training of gate agents at the corporate level? She said she was not. I can only imagine that Marta would be a fabulous trainer for all employees at Horizon/Alaska Airlines who have customer contact. Her infectious mojo would be a tremendous asset to their training department. I hope that the leadership at Alaska/Horizon Air Lines recognizes Marta for an amazing job well done.
Only on rare occasions do I encounter a front line employee who makes for an amazing customer experience. There is no reason why every customer service agent, in every company on the planet, couldn’t have the impact that Marta has. The key ingredients are to hire enthusiastic people with great personalities, treat them with as much respect as you want them to treat your customers, train them relentlessly, give them authority to create win win situations when difficult situations come up, give them feedback, challenge them to work on getting better at at least one thing every year, pay them great wages and promote them from within. Not a magic formula, but certainly one that is effective if implemented.