RwandAir’s commitment to excellent service delivery, customer satisfaction, and consistency is paying-off for the young East African airline, going by the accolades festooned on it by fliers as well as travel and tourism experts.
Richard Shapiro, founder and President of The Centre for Client Retention, once said that “excellent customer service is one of the key ingredients for repeat business; it’s that special personal relationship with one customer and one associate that provides the link between customer satisfaction and customer retention.”
Service Mag publisher, Sandra Idossou, recounted that “when travelling on RwandAir, it’s become an enjoyable moment. I love the new planes, not second hand or tokunbo, as they are in most African countries.
“I’m always impressed by the effort they put in offering excellent service.”
Wolfgang Thome, an expert in aviation, travel and conservation based in Eastern Africa, commended the “extraordinary efforts leading to extraordinary success stories … thumbs up for RwandAir.”
Another customer, Esaie Ntidendereza, who lives in Bujunbura, Burundi, said: ‘I am always impressed by Rwandair’s inflight and ground services.”
Ingabire Nellie, from Kigali, Rwanda, loves “the effort Rwanda pulls out as a whole and for RwandAir; it’s a true example of ‘Yes, we can do better.”
RwandAir Chief Executive Officer, John Mirenge, disclosed that the airline currently has seven young aircraft but plans to increase the tally to 11 and to fly to 25 destinations by 2017.
It also plans to add destinations in Asia and in Europe, and to have a fleet of about 20 aircraft by 2020.
According to Shapiro, certain ingredients an organisation has to focus on in order to retain customers include frontline executives possessing the capability of making a good first impression.
He said it is imperative to show appreciation to customers, and thanking them in a meaningful and thoughtful manner on every customer/frontline encounter shows you care and makes them appreciate your business.
Other qualities include the ability to answer questions from customers by not only responding to their direct inquiry, but also by providing additional useful information.
A service executive should understand that the underlying ingredient of customer service is helping people. It is also needful for customer executives to say, ‘hello’ and smile.
Getting a big, warm hello can go a long way in giving a customer the feeling of “Hey, this company is really happy to see me.”
