Opportunity, service and stories
June 4th, 2005 by Bill
When market share shifts from one company to another is it because the first company lost it or because the second company took it away? It’s both, of course, but while reading Seth’s post We don’t have to care (Parts I and II) I inevitably thought about why I fly WestJet now and not Air Canada. (I live in Canada and both of these are Canadian airlines.)
It has nothing to do with price. It has everything to do with service. Particularly, it has to do with how they make me feel. And, as Seth would probably put it, the story they tell. (See his book, All Marketers Are Liars.)
I don’t dislike flying. I hate it. For me, getting up to make a morning flight is on a par with going to the dentist for a root canal. I spend days scrambling for an excuse to cancel.
Sooner or later though, I have to go. And I choose WestJet. Why? They have two advantages – the service and the story.
First, the service. It’s not so much that Air Canada’s is necessarily poor. (In fact, WestJet’s success may have forced some changes in this regard.) You might not even consider the merits of Air Canada’s service unless you flew WestJet – then you would.
Strangely (for an airline), the people working WestJet flights seem happy. Exceptionally friendly. Glad you’re there. They even tell jokes as they introduce themselves and go through the safety procedures. (Not always good jokes, often groaners, but jokes nonetheless.) They have a vitality that is infectious and you get the sense of an eager, young company that wants your business.
And that’s what they are and that’s why they’ve grown. They began small, in western Canada, and appear to have had a sound business model and clear goals. Low prices, exceptional service and grow, grow, grow.
And in the culture, that has been they’re story.
With Air Canada, on the other hand, while I don’t recall instances where the service was bad, I don’t recall it ever being exceptional. And I certainly don’t recall a flight where they were telling jokes and seemed glad I was there, giving them my business. (This doesn’t mean they were disagreeable – they were competent, efficient and just doing their job.)
And in the culture, their story has been the opposite of WestJet’s. Air Canada seems a big, beleaguered company with business issues, union issues and so on. My sense is that if I worked at Air Canada, it would feel like a job and nothing more (and perhaps not feel like a very secure job at that). I think it would be difficult to generate the kind of enthusiasm WestJet appears to have.
Mind you, it’s been a while since I flew Air Canada and things may have changed. But once a person makes a switch, it’s difficult to convince them to go back. (It’s what Seth talks about when he discusses customers and their worldviews.)
And things may change for WestJet as they get bigger. I don’t know. But size seems to be an aspect of business that few companies manage well. (Probably because it’s so difficult.)
Anyway, my point … How well you do something and the enthusiasm you bring to what you’re doing is often the only opportunity you need to be successful. People like vitality and will associate with those who display it. And people also like to be treated well.
To me, it seems like a no brainer. Still, it’s often a lot easier to say than to implement.
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