Above & Beyond

In our last article on the theme of different thinking we highlighted British Airways' explanation for their falling passenger numbers (increases in fares and the economic slowdown) and their persistance in pursuing their strategy of merging with other carriers. We demonstrated how BA are trapped in their traditional thinking and their strategy and responses are therefore all about how they can keep on doing things the way they have always done them.

This article is a story from the same industry which demonstrates different thinking in action.

Two friends of mine had booked a holiday in Barbados. They arrived at the airport looking forward to two weeks on an island paradise. Unfortunately the flight had left the day before and there was not another flight for 4 days! Our friends had got the wrong date in their heads so it was entirely their fault.

They were flying with Virgin so they were taken to the Virgin desk to see if anything could be done. The Virgin staff worked out a way to get them to their destination that day by flying them to Antigua then on an internal flight to Barbados. With transfer charges and the additional flight this was going to cost a further £500 plus. However when Virgin realised our friends were previous customers they immediately waived all the transfer charges.

What is more when our friends arrived in Barbados they took a taxi to their hotel as the coach transfer was obviously not going to be there for them. The next day when they met their Virgin representative at their hotel she asked how they had travelled from the airport to the hotel. When they said by taxi the representative said "just let me have the receipt and we will reimburse you for that".

To say our friends were impressed is an understatement and they never stop telling people how good Virgin were. They were staring a ruined holiday in the face and would have paid almost any sum to have it sorted out. Virgin not only rescued it but did not take advantage of our friends' mistake and only charged the minimum for solving the problem. This is different thinking. None of the "well we will see if we can get you on a flight later in the week" or "well if you write to Head Office they might be able to do something about the charges". All the decisions and actions were taken by front line staff, no reference to managers for permissions was needed.

Different thinking is the key. No amount of carefully written policies and procedures handed down from above would have enabled the Virgin staff to have acted the way they did. The personal and organisational recognition of the value of the existing customer is a manifestation of this different thinking. They not only represent future repeat business but can also be the strongest and lowest cost advocates for your brand.

Also Virgin clearly understand the business they are in and it is not simply transporting people from point A to point B. They know they are in the holiday business and that their customers value their holidays highly. So meeting or even exceeding their customers expectations is the key to success. In the case of our friends it was "you have given us your business, not just on this occasion but previously so we will see that you get your holiday".

This is just one story from one source and no doubt Virgin do not get it right every time. However would you honestly expect to hear even one story like this involving BA, even though they give themselves plenty of opportunities and don't have to wait for a customer to slip up?

This demonstrates the superior level of Competitive Strength that Virgin's different thinking has enabled them to achieve. When Richard Branson set up Virgin Atlantic in direct competition to much larger and often heavily subsidised national flag carriers few industry insiders gave him any chance of surviving. However his airline and the accompanying holiday business has both survived and prospered. As the sector faces up to the massive hike in its fuel bill and slowing demand which business do you think will emerge the strongest? BA with its strategy of getting bigger so it can be what it always has been or Virgin with its highly developed customer service ethos and consequent superior Competitive Strength.

Any business can do what Virgin does and profit from it. To find how and perhaps more importantly why, go to the Competitive Strength website.