Treating People Like People

You don't hear these kinds of stories about big businesses often enough. When you do, they tend to stand out as a result. Check out this comment a customer of WestJet recently posted on facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/westjet/posts/10155727144278552

I'll include the text as well, just in case the post disappears:

"My WestJet story…

This past Sunday my 16 year old daughter was flying home on her own from a week in BC visiting family. On her flight to Calgary she started to experience some pains and was not feeling well. When she landed she called me and was not doing very well, anxiety had kicked in and she wasn’t sure what to do. We had her find a WestJet agent to ask for help. She found someone who took her to a WestJet counter and Agent Mike got on the phone with me. Mike said that they were escorting her to get some medical assistance and that she would not be left alone. After a quick check over with and a phone call with the paramedic it was recommended a doctor’s visit was needed to ensure she would be alright to fly. I was put in touch with Guest Services Manager Jeremy who promptly informed me that they would assign a special team member to be with my daughter while at the hospital. She was transported to the local hospital and her special team member Patricia was there to be with her while she was checked out.

In the meantime, I had come to the conclusion that I needed to get to Calgary. I phoned Jeremy back and ask him if there was space on the next flight out of London. He took my information and said he would look into things and get back to me. About 15 minutes later, Jeremy phoned me back and says yes there is space on the flight and that he had already booked a ticket for me. His next words left me speechless “There is enough stress going on right now, the cost of your ticket is taken care of”. I was blown away! Grateful! Amazed! Jeremy said that by the time I would land in Calgary my daughter may or may not be back from the hospital so we would worry about return flights afterwards. Jeremy informed that he would likely be done for the day when I arrived and Hope would be taking over for him.
I was off to Calgary. When I landed, I heard my name paged over the speakers of the plane to meet Jessica (I’m pretty sure that was her name it was 1am at this point and I was tired) in the yellow vest outside. As I walked out Jessica met me and gave me a quick update that she would take me to GSM Hope to escort me to my daughter. At the gate Hope introduces herself and provides me another update on my daughter as we walk to her. Hope let me know that she had booked our return flight for the next afternoon and that a hotel room at the Marriott in the airport had been reserved for us. All costs were being taken care of by WestJet. She then handed me vouchers for breakfast and lunch for the next day before our flight home. We arrived to the sitting area where my daughter was and she runs over to me and gives me a big hug. Hope looks at me and says “that is what we want to see”.

WestJet is one of those companies that exemplifies what it means to go above and beyond. The PERSON comes first and not the profits.

WestJet your company and your staff are amazing. Proud to be a WestJet customer. Thank you again!"

So here's the thing. Doing all this for the customer cost quite a lot of money. Probably more than the price of his daughter's ticket in the first place. They were under no obligation to do that, and in all likelihood most airlines would have told him to go to hell. Any company that's only looking at their bottom line and next quarter's profits would never do this for a customer. But this experience... what an impact it made on this man and his family! These are WestJet customers for life. And probably, so are several hundred other customers who read the story.

You can't buy that kind of exposure, reputation, or loyalty. It can only be earned.

WestJet gets it. A lot of other companies should take note.

Don't worry so much about the bottom line. Don't lose sight of it, but don't live by it, either. Treat your customers like they're people, not like they're a target or a resource. If you do, they might actually see you as a company that's worth doing business with, instead of one they occasionally have no choice but to put up with. See the difference?