Just as Good is Never Good Enough

Many years ago, right after his miraculous turnaround of Chrysler, Lee Iacocca stated to the world, “Our cars are now just as good as the Japanese.” The only thing I could think of was, “Hey Lee, too late!”

The time to be “just as good,” is BEFORE you lose the customers. Once your customers have left to go to the competition, the only way you’re going to get them back is to be better than the competition.

Why would a customer switch just for the promise of “just as good,” when that’s what they already have?

Every time you lose a customer, you not only take the chance that they will go to the competition, but that they will have a great experience with the competition. Once that happens, it’s extremely difficult to get them back.

For almost my entire business career I flew American Airlines. In fact, they received over 90% of my business; anywhere from 100,000 to 150,000 miles a year. However, prior to 9/11, I started to see a definite slip in service and post 9/11, the slip became an avalanche.

Finally, I got so fed up with their callousness, uncaring attitude and total inability to get me from Point A to Point B without hassle or aggravation, I decided to cut back drastically with them and fly Southwest Airlines.

Now, the problem for American is this: I have had nothing but good to great experiences on Southwest and will only fly American when there is no other choice. Can American ever get me back as a customer? Possibly, but they’re going to have to prove to me they’re better than Southwest, because just as good is just not good enough.