By Allen White
I received a call at home from American Airlines last night asking about my frequent flyer miles. I called right back today, because I was really hoping that they were giving me some more.
When I called, the agent answered and asked what my frequent flyer number was. I told him that I used to have it memorized, but I wasn’t using it as much, so I’d have to look it up. He said, “Well, that’s what we were calling you about. We noticed that you haven’t been traveling as much with us lately and wanted to make sure that everything was alright.”
I explained to him that I had changed jobs and didn’t need to travel as much. He congratulated me on my new job and said he was glad that I was doing well. That was it!
American Airlines cares about me. Now, the reality is that a report probably popped up on their screen to show that I hadn’t flown with them in a year and they’d better figure out why I was flying with a competitor. But, the call sure didn’t feel like that. It came across that they cared about me.
Think about your group. You don’t have to pull up a report to see who missed this last week. When I was a new leader, I was a little intimited to call. I thought, “Boy, they must not like my group or me as a leader.” The reality was that when I brought myself to pick up the phone or type the email, their absence actually didn’t have anything to do with me. They were busy or had a sick child or something else.
When folks are missing from your group, why not pick up the phone and say, “Hey, we missed you last week. Is everything okay?” We might be just as caring as American Airlines.
I received a call at home from American Airlines last night asking about my frequent flyer miles. I called right back today, because I was really hoping that they were giving me some more.When I called, the agent answered and asked what my frequent flyer number was. I told him that I used to have it memorized, but I wasn’t using it as much, so I’d have to look it up. He said, “Well, that’s what we were calling you about. We noticed that you haven’t been traveling as much with us lately and wanted to make sure that everything was alright.”
I explained to him that I had changed jobs and didn’t need to travel as much. He congratulated me on my new job and said he was glad that I was doing well. That was it!
American Airlines cares about me. Now, the reality is that a report probably popped up on their screen to show that I hadn’t flown with them in a year and they’d better figure out why I was flying with a competitor. But, the call sure didn’t feel like that. It came across that they cared about me.
Think about your group. You don’t have to pull up a report to see who missed this last week. When I was a new leader, I was a little intimited to call. I thought, “Boy, they must not like my group or me as a leader.” The reality was that when I brought myself to pick up the phone or type the email, their absence actually didn’t have anything to do with me. They were busy or had a sick child or something else.
When folks are missing from your group, why not pick up the phone and say, “Hey, we missed you last week. Is everything okay?” We might be just as caring as American Airlines.
