PAGE FOUR
THE PIEDMONITOR
\
JUNE, 1967
Communications
Alt Individual's Knowledge
by R. H. REED
Director — Cargo Services
I couldn’t possibly single out
one subject or phase of air
cargo that is the most important.
However, it did occur to me that
there is one element of our one
and three quarter million dollar
air cargo service that does have
a definite bearing on the ulti
mate goal which we are en
deavoring to attain. This element
can be applied not only to air
cai'go but to any phase of our
operation.
First, in defining our goal I
see it as follows — to produce
an outstanding product efficient
ly — market it wisely — with
the end result of making every
customer a satisfied customer.
Not to mention the area of
economics wherein the maxi
mum return on each dollar in
vested is a definite considera
tion.
The Basic Problem
•Just what is this element that
effects our product, our market
ing techniques, our customer
service, our economic well be
ing as well as the motivation of
our personnel? Regardless of
how you analyze any of the
problems that have a direct
bearing on the production of
our product, or no matter how
you approach the solution to
any problem, when the disguis
ing waters of excuse have evap
orated, the residue remaining is
“communicaiton.”
How could we possibly oper
ate without communication sys
tems — the telephone, teletypes,
long-lines, jet-lines, radios, even
memoranda? We couldn’t. It
would be impossible. This, how
ever, is not the type of com
munication system to which I
am referring.
say. Maybe the agent didn’t read
the memorandum thoroughly
and misinterpreted its meaning,
or he overheard the other agents
talking about the subject and
only got part of the conversa
tion.
Nevertheless, somewhere dur
ing the flow of this information
from management to memoran
dum, to the bulletin board, to
the agent and ultimately to the
customer, something caused the
communication network to go
haywire.
Regardless of what we may
think of ourselves, each of us
has within us a vast store
house of information and knowl
edge concerning our product
and how it should be marketed.
The only way for the company
to benefit from this great na
tural resource is for you to com
municate and to teach. The only
(Continued on Pa^e Six)
NOW SINCE iVW-i »S NOOR FIRST
DM... WUEN k CUSTOMER ^PPKO^CUES
TUE COUNTER... SMILE... fe\V) U\M QOOD
DM ... TWEH FKVCt IT fH
l:i
Webster defines communica
tion as “to impart, pass along,
transmit, to make known; and
further to give or give and re
ceive information or • messages
in any way; as by talk, gestures,
writing, etc.” Communication,
for my purpose, is more techni
cally defined as “a process for
conducting the attention of an
other person for the purpose of
replicating memories” or more
specifically to teach. Recently I
read that today’s leader of men
recognizes that communication
is probablv his most important
responsibility. He knows that
his leadership takes effect
through the process of communi
cation. If there is no communi
cation, there is no leadership,
because the leader interacts
with others bv communicating
with them. Communication is
not an end itself but is the pro
cess by which ends are accom
plished.
Customer Example
A few weeks ago, a customer
called me quite concerned that
we were not carrying cargo on
the 727. This, of course, was ob
viously incorrect.
The customer had been at the
airport a few days prior to call
ing me and was talking to an
aeent about the new jet aircraft.
This agent told the customer
about a memorandum received
from my office to the effect that
we would not accept cargo on
the 727. This, however, was not
what the memorandum said. The
memorandum said that we
would not solicit cargo for the
727 or divert cargo from other
flights to 727 flights but if cargo
was available at the time the 727
operated, we would certainly
want to accommodate it as we
do on any other flight.
What happened here was a
breakdown in communications.
Where? It’s really difficult to
Qualified Personnel
by BILL WOOTEN
Station Manager — FAY
If asked “What is the number
one problem of the airline to
day?” I would have to answer
the problem of qualified per
sonnel.
Anyway you slice it, un
qualified personnel are expen
sive. When we analyze all of
our problems on any given day
in the stations a vast majority
of the time we come up with
the inevitable answer: tmquali-
fied personnel. Unqualified for
what reason? New personnel,
incapable personnel, poorly
trained personnel, or improper
attitude (don’t care personnel)?
