JUNE, 1967
THE PIEDMONITOR
PAGE THREE
Agents^ Old and New, Need Training
by JIM FOUTS
Reservations Manager — DCA
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Losing A/lore - Finding Less
by T. L. MARTIN
Staff Assistant — Sales
Nine years ago when we only
had five flights out of Washing
ton, a man came to the ticket
counter and advised me that he
would like a reservation on our
next flight to CMH. I responded,
“TWA has a flight leaving after
ours and arriving much earlier.”
In short, I was apologizing for
our service and the gentleman
did not appreciate this. His
reply, “If you don’t m i^ d I
would like to take your flight.
I’m fully aware of the fact that
it stops eight times and that it
is a DC-3, and TWA has a non
stop Martin. However, the many
little extra services provided by
your people, the friendly,
courteous manner in which you
handle the public, means a great
deal to me.” Certainly, this was
a very pleasant surprise to me.
I wonder if we would hear this
today?
Future Success
I’m fully aware that most peo
ple will not go to this extent.
However, I am certain that our
future success, more than ever,
depends upon repeat business.
Unless we recapture much of
the company spirit that has been
lost through the years, and the
so-called many small services
that we provided, we will not
get the repeat business. Con
sequently, our prosperity is at
stake.
In the old days we had fewer
people to supervise, and our job
of customer service was much
easier. We had sufficient time to
train our employees. We were
small, and because we were
small, our customer service was
excellent. Todaj^, we are not so
small, and our customer service
is not so good. What are we
going to do about it?
How many times during the
course of a day over our system
are we apologizing for ineffi
ciency by saying, “I’m sorry, but
the agent is new.”? Everyone
has to learn, true, but must our
customers continually and con
sistently receive inferior ser
vice? Before an agent answers
a phone or checks in a passen
ger, he needs-a minimum of two
weeks’ classroom training.
Agents are thrown on the ticket
counter when they cannot even
read the flight schedule. A re
vised sales manual is essential
for use during this training per
iod.
Initial Contact
In connection with our train
ing for new sales agents, we
speak much about our initial
contact with the customer. With
this initial contact we must give
full consideration to the follow
ing factors. The new sales agent
must realize that his voice must
communicate an eagerness to
serve. He must always convey
to the customer that he is not
only willing to handle his pro
blem, but also he must show
that he really wants to help
him. For the reservation agent,
it takes sincere enthusiasm in
the voice. For the ticket agent,
sincere expression.
It is not enough for us to pro
vide comparable service to our
competitors, ours must be
better. It is not sufficient to be
just adequate, it is imperative,
in our competitive market, to be
more than adequate. It is not
enough to answer the phone,
“PIEDMONT AIRLINES RE
SERVATIONS.” Since this is
our initial contact with the
passenger, it should be, “PIED
MONT AIRLINES RESERVA
TIONS, MAY I HELP YOU?”
A ticket agent should be
taught the proper way to greet
the customer. It is not enough
just to smile, take his ticket,
mark it and hand it back to him.
It is not enough for a hostess to
smile, serve a cup of coffee, and
pass out a few magazines. Com
mon courtesy, a smile and
efficiency is not enough. We
agree it is adequate, but to pros
per in the future, don’t you be
lieve that we must give the
customer better than “just ade
quate” service? As a local ser
vice carrier, too often we tend
to accent the word local, but we
must really emphasize SER
VICE.
Retraining
It is not adequate to provide
good training only for the new
agents. Also, in our system the
older agents need continual
training for maximum efficiency.
It is easier to train than to re
train! Unfortunately, many of
our experienced agents did not
have adequate sales training in
the beginning. With closer su
pervision and continual training
for all agents, in DCA we have
devised a weekly evaluative
sales quality check list. By
monitoring each agent during
the week he is given an ap
praisal on the main points of
his job.
The quality of service we pro
vide requires good supervision.
Where do we find supervisors?
Where do we find agents who
are willing to take so much add
ed responsibility for an extra $15
or $25 a month? In the past the
question was, “Who will receive
this promotion?” Presently the
question is, “Who will take the
promotion?” In DCA, the major
ity of our supervisors already
have or are requesting to be re
turned to agent status. Our
agents receive comparable
salaries to our competitors. Cer
tainly, it is time that we take a
closer look at the salaries of
supervisors.
Sales Guides
To provide faster and more
efficient .service, reservations
and ticket counter personnel
need sales guides. In reserva
tions in DCA, we use a note
book which is in itself almost a
full time job of reworking with
each schedule change. However,
with it our agents can take at
least five more calls per hour.
The morale of our personnel
must be the determining factor
in the quality of the service
given to our customers. In other
words, to put forth that extra
effort, to convey sincerity, to be
company-minded and believe in
what he is doing, it is impera
tive that the supervisor, the
manager and the company give
him their very best. With train
ing we can combat the frustra
tion that comes from lack of
knowledge.
In conclusion I suggest we
consider:
1. A centrally-located training
center. With two weeks of in
tensive training the agents’ pro
ductivity is immediate.
2. Better salaries for all super
visory personnel.
3. Closer supervision of hos
tesses.
4. Sales guides furnished from
the general office for all sta
tions.
Complacency,
Forgetfulness:
Irofe Customers
by PAUL LOAR
District Sales Manager — CVG
I would like to confine my
remarks to two subjects, both
mentioned in general, in the
meeting notice. They are both
in the present state of the art,
and within the direct control of
this audience — and it wouldn’t
cost a cent to implement them.
You are all aware that the air
line business is a routine busi
ness. Almost all of our passen
ger complaints occur when the
routine is broken. Weather, etc.
and mechanical delays are un
derstandable, and generally en
durable by our customers. But
quite often we compound these
problems by what I call, for lack
of a better term, “sins of omis
sion”. Let me illustrate what I
mean:
Flight delayed at ramp —
passengers at gate — no an
nouncement made.
