Prosthetic Services

How to Alienate Customers, Loose Business and Look Foolish – or – Can You Spot The Difference?

How to Alienate Customers, Loose Business and Look Foolish – or – Can You Spot The Difference?

Have you ever heard of Jet2 airlines? Don’t worry if you haven’t, it seems it’s not worth it. Mick Skee, a 47 year old disabled passenger who lost both his legs and booked a flight to Mallorca was told by the airline that his spare pair of prosthetic legs are excess baggage and he had to pay for it. Trying to appeal to common sense, humanity and customer service, Mick still fails: “I have been told that Jet2 are not prepared to budge”. Jet2 said it did not want to comment on individual cases.

Now just how often can you shoot in your own foot? One should think that business people are intelligent enough to know that only a happy customer is a repeat customer, and it seems to me that especially in times like the current, where business isn’t necessarily booming, companies would do what they can to keep their customers. Here was a chance an opportunity for an airline to demonstrate greatness and with an empathic smile and common sense waive the fee and let this disabled man take his artificial limps on board. But greed eats brain. The airline chooses to insist making extra £ 20 over making a customer happy.

A wise decision? I think not. They have won £ 20 and lost a customer who certainly is worth more. Bad enough that Jet2 shop floor staff seems to suffer from a bad attitude and a lack of customer service training, but blowing a chance to make good by stating that they won’t budge is just goof. If they had nonchalantly apologised and offered a pair of complimentary tickets, it would have not been a big deal and they probably would have made friends for life. But Jet2’s PR skills seem to be as developed as their customer service skills and so Mr. Skee will travel with a kinder airline in future.

The interesting thing is that there are other, shiny examples of airlines that seem to have a far better talent for offering service experience.

Have you ever heard of “Palmair European”? The tiny British airline with only one plane and just 50 staff has been named the third best in the world. Palmair, which flies its 34-year old Boeing 737 to 14 European destinations, beat giants like Virgin Atlantic and BA in a poll by Which?, the consumer magazine. Travellers were asked to rate the cleanliness of the airplanes, the amount of leg-room, catering quality and the cabin crew performance.

Palmair is lean and doesn’t sport posh building and large overheads. It has a member of staff who draws up the seating plans from her kitchen table and then greets the passengers as they board. Seats have been removed and the cabin and lavatories are brightened up be fresh flowers every day.
We can learn an awful lot from this small business. For example, that you don’t need to be big, have lots of resources or be a big brand to compete successfully in your market. If we forget our ego for a moment and just do what needs to be done, perhaps we could find it in us to carry out task that we usually fell would be below us, and also put in some extra hours at our kitchen table. It’s the little things that matter. Keeping your premises clean and putting up flowers is something everybody can afford doing. And perhaps we are reminded about what great customer services really means: Being a great host and make customer feel cared of, and not allowing greed to eat brain, and squeeze as many customer into an airplane as possible. No to forget that personal service matters: Palmair was founded by its late chairman Peter Bath in 1957 and until 2006, Mr. Bath made sure he was in the departure lounge for each flight to greet the passengers, and then stood on the Tarmac at Bournemouth Airport and waved off every single flight.

David Skillicorn, managing director of Palmair says "Singapore Airlines has 100 planes including the A380 which is the largest plane in service, on-board massages and a choice of DVDs. All we can offer is the choice of tea or coffee - that is why I feel so flattered.”

No matter in what line of business you are, it’s not the posh glass towers that make a great company, nor the latest and expensive equipment or the size of teams and budgets. It’s the attitude of the people that makes a great company, and just like David (Skillicorn) can beat Goliath, a great attitude and a hands-on approach can outperform multi-billion pound competitors. So, do we have any excuse left for not pulling our weight and not winning?

Eugene Rembor – www.remborpartners.com

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Prosthetics and Patient Management: A Comprehensive Clinical Approach Sale Price: $63.95   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours See Reviews For This Product Description Prosthetics and Patient Management: A Comprehensive Clinical Approach is an innovative text covering both upper and lower extremity prosthetics. All the information clinicians need to manage a range of patients with amputations and their disorders is available in this practical and all-inclusive text. Kevin Carroll and Joan E. Edelstein, together with internationally recognized leaders, present a multidisciplinary team approach to the care of a patient with an amputation. Prosthetics and Patient Management covers practical solutions to everyday problems that clinicians encounter, from early prosthetic management to issues facing the more advanced user. The text is divided into four sections encompassing the range of subjects that confront practitioners including Early Management; Rehabilitation of Patients with Lower Limb Amputation; Rehabilitation of Patients with Upper Limb Amputations; and Beyond the Basics, which includes special considerations for children and futuristic concepts. Prosthetics and Patient Management will provide expert guidance for dealing with a wide array of patients and is a must-have for clinicians and students in physical therapy, certified prosthetists, and orthopedists interested in the wide-ranging field of prosthetics and amputations.

Lower-Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics: Clinical Concepts List Price: $55.95 Sale Price: $50.35 You save: $5.60 (10%)   Eligible for free shipping! Availability: Not yet published See Reviews For This Product Description   Lower-Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics: Clinical Concepts is a comprehensive overview of lower-limb prosthetics and orthotics, covering normal and pathological gait, lower-limb biomechanics, clinical applications, as well as prosthetic and orthotic designs and components. Joan Edelstein and Alex Moroz have written Lower-Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics with the clinician’s perspective in mind. Clinical management is incorporated throughout the text, including basic surgical concepts, postoperative management, preprosthetic care, and training in the use of devices. Additionally, this text incorporates unique features relevant to physicians such as prescription writing and prosthetic and orthotic construction and modification, as well as, the latest research regarding energy consumption and long-term utilization of prostheses. Chapters Include:   Orthotics in neuromuscular diseases Orthotics in pediatrics Functional expectations Gait and activities training Transtibial and transfemoral prostheses and components Transtibial and transfemoral biomechanics, evaluation, and gait analysis Disarticulations and Bilateral Amputations   With over 150 line drawings and photographs to supplement the text, Lower-Limb Prosthetics and Orthotics: Clinical Concepts is ideal for clinicians in the fields of physical medicine and rehabilitation, orthopedics, vascular surgery, physical therapy and occupational therapy.