TVho Is Responsible
Who is responsible for keep
ing our stations staffed with
qualified personnel? The re
sponsibility must be shared by
both top management (from sta
tion level up) and within the
stations (managers and super
visors). Neither one can right
fully point the finger at the
other and say “the responsibility
is all yours.” Within the station,
the manager must assume the
responsibility for hiring. Too
often we hire people without
proper screening and lower our
standards just to get someone
on the payroll. Too often the
pressure is on the manager to
fill a vacancy because we are
told that if we got by this long
with the vacancy, we don’t need
to fill it or get the vacancy fill
ed or the station complement
will be cut. I haven’t heard of
any station that felt that they
were overstaffed and could af
ford a cut in complement. As a
result the hiring standards are
lowered and the first applicant
for the job is hired whether he
is qualified or not. In many
cases they have to be terminated
after three or six months or
they are kept on the payroll as
borderline or incapable agents
because the manager feels that
he cannot afford to go through
the process of creating a
vacancy, finding and screening
a new applicant and training a
new agent.
Staffing
The manager and his super
visors must assume the respon
sibility for developing and main
taining an adequate training
program within the station. Too
often new personnel, after a few
days on the job, are left to per
form jobs or to man positions
with no training or with the
sketchiest of instructions on
how to do it. The day of the
(Continued on Page Five)
Uniform Check-In; Central Reservations
Suggested For ORF'S Problems
by WALLACE KERR
Station Manager — ORF
The days are over when we would sit at an outlying station
until the wee hours of the morning wating for a DC-3 to come
through with two or three passengers, two bags, two or three
pouches of airmail off, one pouch on. After many lonesome hours
of waiting, the flight has worked and gone in three minutes
at the most.
Time has changed rapidly in
the past few yearsj as all of you
know, because everyone here
has been a part of this growth
We are moving at a much
greater pace than in the “old
days,” however, we have one
area that is getting a head start
on the company. If we do not
start putting forth more efforts
now and concentrating on this
area, we are asking for more
problems, and least to say, fewer
customers. Gentlemen, the area
I am speaking of is complaints.
I will endeavor to bring some of
the coraplaints to you as far as
the Norfolk station in concerned.
The reservations system and
telephones, the long line and
FX lines are a tremendous help.
Consolidated or a central reser
vations office would give the
Norfolk station more time to
give the service that the pas
senger has bought. For example,
during the time flights are on
the ground, there is usually only
one agent available to answer
phones. Many people “shop” so
to speak, after the evening meal
for vacations, business trips, and
tourist information. This is the
time that our station works six
flights in a period from 1730
until 1912. This includes termi
nating, originating and through
flights.
Central RES
With reservations at a central
point, the counter agents would
not have to continually run back
and forth to reservations check
ing flights or trying to answer
a ringing phone while the pas
senger on the counter waits. The
main reason I think central res
ervations would be beneficial to
Norfolk is that it would enable
us to give the ticket counter full
coverage, which, in turn, would
give our passengers better and
more reliable service.
The agents working the ramp
and operations could give the
freight customers better service
if they did not have to come
into reservations as soon as they
get a flight out. Baggage carts
for the flights could be loaded
without as much haste and this
would enable loading to be more
accurate. This would eliminate
the complaints about not an
swering the phones at peak pe
riods. These are a few of the
many advantages central reser
vations would offer in my sta
tion.
The ticket counter procedures
are different in many stations;
for example, DCA has gate
check-in, Norfolk has ticket
counter check-in. A passenger
rides out of DCA to ORF and
perhaps this is his first trip on
Piedmont. He left DCA and went
to the gate to have his ticket
pulled before boarding for ORF.
When he returned to the airport
to board for DCA, he doesn’t
check the counter so we can
pull his ticket and give him a
boarding envelope. He tries to
board the aircraft and has to be
sent back inside to the counter.
