Over at Marketing Profs, Jeanne Bliss writes about Southwest Airlines hiring a 'Forgiveness Officer'. It's an interesting concept, but what caught my eye was a single line in her post:
When is the Apology Sincere vs. a "Tactic"This makes me think of the missive I wrote about blogs a while back. Are you blogging because you are naturally conversational, or because you want to appear to be? Jeanne goes on to say:
But now that everyone else is on the apology bandwagon -- are we going to be numbed by the outpouring of letters that we receive as customers? For all of the **&^%$$^& crazy stuff going on -- are we going to be getting apology letters constantly?Good point. There are a number of companies that might never be able to apologize, no matter how hard they try.The Airlines are realizing that culpability is important and they are mea-culping all over the place. Great, that's step one. But anyone who says they are sorry have got to mean it. Step two is taking action to make the pain stop.
It's just like when our little brothers punched us, then said he was sorry because mom made him. You never really took him totally seriously a) because mom was twisting his arm behind his back to say the words, and b) he'd apologized many times before just to come back and punch another day.
Visitor Comments
What makes me nuts is that companies jump in on a band-wagon when they see others getting press for it.
But they execute it without the heart and the soul of the company who initiated it for the right reasons.
Customers will forgive if the apology is genuine and the initial fix is a good one and the longer-term fix takes the pain away completely.
I'm a broken-record on this; to make this happen leaders have to link arms and be okay with admitting culpability. Then they need to duct-tape themselves together to come up with a solution to solve whatever problem caused the hiccup - because it's likely that multiple operations or silos had a hand in causing it.
THAT is the hardest part of the solution! And that is why perennially the customer issues are tough to fix. The customer experiences a company ACROSS the silos, not down them. And when something breaks, we're just not used to working together to make the problem stop. It's not in the natural DNA of the separate silo metrics and motivation to work that way.
THE GOOD NEWS is that some companies are now figuring out how to do this...and they are taking this new competency all the way to the bank with a growing base of customers who love them because they get a great experience...not a cobbled together 'defaulted' one that is the mashing together of the silos' separate efforts.
Posted by: Jeanee Bliss | March 21, 2007 8:38 PM
Sincere apologies can help organizations and get them back on track; if the public perceives the apology as a disingenuous tactic, they are more turned off than beforehand. Companies must be honest and open with their publics. We are quicker to forgive when we trust the apology is heartfelt.
Posted by: Kristina | March 23, 2007 12:26 PM