As a Points hound, Qantas tapped me a few years ago to feature me in their Qantas Business Rewards member spotlight.  From that interview, they asked if I wanted to be featured in their upcoming Qantas Business Rewards commercial, and I said, “Why the hell not? I like doing my own stunts.”

About a month ago, Qantas reached out to see if I’d be interested in participating in a customer panel during their “Inspire Tomorrow” event, which gives their cabin crew from all across Australia and internationally the chance to come together, discuss what’s working, come up with solutions to sticky problems, and kick around the future direction for Qantas. “Sure”, I said, “I like doing my own stunts”.

Not spilling the tea, we all know Qantas has had some really challenging times over the last 5 to 7 years, and you could argue they have devalued their brand in the eyes of the Australian consumer. The dodgy sacking of baggage handlers during COVID, selling ghost flights (also during COVID), and not investing in new planes have largely meant Qantas cabin staff have borne the brunt of customer frustration.

Big snaps then for Qantas for putting their hand up here. They didn’t shy away from any of these tough messages, and we were encouraged on the panel not just to highlight the positive, but also to give constructive feedback on where they need to improve.

For any property developer in these tough economic conditions, we can learn something from Qantas’s approach. This is not the time to be timid or retreat. In tough times, brands are remade and reinvigorated. Because if not now, when?

Here are the questions I was asked and my responses, along with how they might apply to property developer marketers keen to tap their customer base for insights into how they’re viewed.

When I started Diva Works on my dining table in 2001, Mirvac was my first client. Over 25 years on, they are still my client, and I’m humbled and proud of that.  Qantas has played a big part in building Diva: we rely on them to get us to project sites all around Australia. As a small business owner, I like to “pick and stick”; the loyalty my clients show Diva spins the karmic wheel, so I, in turn, stay loyal to our suppliers and supporters.  Qantas has played a big part in building Diva: we rely on them to get us to project sites across Australia and to provide the much-needed pie or pizza in the lounge before we dash to make the “last call” boarding.

This is useful, actionable intel. You’re getting insight into why the customer preferred you over a competitor. You may think price is the main driver, but this question uncovers what truly drove the decision, and it will probably surprise you.

Sometimes it’s as simple as, “I really liked that all my questions were answered, and I didn’t feel rushed into making a decision.” Or it could be transactional: a spring bonus of a 10k landscaping package that really tipped the customer into choosing your development.

Either way, it gives you clues about what matters to your customer, so you can do more of that, on repeat.

There isn’t much difference, at least in the domestic market, between planes, food offerings, entertainment, and schedule times. What is a significant point of difference is the people, and that’s actually an easier thing to influence and move the needle on than, say, buying a whole new fleet of planes. A tired, worn-out, beaten-down workforce is still easier to transform into an energetic, vibrant, and positive customer-facing team than buying a whole new fleet of planes at $50 million per domestic plane.

For me, it’s those moments when I’m on the 6:00 flight out of Sydney. I’ve been up since 3:30. I’m a little nerve-cited (a mix of nervous and excited) because I’m about to present a sales office concept, and the flight attendant greets me on board with, “Well, don’t you look fantastic?” That small comment has turned this tired, bleary-eyed, slightly anxious small business owner into a confident, strutting peacock.

At first glance, this would seem like almost the identical question to the one above, but I think, with the word “matters”, you’re really digging into your buyer’s psyche about what’s really important to them. The question above focuses on choice when comparing one to the other, and on how your development differentiates from the competition. This question about what matters most to your customers taps into some deeper, intrinsic needs:

This is rich information you can use in your marketing to speak directly to your customer about what matters most in their buying decision.

On 10 March 2020, I met my hot boyfriend. Two days later, I was on a plane out of Australia, flying to New Orleans to spend time with my American-based rowing mate Ren. In NOLA, we’re on the same flight out. We landed in Dallas-Fort Worth. I went for a connecting flight, and she promised to join in a day or so. Hahahahahaha…I next saw her 3 years later due to border closures.

By the time I landed in New Orleans, the world was on fire. Scomo was on the Teevee, telling Australians to return home. I called my hot boyfriend, who was working at Helius, the mob that tests your blood, and just casually inquired how things were on the work front. He said that they were all being sent home. They were told to take their laptops, and he was in the process of deploying his whole entire team to work remotely. I asked how long this would be planned for. He said indefinitely. I said, “Oh fuck.”

Qantas helped me book a new flight home after the weekend rush. I wandered through the empty halls of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport to catch my flight to Sydney. I called my dad and breezily chatted to him before I got on the plane. I called the hot boyfriend and made jokes about being a site supervisor paying off because I always had hand sanitiser and dust masks with me.

But once I got on that plane, I was a mess. There was something about seeing that flying red kangaroo tail that really broke me. Uncertainty swirled around me. Do I even have a business? If I have a business, how the hell do we do work from home when our business is construction? All of these fears loomed large for this small business owner who was strung out and eating bad American food. One of the lovely flight crew came up, welcomed me on board, took one look at me, and said, “You’re really not that great, are you?” I said, “Absolutely not. Do you have chips?”

Once we were airborne and after she’d done her checks, she said, “Come with me,” and we sat up at the front of the 380, drinking champagne, eating potato chips. I was worried about how I was going to support the Divas through whatever the hell was coming. She did not know, once she got off this plane, when she would ever fly again.

It was shared camaraderie, and I was more honest with her than I’d been with anyone: the fears, the concerns around people’s health and safety- what did this all mean? I’ll never forget the kindness that she showed and just sitting with me while I ugly cried and reached for a fourth bag of chips, with absolutely no judgment.

You’re asking all about the feels here. You want to understand where it moves from the head to the heart for a customer. Where will Jub Jub, the family chameleon, roam free in the new home? How do we live in this new space? Where does Nana’s glory box get stashed? Do I see myself growing old here, or raising a family, or building a life for myself? Buying a new property or block of land is still a hugely emotional purchase. Marketers and property developers need to understand those motivations so that they can enhance them during the buying process.

Stock more chips, especially on overseas flights. You never know when I’ll have an emotional breakdown and need to go face-first into those delicious, crunchy, zingy chips. Load me up!

But seriously, communicate, even when you don’t have all the answers. The difference between radio silence when you’ve been sitting on a tarmac for 45 minutes going nowhere and being told “We don’t have an answer for this delay right now, but I’ll be back in touch in 10 minutes with an update” is crowd-calming.

Don’t fear potential negative feedback. All feedback is information, so tap that rich seam. You can’t improve on something that you don’t know about or don’t care to know about. Very few people are going to rip you apart, even if they’ve had a less-than-stellar experience, but giving people the opportunity to highlight where you might have fallen short and where you can improve is priceless (because it stops you from making that same mistake again to another customer and another customer and another customer).

Want to talk about your sales office strategy and get my tips for making the best use of your Qantas points? You just know I’ve got tips. Then reach out to me here via this Calendly link, and let’s chitty-chat and fly the friendly skies.