Church of the Customer Blog
« Staying focused when times are tough | Main | Buy a car, get a gun »
June 03, 2008
Staying focused when times are tough
This is how I saw Southwest Airlines deal with a slew of bad industry news last week.
On my flight from Austin to Baltimore, the crew gave a fellow passenger -- who happened to be celebrating a birthday that day -- an innovative "cake." Then the crew encouraged the entire plane to sing him "Happy Birthday."
No matter how bad things get, work must continue. It's essential, too, to have an orientation that's driven by values, not just profits.
As Southwest President Collen Barrett has said, "We are not an airline with great customer service. We are a great customer service organization that happens to be in the airline business."
Other blogs that reference Staying focused when times are tough:
How true your words are! In these difficult times it is more important than ever for businesses to enusre that they remain confident - this doesn't cost anything and by having the right mind-set you will be in a far stronger position to fight the economic challenges ahead.
One simple thing to do is think of ways you can improve the marketing of your business without spending any money! And there are a raft of things any business can do!!!
So yes more than ever I fully appreciate the importance of businesses "Staying focused when times are tough"
It might just be me but, rather than singing happy birthday to a customer, I'd prefer Southwest stop kicking attractive young female passengers displaying skin off their planes. Especially the well endowed ones.
http://conspiracytheorysatire.blogspot.com/2007/09/southwest-airlines-declares-war-on.html
Southwest Airlines can teach almost all other airlines how to treat the customer right. Although I haven't used them, most of my coworkers have, and they absolutely love the unassigned seating, which makes lines at the gate and even in the plane almost nonexistent.
We're a big fan of Colleen Barrett, who is one of our Top Small Workplaces judges this year and will be speaking at our small business conference in October.
Great post!
I love the humor and personality shown by Southwest employees. Not only the flight attendants, but even the pilots seem to make it a priority to have fun with the passengers. It makes for a much more enjoyable flight.
I love the humor and personality shown by Southwest employees. Not only the flight attendants, but even the pilots seem to make it a priority to have fun with the passengers. It makes for a much more enjoyable flight.
