Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / June 1, 1967, edition 1 / Page 2
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PAGE TWO THE PIEDMONITOR JUNE, 1967 THEPiEomonim Piedmont Aviation, Inc. Smith Reynolds Airport Winston-Salem, N. C. Betsy Allen, Editor tM AUeaitllON Editorial Excitement In Your Job At this point none of you are more aware than am I of my newness to, and inexperience with, the airline industry. For this I offer no apologies, because I believe I can give you an objective, if not almost, outsider’s point of view. Nearly two years ago, I think it was the first day I came to work for Piedmont, I took a scenic flight over Winston- Salem in American Airline’s Ford Tri-Motor. It was fascinat ing to me to fly in an antique airplane. But m.ost exciting of all was the fact that upon take-off, the tail of the airplane went up first. I couldn’t remember this having ever happened before. My rememberable flying days started after the DC-3’s. So now you know how really new I am at all of this. Jim Fouts said earlier that morale is a determining factor in productivity. Morale is directly related to communication — between employee and management and management and employee. This is one reason we have a Piedmonitor. A number of Piedmont’s problems, from this meeting’s comments thus far, seem to be, if not directly, then indirectly related to com munications. You’ve mentioned communications tools from FX and long lines to bulletin boards and memoranda. There has been a glaring exception — YOUR Piedmonitor. Occasionally, and seemingly more often of late, personnel complacency has provoked me to climb up on my soap box in the Piedmonitor’s editorial column. The Piedmonitor’s news is controlled news, we all know that. But it has to be. We have an outside mailing list that numbers about 500 people. Some industry and some not. But, more than once, I’ve gotten the impression that some of you think the home office keeps information from you. I honestly don’t believe anyone is intentionally keep ing anything from you. What do you and your people want to know? I can call you on the FX line, listen to your long line and send out all stations teletypes. But my telephone directory doesn’t list the number of your rumor line and comments indicate that I’d probably not be able to get it anyway. It’s always so busy. I’ve been accused of de-emphasizing, burying and even deleting stories that you wanted. And I’m sure I must have made all of these mistakes. However, without your help, I am going to continue making these mistakes. What I’m trying to say boils down to this: We must all ask questions and do so every day if neces sary •— not just every three years. There are only two requi sites for an inquiry ■— first, that your question be of a worth while nature and, secondly, that you have the determination to continue asking until you get’ your answer. Piedmont’s communication’s effectiveness is wholly de pendant on you, on those people who work for you and on those for whom you work. A “writer” frequently resorts to similes. This problem is like a two-way radio. Without voiced questions, answers will be inadequate, incomplete and just plain unsatisfactory. By the same token, problem questions that go unanswered will, without exception, produce misunderstanding, unreliable rumors and problems that can only get worse. A number of you have talked about motivation, sincerity, pleasant attitudes and enthusiasm. All of these attributes or qualities-put-into-words, can be easily produced and practiced if YOU’RE excited about YOUR job. Without excitement in your job even enthusiasm can ap pear to be ungenuine, which can be as detremental as obvious complacency. If you’ve forgotten how exciting your job really is, think back to the first day you came to work for Piedmont. I’m not going to ask you if you were excited. There’s no way you couldn’t have been. Finally, excitement is as economical a commodity as even Mr. Morton could want. The cost has nothing to do with dollars and cents. It is my humble, and as I said, almost outsider’s opinion, that if you try uncovering the excitement that’s inherent in your job Piedmont’s revenue increases will prove your ex citement’s profitability. Satisfying Our Customers On A Daily Basis by SHERL FOLGER Assistant General Sales Manager Our 1966 Annual Report shows a passenger revenue of $28,058, 899. That means that the passen gers we carried in our airplanes gave us 28 million dollars to put into our cash register. Webster’s New World Dic tionary describes a passenger as: “1. A person passing by or through, usually on foot; 2. a person travelling in a train, bus, boat, etc., especially a person having no part in the operation of the conveyance.” Well, in the first place, I think it was downright inconsiderate of Mr. Webster to categorize the airlines as “etc.”; but then I do not like the word “passen ger.” I like to think of the peo ple who ride Piedmont as “cus tomers” and the ones who haven’t ridden with us yet as “potential customers.” After all, at every place you spend money, you are a customer. You are a grocery store customer, depart ment store customer, insurance customer, etc., so you know what a customer likes and, more im portantly, dislikes. Most Valuable Asset Please don’t ever forget that our customers are our most val uable asset — and the most im portant people in our business. Our customers are not depen dent upon us — we are depen dent upon them. They don’t owe us any favors. Our customers are the purpose of our work — without them, there would be no jobs. Our customers are not just names on reservation cards and tickets, but flesh and blood human beings who have as much right to be