Jamie Biesiada
Last week, as I brought in my mail, I was surprised to see a cardboard-backed envelope addressed to me. I hadn't ordered anything that I recalled, and it seemed too official to be junk mail.
I opened it up and found a pack of two stickers from Lego, which jostled my memory. I had, in fact, been hoping to receive that envelope, but my expectations were kind of low, if I'm being honest.
Getting it in the mail was a delight.
I'll explain why in a minute, but I'd also like to tell you why I'm writing about Lego stickers in Travel Weekly. Every now and again, I experience the kind of customer service that deserves a shout-out -- and they're usually stories from which travel advisors can glean some tips. This is one of them.
My daughter is 5, and to my great delight, she has graduated from the large Lego Duplo blocks to the smaller, and more detailed, Lego bricks. I don't love having to find the pieces she drops, or stepping on one barefoot, but the sets are much more fun to build with her and they keep her engaged for longer.
We were working on a set she got for her birthday a few weeks ago, a unicorn-themed cafe that's part of the Lego Friends line.
But to her great horror, a sheet of stickers was missing from the box. I don't think this was user error -- I looked high and low and even shook out all the instruction books to make sure it didn't get stuck in the pages.
We kept going with the build, but every time we were supposed to affix a sticker to a brick, she'd lament at how plain it looked.
As I learned, Lego has an entire website devoted to missing pieces. But when I looked up the stickers for the set in question, the site told me there were no stickers found online for replacement.
At Lego's urging, I got in touch with customer support, and they responded almost immediately on Aug. 19. My request was being sent to a special team to get the stickers mailed, and if they weren't available for some reason, "we'll reach out to find a solution that works for you."
But the latter option wasn't necessary: The stickers arrived at my house on Sept. 2.
Lego came through, replacing the missing stickers. Photo Credit: Jamie Biesiada
I was surprised. Lego is a huge company and I imagine they receive a decent amount of communication each day. I was hopeful they would be able to find the stickers, but I wasn't extremely optimistic. Getting the stickers in hand two weeks after my inquiry? Impressive.
Here's what I think Lego did right.
While it would have been great if I had been able to look up the stickers up on the website and order them immediately, reaching out to Lego customer service was easy enough. The key was the speed in response time. It happened the same day.
Response time matters.
The stickers arrived way faster than I thought they would. I assumed my request would go to the bottom of a stack, and maybe I'd hear back within a month or so. Receiving the product within two weeks from such a big company was remarkable.
Of course, an advisor's response time needs to be faster than two weeks, but the lesson remains the same.
I also liked the plan B that was offered without prompting: Lego would find a solution even if the stickers weren't available.
In travel, things often go wrong that are completely outside of an advisor's control. But assuring clients there's another plan in the works can help de-escalate stress and anxiety before it even starts.
Finally, for a company like Lego, an envelope with stickers is practically insignificant. But to my daughter, it was huge.
Advisors are often, and rightly, focused on the big-ticket items for clients' trips: air travel, hotels and transfers. But the little details -- having a preferred amenity waiting in a room or guaranteeing an adjoining room -- can make all the difference in a client's memory of a vacation.
The "stickers" build loyalty.