This can be quite distressing and
confusing to the passenger. With
gate check-in or ticket counter
check-in, it is my opinion that
we could have a ticket position
for passengers with tickets and
one for those without and thus
be uniform throughout the sys
tem. This would reduce some of
the confusion and complaints of
passengers having to stand in
line when they purchased their
tickets by mail, at a CTO or
JAMTO.
MSB Problems
MSB passengers are a big item
at the ORF station. We have one
problem here that is causing
complaints from downline sta
tions as well as in ORF. The
form DD 1580 is spelled out in
the traffic manual to the letter;
we all know what to do with it.
The problem is the Navy, Ma
rines and Army in ORF do not
have a supply of these forms.
Since this form has been in ef
fect, I have not handled over
twelve. They just do not have
an ample supply. We have had
complaints from passengers that
have been pulled and’ from their
department heads as well. The
agents are doing their best by
using the old desiring proce
dure, but this does not work as
well as if they have the DD
1580. The downline stations pull
them after they were told in
ORF the flight was filled out of
a certain station. Then there is
a misunderstanding as to the
conditions of the MSB proce
dures and there is another com
plaint.
Several complaints have been
made recently by regular pas
sengers as to the appearance of
'our equipment. I realize that in
the period of three or four days,
the same aircraft will fly over
the coal mining country and will
pick up much dirt and grime.
Planes' Appearance
Reflects On
Piedmont's Image
by DON EDMUNDSON
District Sales Manager — ATL
I would like to talk with you
about “image,” not our corporate
image as we are seen by our
contemporaries with regard to
load factors, on time perform
ance, revenue passenger miles,
available seat miles, and so
forth, for in these we are indis
putably a leader in the various
facets of airline operation.
The “image” I am referring to
is one used in the context of
sales, marketing and merchan
dising. It is also referred to as
“product packaging” or just
“packaging.”
Have you ever stopped to
think about how many millions
of dollars are spent annually on
this one little item of “product
packaging” by industries today?
More than you and I can con
ceive. And why?? It’s simple.
To influence the prospective cus
tomer to buy one product over
another. One example is a num
ber of years ago, the Ford Mo
tor Company came out with a
product they called “Edsel.”
They touted this car in their
advertising to be the greatest
automobile marvel since the
“Model T.” It had, according to
them, everything anyone could
want in an automobile in that
price range. Through their ad
vertising, and mind you, this
was all prior to the product
being on the show-room floor,
they had the consumer ready to
buy. But what happened? The
“Edsel” didn’t sell, and had to
be discontinued, as a product in
the Ford line, at a dead loss of
millions of dollars. Mr. Henry
Ford, when questioned as to
why the “Edsel” didn’t sell,
answered in part, “It did not
appeal to the public in design.
Mechanically and structurally It
was as good as any product
Ford has ever built.”
By now you are probably ask
ing yourself, what does all this
have to do with Piedmont and
our reason for this general
(Continued on Page Five)
I was recently on a flight from
RMT to ORF and during take
off, noticed dust reflected by the
sun coming from the curtains.
When the aircraft vibrated, dust
flew from all directions. Since
we have put on the jet and 227
service, it seems that our regu
lar passengers are noticing more
and more how dirty the Martin’s
are.
I know that from past experi
ence it is impossible to clean the
outside of the aircraft in the
winter months in a cold climate
unless they can be 'brought in
side. However, the inside of the
aircraft can be cleaned each
night. The carpets on many of
the Martins have dirt packed
into them to the point that they
are badly discolored. In many
cases, the carpet has seams ex
posed or there is black tape
covping the seams. This is es
pecially dangerous for ladies
wearing high heels.
A passenger boarding a flight
where the engines are high on
time or even one due in for an
overhaul is not aware of any
thing but the appearance of the
aircraft. Water, soap, and paint
can do wonders to the outside of
the aircraft but if all the insides
are not cleaned, then we have
another complaint.
A little more effort, each day,
by all of us in these areas, would
reduce the complaints. In other
words, Gentlemen, if we all go
back home and clean up our
own back yards we will have a
a better and more progressive
product.