Play Win Win

Volcanic ash, its dominated the news and sent major disruptions to travelers worldwide, clearly the biggest event to rock aviation since 911. During the airport standstill, I was curious to see how companies directly involved were handling the pressure from their customers, so I rang the British Airways customer service line. Immediately a voice prompt informed me that the call centre was experiencing immense volumes of calls and if my enquiry was not urgent, to call back at a later time or visit the website, I waited a few minutes and thought I would try my experiment on a different airline (one not quite as heavily affected by the crisis).
So I rang Qantas, again, the same voice prompt, high volumes, visit the website, but this time I waited and was connected. I opened the conversation by being as nice and friendly as possible, I spoke to “Vicky”, I asked her how the past week had been for her. She was surprised by my first question and said she had been working around the clock dealing with calls, trying to help people who were stuck all around the globe. Realizing I needed a reason for my call, I enquired about a flight for later in the year. She didn’t dismiss my enquiry even though it clearly wasn’t urgent and at the end of our 3 minute conversation I had got the quote I was looking for, thanked her for her help, and she said, “thank you so much for being appreciative… By the way, that is the very best deal you will get at that time of year and if you want to get a good seat best do it on the phone so we can help you if there is an upgrade available”.

I understand my situation is different to those that were stuck all over the world who have missed weddings, holidays etc, however, taking it out on people like Vicky wont help their cause – I know for a fact she didn’t want the volcano to erupt, but it did.
There are things we can control and things we cant. The Volcano is clearly out of our control, how we deal with what it brings it is purely our choice. Taking the call centre as an example, I used two of Dale Carnegies principles and put them to the test, which got me a positive result.

Principle 13: Begin in a Friendly Way.
I began by asking her how she was, sympathizing, then agreeing it has been a crazy time in her industry. How many people before me had started the conversation with: “Look, I am stuck in Geneva and have had it up to here with your company”. This puts Vicky offside and ultimately hinders your chance of getting what you want.

Principle 17: Try Honestly to See Things From the Other Persons Point of View.
I doubt Vicky wants people to be stuck in Geneva missing their families and friends, I also highly doubt she wants to be working around the clock dealing with a crisis. Both these things are out of her control, but what is in her control is that she can help you get a better seat or bonus frequent flyers in the future, my point is, always aim for win win.

Next time you are about to call a customer service line out of frustration, first think about what you ultimately want to get from the call, then think how you can play win win to get the result!

Angus Firth
Performance Consultant

http://www.London.dalecarnegie.com/