Watch: How Southwest Airlines Built a Culture of Customer Loyalty

The webinar “How Southwest Airlines Built a Culture of Customer Loyalty” was attended by hundreds of customer service and support professionals who submitted numerous questions during the webinar. Due to the time constraints of the event, Lorraine was unable to answer all of the great questions submitted; however he has been gracious enough with her time to answer each one within our blog.

Whether you attended the webinar or not, you may find that the answers to these questions may also help you build a culture of customer loyalty.

If you did not attend the webinar, we invite you to watch it now. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

How did you communicate ideas to your employees?

We had an extensive communication network at Southwest Airlines.  Here are some of the processes we put into place:

• We mailed letters to Employees’ homes (information, commendations, etc).  We felt they would have a greater chance of not only reading it but sharing it with their families as well.
• We had a monthly Employee newsletter called “LUV LINES” which we published in color.  It had a fun look to it, full of pictures, company news, events, commendations, contests, etc.
• We published a weekly update and printed it for employees with no access to company computers.  We also ran it as a front page of our internal Employee (SWA Daily) website the day it came out.
• We held yearly “Messages to the Field” in our top 5 locations.  These were events held in giant auditoriums and Employees would get a message delivered by Herb giving them the direction for the year.
• Leaders from Headquarters were dispatched to every location once a year to visit employees in the break rooms, deliver updated company news and buy the Employees lunch…pizza, etc.  This would give the leaders a chance to visit with the Employees of the locations.
• We put reader boards up in the flight attendant and pilot lounges to ensure they would get the latest company information as they checked in for their flight or waited between flights.
• We sent out mailings with Employees’ paychecks.

-Lorraine

What made you think of having an internal mission statement? How could our company come up with one?

This goes hand-in-hand with the two Customer concept. An effective way to start creating an internal mission statement is to hold focus groups with employees from all different departments and ask them what they would like to see in that mission statement.  Then appoint a committee of employees to put one together.  Use your internal trainers (facilitators) to lead the focus groups and be involved on your committee.  If you need any professional outside help with graphics, messaging, etc. perhaps use your local advertising agency or internal communications group if you have one. You could also do an internal Employee contest to come up with the mission statement…make it short, fun, sweet and to the point.  Hype it up; give it a lot of buzz…
-Lorraine

How do you motivate someone that is on the edge of being disengaged, but is still doing the absolute minimum?

Assuming you value that person and want to keep them:

First thing I would suggest is to find out why this person is de-motivated.  Is it company or personal issues?  Have you had issues in the past with this person?  Is there a history of performance issues?
Once you get that person’s feedback (and the meeting should not feel like an inquisition, rather a concerned leader wanting to truly understand that person’s state of mind) start rebuilding the trust. During the conversation don’t just concentrate on the negatives, but point out some positive behaviors/actions this person has exhibited.

Leader could try weekly coaching (read book Greater than Yourself) and make that person feel valued because you are investing time and effort in them.  Monitor progress…if no progress, then don’t waste any more of their time or yours.

If appropriate, find a small project for them to be in charge of and give them the empowerment to complete project.
-Lorraine

After hiring right employees with right attitude and everything – how does Southwest measure customer loyalty?

Internal:  turnover and morale of group.
External:  One of the metrics that Southwest operates under is Customer complaints to Customer compliments. These numbers were shared with all departments. Contests were put into place to motivate better performance, or consequences put in place to correct problems.

Southwest had an open door policy with not only their Employees, but Customers as well. Thus, calls from Customers were always handled in an expeditious manner. A compilation of good Customer letters was put together monthly and shared with all Leaders who would in turn share them with Employees.  Southwest would monitor the status of our frequent fliers and if someone showed little to no activity, a phone call would be generated to find out why.
-Lorraine

White Paper: Lessons in Loyalty: How Southwest Airlines Does It - An Insider's Point of View

Southwest Airlines recognized long ago that they were in the Customer service industry, they just happened to fly airplanes. Subsequently, they built and maintain one of the most faithful Customer bases in existence today.

Parature is pleased to offer you this free white paper entitled Lessons in Loyalty: How Southwest Airlines Does It – An Insider’s Point of View

Phenomenally successful Southwest Airlines is renowned for its stellar Customer service. Their continual dedication to achieving the highest level of Customer service led them to:

• Always capitalize the “C” in Customers to emphasize their importance
• Imbed each employee paycheck with a reminder message that their “Customers were responsible for providing this paycheck”
• Design a hiring system to attract and retain “Warrior Spirits” with innate Customer service skills
• Implement a recognition system and invite the external Customer to help recognize employees
• Utilize fun as a strategy to find the kid in everyone

Read this white paper to discover the principles and practices that, when implemented correctly, will boost the level of Customer loyalty in your organization, ultimately positioning your company as a leader in your industry and giving you a tremendous competitive advantage.

How to Build a Culture of Loyalty - How Southwest Airlines Does It

Phenomenally successful Southwest Airlines is renowned for its stellar Customer service. Learn from former Southwest Executive and author of Lessons in Loyalty, Lorraine Grubbs, how Southwest built and maintains one of the most faithful Customer bases.

Southwest Airlines recognized long ago that they were in the Customer service industry, they just happened to fly airplanes. They were one of the few companies who realized the existence of dual Customers – the internal one (employees) and the external one (passengers, vendors, partners, etc). This Customer service mindset was established from the onset in the creation of their mission statement, which in two separate parts, vows to deliver care and service to both employees and Customers. Their continual dedication to achieving the highest level of Customer service led them to:

• Always capitalize the “C” in Customers to emphasize their importance
• Imbed each employee paycheck with a reminder message that their “Customers were responsible for providing this paycheck”
• Design a hiring system to attract and retain “Warrior Spirits” with innate Customer service skills
• Implement a recognition system and invite the external Customer to help recognize employees
• Utilize fun as a strategy to find the kid in everyone

In this webinar you’ll learn how to create a Customer Service culture in your organization, regardless of size. The principles and practices learned in this session will, when implemented correctly, boost the level of Customer loyalty in your organization, ultimately positioning your company as a leader in your industry and giving you a tremendous competitive advantage.

A copy of this presentation is available in our SlideShare profile.

If you missed the webinar, the recorded version is available here. Share your thoughts and continue the discussion here.

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Watch recorded version here

SupportIndustry.com’s 2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results: A Look Behind the Scenes in Today’s Support Organization, which was sponsored by Parature Inc. and surveyed senior-level service and support professionals, revealed the top motivators for moving to a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. These motivators include eliminating the need for staff to maintain in-house systems (27%), increased efficiency (25%), increased profitability (16%) and greater customer satisfaction and loyalty (14%).

It is benefits such as these that have CRM and support departments turning to on-demand models to benefit the enterprise. According to the survey, 43% of respondents have leveraged SaaS-based models for at least some of their service-related technology deployments, while 32% say they plan some kind of SaaS-based deployment in the coming year.

Why the move? SaaS solutions offer a variety of robust features without the headache of maintaining the system and server. Many companies offering these services have now been around for awhile, taking away some of the fears about vendor longevity and effectively addressing concerns such as security and scalability.

Market data also supports the move to the SaaS model. According to analyst group Gartner, Inc., the worldwide market for SaaS is forecast to reach $9.6 billion in 2009, which represents a 21.9% increase over 2008 revenue of $6.6 billion. Growth will continue over the next several years with projected revenue to reach $16 billion by 2013.

To view the full results of the 2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey, click on any of the following options:

• Watch Webinar 2009 Service and Support Metrics Survey Results: A Look Behind the Scenes in Today’s Support Organization
• Download White Paper

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