satisfied as we who are customers have. Our customers are not outsiders ■— but a very necessary part of our business. Our customers do us a favor when they buy what we have to sell — and we owe it to them to see that they are completely satisfied. Our cus tomers are free to take their business wherever they wish — whenever we fail to satisfy them. Our satisfied customers are an army of good will ambassadors for our company. Our profits and our jobs depend not only on getting customers — but on keeping them satisfied with everything we do in their behalf. Do you notice the phrase “satisfied customer” becoming more prevelant, well remember this: Piedmont’s Most Valuable Asset Is Its Satisfied Customers! Suppose There Were No Customers Without those satisfied cus tomers to use Piedmont, there would be no business and no jobs for you or me. Does that surprise you? If so, let’s look at the answers to a few simple questions: Where do jobs come from? (Jobs come from profits) Where do profits come from? (Profits come from the sale of our services to satisfied cus tomers) Where do satisfied customers come from? (Satisfied customers come from efficient, painstaking work which produces a service at a fair and honest price) And finally, where does qual ity service come from? (It comes from the combined I'LL 5EE VOOR, F-Z7 A,\vi' RMSt VOO K efforts of intelligent, enthusias tic men and women to whom work is a privilege not a burden some chore) Now, isn’t it easy to see that all employment, payroll, profits, dividends and reserve for growth come from one source— SATISFIED CUSTOMERS. I’m sure that each of you rec ognize our customers: Bob Busi nessman, Sam Serviceman, Suzie Student, Gertrude Grandma, and Beatrice Bathing Beauty. Well, let’s find out from where these customers that we must satisfy come. As I said earlier, our customer revenues last year were over 28 million dollars. Our single biggest source comes from the regular customers lo cated on our system. Over half of that was taken in at our air port and city ticket counters. The other 14 million comes from three sources: Travel Agents, other airlines and JAMTO’s. There are over 6,000 travel agents in the United States who are able to sell tickets over our lines. Last year they sold $4,672,- 289 worth of tickets over Pied mont. On-Line Revenue There are over 49,500 other airlines sales and service per sonnel who influence travel over our lines. Last year they gave us $6,504,996 in on-line revenue. There are over 90 JAMTO of fices in the United States who represent Piedmont Airlines. Last year they sold Piedmont tickets worth $2,046,949. Our sales managers regularly call on our repeat customers who buy tickets at our city and field offices. What you may not know is that they also call on the other three sources, agency, interline and JAMTO. We can call on these customers until we are blue in the face and make them aware what a wonderful bargain they are getting when they fly with us, how much time we can save them and tell them of our schedules, cargo rates and promotional fares and we will continue to call on them; however, if we do our job well it is only partially done. If our service is poor over the tele phones, at the ticket counter, on the flight and until he claims his luggage — we do not have a satisfied customer. Repeating Passengers It is human nature to continue to do business with a company that pleases your customers. So when a Piedmont customer goes back to his travel agent in Richmond, Indiana or the JAM TO office at Camp Pendleton, California or reports to his exec utive account desk at the res of fice in Chicago that his trip was wonderful, then we will get an other crack at this customer the next time he makes a trip into our area. But if we do not satis fy him and he reports that, you can imagine what will happen. As a customer, would you be satisfied if: A clock you bought didn’t keep correct time? When you made an honest complaint, the manufacturer disclaimed any responsibility and said you had not followed directions? I could go on and on. The point is that valuable cus tomers are lost every day by air lines whose employees make careless mistakes which result in customer dissatisfaction. No One Is Perfect No one, in his right mind, ex pects anyone to be perfect. We all make mistakes at times and no airline is smart enough to keep all of its customers forever. But, the fact remains, that those airlines whose employees consider customer satisfaction to be their most important job, make fewer mistakes, are more highly thought of in their re spective markets, have the finest customer relations and the high est type of employee relations. Because of their repeat busi ness, they are able to offer a higher rate of job security — which is a visible reflection of the attitude of management and employees working together toward that all important job of KEEPING THE CUSTOMER SATISFIED. SELLING SPEED , . . {Continued from Page One) to think of establishing an Executive Desk for top, key ac counts. This would be another way of communicating our con cern for and interest in volume business. These are just a few of the many ways v/e can communicate to our customers and I think each is very important. One thing we must keep in mind, the Jet aircraft is only a tool to pro vide our service, it is not the only reason for doing business with Piedmont. We want to communicate an image of a “can do” airline, an airline that wants and needs a customer’s business. VERM BR>L\.\K\^T move DOVi / \J\TW LUCK VJE H \T
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
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June 1, 1967, edition 1
2
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