Irate customers.
* * *
Salesman calls on travel agent
— agent asks for posters, and
PX tariff — salesman doesn’t
write it down.
Irate customer.
♦ «
Flight one hour late — passen
ger on way to plane asks agent
to send message to deplaning
station and notify wife — agent
says will do — he forgets.
Irate customer.
4i ](c
All stations message from INT
lost and found — check on lost
bag — agent pulls TT message,
say’s I’ll do it when I’m not so
busy — forgets — bag in opera
tions rooms for two days.
Irate customer.
« ife «
These “sins of omission” not
only create ill will with our
customers, they also cost our
company money.
The second subject is even
more basic. In spite of all the
problems mentioned, the fact
remains, business has been good,
and from all indications it looks
as though it will remain good
in the foreseeable future. Add a
group of managers that are three
years older than when we last
met, and we have the ingredi
ents for a common corporate
ailment — complacency.
Again, let me illustrate — an
old prospector is on his way
into town from a long trip in
the hills, he’s dirty, bearded,
and worn out, but he’s finally
hit it, has a big bag of high
grade ore on his back. On the
way in, he meets a young fellow
on a jackass. The old man yells,
“I’ve struck it rich. I’ve struck
it rich.” The young fellow says,
“How did you do it — I’ve been
out here all week, and haven’t
seen a thing.” The old man
replies: “If you’re going to make
it in this game, you have to get
off your ass and go to work.”
The question put to us is how
to provide the best product to
the most number of people at
the most economical cost?
In many respects we are doing
this as evidenced by our growth
and progress over the last 19
years.
As all of you know, when we
accept a passenger, we are en
tering into a contract with that
passenger to carry him and Ms
luggage from point A to point
B. Fortunately, we don’t lose
too many passengers but we are
mishandling a large number of
bags. I don’t know how many
of you have ever lost your bag
while traveling but put your
self in the passenger’s shoes ■—
caught away from home with
out a clean shirt, a change of
clothing, your business papers.
Rouglj Situation
Think about that for a minute.
That’s a rough situation. There
are very few things you can do
to a passenger that will make
him madder tiian lose his bag.
When we have lost a passen
ger’s luggage we have a choice
regarding the course of action
to take.
We and our people in the field
can make a real honest effort to
produce the bag at the minimum
inconvenience to the passenger,
or increase his ill-will toward
Piedmont by taking an indif
ferent attitude.
For example, if a passenger
travels from DCA to ROA and
arrives in Roanoke without his
bag, then this is not only an
ROA problem ■— it’s DCA’s, too.
Washington may have failed to
board the bag, it might be at
CHO or LYH because maybe it
was pulled short of destination.
It could be at Tri-Cities because
it overrode ROA. The bag might
be at any station.
Everybody’s Problem
The point is this—ROA’s prob
lem is everybody’s problem and
every effort of cooperation
should be exerted by each indi
vidual supervisor and staff to
keep the passenger and his bag
together at all times.
In every category of lost and
found we have had a tre
mendous increase in, not only
the number of mishandled bags,
but also in the cost. In some
cases, we have been able to
bounce these claims to other
carriers, because we could prove
that they did not transfer the
bags to us or for some other
reason. The transfer information
is the single largest criteria for
determining who picks up the
cost.
Part of the contributing in
fluence towards this increase
was the six week strike last
July and August when all of us
were pushed to the hilt with
more passengers, extra sections,
shortage of trained personnel,
and in general, lack of time to
do a proper job.
But discounting the strike,
mishandled bags and costs have
been constantly increasing at a
greater percentage rate than the
number of passengers we have
been carrying.
MSB Decrease
In reviewing the claims that
have been sent to Winston-Sa
lem, I’m glad there has been a
definite decrease in the number
of claims involving MSB pas
sengers. Some bags are not
being sent to INT, and I am pay
ing out claims. For example,
recently we paid a man $68 for
his that was lost last February
28th. This bag was received at
I INT last Monday after floating
1 around on the system or being
held for almost two months by
one of our stations. If any bag
you have isn’t claimed after 48
hours, send it directly to Win
ston-Salem.
Lately, Central Lost and
Found has been trying to get
the stations to include the neces
sary information with reference
to the transfer of the bag from
the other carrier. While the bag
claim is still under local control,
please determine whether or not
the bag was received from the
other airline and attach this in
formation to the PA T 240 form.
Any station that receives such
a request should, as soon as prac
tical, check for the information
and reply immediately to the
station looking for the bag. If
the bag was not received, start
searching for the bag with the
other airline. Attach all teletype
messages to the lost bag report
before sending it to Central Lost
and Found.
Solutions
The following is a list of the
major complaints and sugges
tions to help us reduce the num
ber of claims and costs:
(1.) After receiving a message
regarding a bag, search your sta
tion and answer the message.
(2.) After each flight, remove
all unclaimed bags to prevent
their being lost or stolen. Take
these bags to the ticket counter
or some other safe place and let
the passenger claim his bag
there. While it does inconven
ience the passenger a little, it’s
far better than loging it.
As all of you are aware, sev
eral persons have been caught
stealing bags from our self claim
areas in recent months. For ex
ample, a skycap in DCA was
caught with seven (7) bags in
his apartment. Two (2) of these
bags belonged to Piedmont. Last
fall over forty (40) bags were
found in a motel room. This hap
pened right here in Atlanta.
From what little was left of the
bags and from other information
received, it was determined that
(Continued on Page Six)
... HOW TARE OOR,
COMPET1TOR.S ... CUT TUEIR
Qi^OUND TIME TO PRACTICMLN
N0TU\N'...