My last blog post was about my girl friend's unfortunate experience in Hanoi while attempting to fly to Hong Kong. See it here. 

Later that same day, I was flying to meet up with her. After an hour delay in Detroit to repair the plane's satellite guidance system (thank goodness for that) and another hour delay circling the Hong Kong airport waiting for a thunderstorm to pass, I landed. 

The travel agency had arranged for a driver to pick me up and transport me to the hotel. I deplaned, passed customs and looked for what is called an Arrival Hall. The place where friends wait to pick up arriving passengers. Problem was, there were two arrival halls, A & B. I saw some people from my flight going to B, so I followed. 

Now this is a HUGE airport. There were lots of people waiting at B, some with signs displaying names. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one with my name on it. So, I meandered over to A only to be disappointed with another crowd and more signs, none of which had my name. What to do? 

I called the travel agency. The conversation went something like this, "Where are you? Who are you? Having trouble hearing you with the background noise." 

Finally, the agent told me to take a taxi and they would reimburse me. I followed the advice and rode 45 minutes to the hotel without incident. 

Fifteen minutes after my arrival at the hotel, the phone rang. It was the driver calling from the airport looking for me. 

This situation did not need to happen. Why not push out an automatic email with my phone and email address to the driver? And the driver's information to me? This way we could communicate directly. Currently, this information is stored, it's just not accessible to those who need it. 

Solution: Business process improvement to improve service and reduce costs. 

We have found this kind of opportunity abounds in many businesses we assist with email communication. Want to find out if your organization can benefit from our Professional Email Consulting Service? Give us a call at 888.915.9465 to explore the possibilities.