Moments Of Magic

In 1981 Jan Carlzon took over as chairman of one of Europe's nmost poorly rated airlines, Scandinavian Airline Systems n(SAS). That year the company reported an $8 million loss, nafter having lost $20 million the previous year. Carlzon nquickly implemented many changes; the most important of nwhich was to manage the interactions that SAS employees had nwith its customers.

In 1987, Carlzon wrote a book entitled, Moments of Truth, in nwhich he said, "Last year, each of our 10 million customers ncame in contact with approximately five SAS employees, and nthis contact lasted an average of 15 seconds each time. Thus,
SAS is 'created' in the minds of our customers 50 million ntimes a year, 15 seconds at a time. These 50 million 'moments nof truth' are the moments that ultimately determine whether
SAS will succeed or fail as a company."

Carlzon hit upon a concept that is simple yet profound. Every nsingle contact between any employee and a customer is an nimportant contact, regardless of its length or content. The term
"Moment of Truth" describes a contact that is neutral in nature.
For example, someone asks you what time it is and you tell nhim - - simple, neutral, and no emotions involved.

As we all know, however, there are other kinds of interactions nbetween employees and customers. "Moments of Misery" is a nterm that I use to describe interactions that have negative noutcomes. For example, if you were walking down the street in
New York City and asked someone for the time, you would nprobably be told where to go rather than what time it is. This nalte
ate information -- and the nasty attitude -- would be a nmoment of misery for you (unless you found it amusing).

On the other hand, what if the New Yorker stopped to give you nthe time, asked if you were from out of town, and then nrecommended some museums and tourist attractions to visit. I nhave given that positive outcome a name -- preposterous.
Actually, he calls it a "Moment of Magic." A moment of magic nis an interaction that exceeds the expectations of your ncustomer and leaves him/her with a positive impression.

Every interaction between an employee and a customer is neither a moment of truth, a moment of magic, or a moment of nmisery. Moments of misery are a fact of life because people nand companies are not perfect. Mistakes happen, which is nunfortunate, because research has shown that people talk about ntheir bad experiences more than their positive experiences.
Customers tell an average of 20 people about moments of nmisery; but they tell only ten people about moments of magic.
To break even, therefore, you have to create twice as many nmoments of magic. Of course, the point is not to stay even; it nis to stay ahead by managing interactions and making them nmoments of truth or magic.

How are moments of magic consistently achieved? The nbottom- line answer is that a company has to be customer-ndriven (versus operations-driven). Simply stated, a customer-ndriven company puts the needs of its customers first. An noperations-driven company puts its needs, policies, and nprocedures first. A customer-driven company bends over nbackwards -- and may break its own rules -- to please its ncustomers. An operations- driven company uses its policy nmanual as its Bible and will, if necessary, disappoint ncustomers by invoking the most ignorant excuse on the face of nthe earth: "I'm sorry, it's against company policy." n
Customer-driven service is important to every company.
The key to increased profits and a far more npleasant business environment is to treat people well and nprovide customer-driven service -- no matter who they are.