Experience 1:
I approach my destination and am greeted by a concierge at the door, who politely asks for my name and checks my reservation details. I am directed to my seat. After an acceptable amount of time in which to arrange my belongings and get comfortable I am greeted by a service assistance who offers me a choice of beverages. It’s that time of day, and it’s been a big day, so I justify a glass of wine.
“Would madam prefer white or red? White madam, no problem. Would you prefer dry, medium or sweet? Dry, we have a very nice sauvignon blanc. Would that be ok for you?”
I sit and coif my wine. Before not to long the service assistant returns to inform me they will shortly be serving food and he presents me with a printed card and talks me through the options including the lite bit or the main course.
My meal arrives, served on white china. Small but sufficient and well presented. I’m given a small pack of personal condiments, including a linen napkin and toothpick. After finishing my main course I’m offered a choice of desert, followed by tea or coffee with a chocolate.
Within an acceptable amount of time my table is cleared and I am thanked for my custom.
Where am I?
Experience 2:
I approach my destination and find my own way to a seat. There are remnants from the last guests meal on the table and on the seat. I clean the seat with my hand, as there is no napkin on the table.
After a few minutes someone rushes by brandishing a pot in hand and asks ‘Any tea?
Sometime later that same person comes back and says ‘would you like anything to eat?’
I feel a little bit intimidated and am almost inclined to say no, but I brave it and ask,
‘What are my options?’ as I have no idea.
“Well we have crisps, fruit and sandwiches.”
I smile imploringly but am forced to ask,
“What sandwiches do you have?”
He hands me a piece of paper with a hand-scrawled description of two sandwiches. One chicken and cheese the other ham. I ask if either are on brown bread and he looks at the sandwiches to check. The chicken and cheese is on brown so I opt for that. He hands me a pre-packed sandwich and a paper serviette.
I discard the packaging. The sandwich is soggy on one side where it has been stood too long on one side, or else pushed up against the back of the fridge. I have hardly taken three bites out of the sandwich, trying to negotiate around the soggy side and he’s walking back to collect rubbish. He sees the empty sandwich packet and asks,
“Are you done with that?”
“Errm no.” I say apologetically. I don’t want to turn over the empty packaging to the rubbish collector because I am using it as a plate. The empty package (and soggy bit of sandwich) remain on my table for some while after.
Where am I?
Have you guessed yet? If you thought experience one was in a mid to upper end restaurant and experience two was in a greasy spoon-type café, you’d be very wrong.
Experience one was in ‘Premium Economy’ on the EuroStar between London and Paris.
Experience two was in ‘First Class’ on Virgin Rail between London and Manchester.
Given that both journeys take a similar amount of time (I think the Manchester train is slightly longer) the killer question which did I pay more for? Yes, you guessed it, experience two – First Class on Virgin Trains.
So the analysts tell me we are in the ‘Experience Economy’ where customer experience is the strategic differentiator. There is almost viral adoption of the metric system known as ‘Net Promoter Score’ which asks the ‘ultimate question’ “would you recommend this product/service to a friend or colleague?”
I would highly recommend EuroStar premium economy. The service experience far exceeded my expectations. Would I recommend Virgin First Class? I was left wanting by this service and would only recommend it if you need to get some work done and you get a discount deal. Do not pay full price expecting first class service, because you will be sorely disappointed.
So I thought I’d check. The Virgin corporate machine claims:
“Virgin stands for value for money, quality, innovation, fun and a sense of competitive challenge. We deliver a quality service by empowering our employees and we facilitate and monitor customer feedback to continually improve the customer's experience through innovation.”
This is an open invitation to Virgin Trains, I’m happy to work with you and give you feedback to improve your customer service. (Actually while we're here talking about Virgin and customer service I'd like to extend that invitation to Virgin Media too, oh and maybe even Virgin Atlantic...)
