Ryanair’s latest wheeze to charge for their inflight toilets is the latest in an unofficial socio-economic experiment being run by the company. To what level can they continue to strip customer service out of the system before people will stop buying their cheap tickets? Just how badly do customers want to get to destinations for next to nothing? And, to be fair, it’s a fascinating experiment to watch.

At the moment it seems OK that luggage is lost, flights are cancelled without warning or recompense, grumpy tetchy service is endured, surprise charges at check-ins are standard, customer service lines are unhelpful and stampedes for boarding gates are the norm.

I took part in this socio-economic experiment with my family last year. We flew to Nantes to save a few hours off the drive time to Bordeaux. We were a little miffed that boarding staff forgot to invite priority ticket holders up first, after all it had cost us an extra £40. (This is a problem if you have children because the seats aren’t reserved by number, it’s a free-for-all on the plane.)

We marvelled at the unseemly haste to get us on board, by the absence of a smile or warm gesture from our hosts and by those bright yellow plastic headrests and unbelievably filthy seats. But it was on the way back that we shared the true Ryanair experience.

We were all herded into the departure gangway at Nantes, a glass walkway which gets very hot in the middle of summer, having been told that our plane was “ready to depart”. I was slightly confused by this as I had been looking out for our plane and had not found one.

It turned out that actually our plane hadn’t even been “ready to arrive”. To our amazement, after about ten minutes of waiting we saw it coming into land in the distance and taxi its way towards our gate. The elderly swayed in the heat, parents with impatient kids got tetchy and even young unencumbered couples’ jaws dropped as they realised what was going on.

We stood watching and wilting as passengers disembarked and within a few minutes we were climbing on board, settling down amidst the rubbish and odour left from the previous flight.

Currently this approach suits Ryanair and their business strategy. Low fares, high passenger volumes, quick turnaround times. Customers suffer the Ryanair experience for any of three reasons; 1. the fares are cheap 2.  they are the only show in town (in many cases anyway) and 3. it’s their first time on board. But this model has two fundamental flaws.

Firstly, Ryanair is building no customer loyalty, no cushion, no extra fat around the corporate model. The margins and the goodwill are so slim that a little twitch here or there could mark the end.

And such a twitch might be the point at which customers realise that Ryanair don’t seek profits by maximising customer service but by eliminating it altogether.

Whether Ryanair introduce coin slots on inflight toilets is immaterial. The intent is there for all to see.

Secondly, It is also highly likely that management will apply the same ‘customer service’ ethos to their staff. Paying for their unifoms, training, low pay, long hours and high turnover rates are all signs of that ethos.

To neglect customers is to neglect your staff and vice versa. So the path of a downward spiral is set.

The model for Ryanair is working at the moment but it’s a high risk strategy. As long as customers are prepared to waive their rights to customer service then it all holds together. Of course, it is difficult to say that lessons can be learned until the day of judgement arrives. But for those embarking on their new business ventures, sideline customer service at your peril.

Treat customers and staff as if your life depended on it. Seek your profits through them, not inspite of them.

Like it or not, handling customer complaints is part of life. In fact, customer complaints are great news. Why? 80% of customers don’t complain, they just don’t come back.

Handling customer complaints is one of those times when you really earn your crust. After all, managing the status quo is easy. But don’t keep the pleasure to yourself, train all your staff in handling customer complaints. This is empowering for them and gives a very mature feel to your business in the eyes of the customer.

So here’s handling customer complaints in 9 easy steps:

1. Mindset – Put yourself on the same side of the fence as your customer.  This isn’t a battle. Don’t take it personally, they hardly know you. Prepare for some great feedback for your company.

2. Validate the complaint – If you remember nothing else about handling customer complaints, remember this one. You are about to be verbally assaulted. The first thing you must do is ‘validate the complaint’. In other words, say something like: “Yes, I can understand that must be very frustrating”. You have just diffused 60% of their anger. A sympathetic tone is helpful. So is an apology. Regardless of whether you think your company is in the wrong or not.

3. Set the Scene – You’ve heard their opening statement and have gone some way to creating calm. Now take them somewhere else. This will prevent scaring off your other customers and gives you a chance to set a relaxed tone.

4. Listen – No, really listen. Resist the temptation to build your answer before they have finished. Or worse still interrupt. And believe what they are saying. They might actually have a point about your product or service.

5. Start writing – Have you ever been in a meeting when you brief a member of staff to carry out a detailed task and they just nod without taking notes? How frustrating is that? How much faith do you have that they will get it right? That is how your customer is thinking.

6. Repeat back the complaint – Make sure you both agree what the complaint actually is.

7. Solve the problem – Quickly. Tell your customer when you expect to have a response. In the meantime, make sure they have your contact details.

8. Respond – Don’t offer excuses. Reply honestly. If you’re in doubt about the integrity of the customer, play it safe the first time. If it happens a second time, then consider whether you want them to remain a customer.

9. Correct the fault – In other words, put steps in place to stop it happening again.

Handling customer complaints is a key skill for you and your staff to develop. Done well it provides robust feedback and can engender great loyalty from someone who nearly became an ex customer. How wonderful is that?

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“The customer is always right.” Right?

Wrong!

Customers are just people like you and me, none of us are always right (with the possible exception of my wife) so clearly this isn’t the sense in which Harry Selfridge, founder of the prestigious Selfridges department store in London in the early 1900′s, intended to focus his staff on customer service. A noble sentiment but unwittingly misguided and demotivating for staff.

What about if he had said “the customer’s not always right, but he’s always the customer”? Well, sorry but that wouldn’t be right either. It would be a bit like the russian diplomat who said “ those are my principles and if you don’t like them….. I have some others”.

Small business has to move away from the notion that every customer is worth having. The 80:20 rule always holds, 20% of your customers will provide 80% of your profit. So many small businesses relentlessly chase the 80% long tail which is clearly unprofitable, just in case they might one day come good. Well I can tell you that they won’t come good, especially if you persist with the idea that they are always right.

The fact is that customers are not always right and sometimes you have to tell them so.

Savvy small businesses understand that their business is a partnership: with suppliers, agencies, banks, staff and, yes, customers. Strive for customer service excellence but expect in return for customers to play their part – paying their bills, getting their orders right first time, not keeping delivery vans waiting, sticking to promotional agreements, presenting your products to their customers in the right manner and so on. To achieve this they may have to undergo some customer education.

A sure sign of a customer worth keeping is one who responds to your efforts to help them integrate your products/ service into their business, ie a willingness to accept your customer education. If you have spent time and effort trying to turn a long tail customer into a profitable one to no avail, then dump them. You owe it to your business and you owe it to your other customers.

Focus your efforts on the good ones and they will reward you with greater profitability.

What a wonderful world it would be if businesses put as much effort into their suppliers as into their customers.  Everyone would win. And those businesses are out there, you just have to look.

So forget platitudes such as ‘the customer is always right’. Raise the bar and ensure that the customer service ethic is coursing through the veins of your small business from the top of the tree down through your entire workforce. If you worry too much about the long tail, then one day that might be all you have left.