Darren Herman

I was reading the March 5, 2007 issue of BusinessWeek this evening [Sunday] while catching up on some shows that were DVR’d, and was really intrigued by this week’s cover story: Customer Service Champs. As much as business is numbers, strategy, and smarts, it’s also about service. Whether you’re a business to business, or a business to consumer company, you’re always dealing with a customer. While the product or service is interacting with the customer, it’s extremely important to give the best experience as possible. Many companies in the world have the policy, “the customer is always right.� These companies know how to please a customer and when that happens, more times than not, they keep on coming back. It’s my experience as an entrepreneur and a former product marketing manager that we must provide the best experience with what we build, and if we provide superior service and experiences, customers will champion our brand and product and as Seth Godin says, it’ll become “remarkable.�

This week’s cover story deals with the top Customer Service Champs. To draw a bit of controversy to the story, they kept JetBlue off of the list, where it should have been #4. I personally disagree with what BusinessWeek has done as my feelings is that JetBlue should have certainly been included. Every single company in the world, and even individuals, make mistakes. Mistakes range from all magnitudes, but the one thing we know for certain: JetBlue was not the only company who has had a snafu.

The top 5 of this year’s Customer Service Elite are: USAA (insurance), Four Seasons Hotel (hotels), Cadillac (auto), Nordstrom (retail), and Wegmans Food Markets (supermarket). I am positive that each one of these brands has disgruntled customers. Cadillac, I know for sure has customers who have had poor experiences as my grandfather’s friends have all gotten rid of their Cadillacs due to poor maintenance and support at the dealers.

JetBlue proved that they were human. They have had an unbelievable run so far without any major snafu’s but it was bound to happen. Every single company goes through hard times and this issue stands out in everyone’s mind because it was so recent. JetBlue has managed the post-snafu with world class chutzpah, not only taking the full blame, but showing what they will do in the future to make things better. As an entrepreneur, we learn a lot from our mistakes, and I can assure you, David Neeleman (CEO) and his entire team over at JetBlue are learning quite a bit about what has happened, and they will take significant steps to make sure it doesn’t happen again. I personally will lose faith with JetBlue if this happens again and they do not act accordingly – as they should have learned from their mistakes.

I seem to not be the only one who feels this way. At the time of writing, I am not the only one who shares this opinion. BusinessWeek has a poll on their website and it shows that 80% of respondents also feel that JetBlue should not have been left off of their list. I’d like to see them re-appear, and possibly even showcase how they have gotten through this tough time… they have been a model company.