THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT MEETING
Officers, home office department heads, station managers and sales
managers made up the group of Piedmont management personnel who held
a three-day meeting at the Hilton Inn in Atlanta early last month.
The general theme of discussion for the meeting was "How can Pied
mont produce a better product? And how can we better merchand ise that
product?"
Both systemwide and local problems were brought up for discussion.
Sorne were solved on the spot while others were noted for further study.
A lot of good suggestions were offered and have already been adopted.
Because it was impossible for anyone to remember all that was said
and because time ran out before all the presentations could be made, we
have read and re-read all the speeches that were prepared for the meeting
and have selected those most representative of the general topics dis
cussed for this Special Edition of your Piedmonitor.
A number of the speeches on the following pages were given at the
meeting, but some will be new, even to those who were there.
tor for you, the employees of Piedmont Aviation, Inc. There will be no
copies mailed outside the Company. These problems are our problems. It
is up to us to find solutions for them. There is no point in airing our dirty
laundry for people outside of Piedmont to see. But, at the same time, if
you don't know what is wrong there is not much you can, or will, do about
improving it.
President Davis said in his opening remarks at the meeting “Now is
the time for us to sit up and take notice and reflect on where we are going.
Constant improvement is a necessity for progress and growth. By the same
token, a slipshod operation is a sure sign of imminent decline. In recent
months we have been running a sorry operation. There have been far too
many complaints due to late flights and/or lazy personnel. Little things need
to be looked after. We must develop SUPER VISION! The time and
our modern equipment are leading us into a new era of air transportation.
Our progress will be measured in terms of the service we render."
Pidmont's problem wheel is groaning for some strong shoulders. We
must bring these problems to a grinding halt if we are going to move
ahead.
One problem situation, in particular, was brought up several times,
that being 'communications' within our company, which is another reason
for this extra edition. We are printing only enough copies of this Piedmoni-
Since we had no pictorial proof of our problems we prevailed on INT
Station Manager Jack Brandon for the drawings that illustrate the follow
ing speeches.
ni momoninm
SPECIAL
EDITION
VOL. IX, NO. 5
THE BEST WAY TO TRAVEL — ALL OVER PIEDMONTLAND
JUNE, 1967
Selling Speed
by LIONEL ANDERS
City Sales Manager — ROA
product we , actions, communicates
Piedmont Personnel at Atlanta Meeting
Its Importance to Growth
The Delegation of Authority; Communication
by EDDIE JONES
Station Manager — LGA
I would like to take us back
to a great day in our history —
March 15th, this year.
That morning, while walking
down the corridor at LaGuardia,
I heard the following announce
ment:
“PIEDMONT AIRLINES
FLIGHT 1 — Pacemaker JET
service, Non-Stop to Roanoke —
is now preparing for departure
at Gate 36. Passengers may pro
ceed to the departure lounge for
check-in.”
I’m sure many of you heard
such announcements and beam
ed with enthusi,asm and pride
as we listened!
Glowing with this enthusiasm
and pride, I walked toward gate
36, thinking of such a mark of
progress. Yet during these
thoughts, I recalled so vividly
an article appearing in the Janu
ary issue of our Piedmonitor,
entitled “President’s Prospec
tus.” I’m sure that many of you
recall this article and perhaps
since then, you too, have taken
inventory of yourself and your
station and/or department.
Mr. Davis was most apprecia
tive of our efforts in making
1966 such a great year. Yet he
said, and I quote: “It is a good
feeling to reflect on these ac
complishments, but I am sure,
too, that you v/ant to know at
all times where we stand and
what is ahead. Therefore, I
want to be frank with you and
point out a few things that indi
cate it is going to be very diffi
cult to do as well or better in
1967 as we did in 1966 . .
In this same article, Mr. Davis
pointed out many important
factors to us. The three most
outstanding in my mind were
(1) Our new equipment, (2) Our
interest debt of 2Vz million a
year ($7,000 a day), and his
closing remark “We have a
(Continued on Page Six)
The number one
have on our shelves to sell to
day is speed.
With new jet aircraft speed in
the air is now a fact. The most
distant points on our system are
now minutes away and we can
now truly offer Jet age service.
Speed in the air however, is
only part of the product. We
must have a complete package
to sell if we are to compete with
other carriers and other forms
of transportation.
Marketing
This is where the marketing
concept enters the picture. The
best definition I have ever
heard of marketing is that it
determines the customer’s need
and then attempts to fill that
need and present it to him
through every means of com
munication.
All of us. are familiar with
communications to the public
through the various accepted
means such as newspaper ads,
radio, television and sign boards.
How many of us ever think of
communicating to the public
through means other than the
written or spoken word?
A general policy of good tele
phone service communicates to
the public. You can’t communi
cate an image of speed if it takes
hours to make a reservation by
phone.
Ticket counter service com
municates speed. How 'fast does
the service seem if the customer
has to be at the airport 30 to
45 minutes early to take a 30-
minute flight?
Baggage service communicates
speed. What good is a Jet air
plane if a passenger must wait
for his baggage at his destina
tion?
Personnel, through their ac
tions, communicate to the pub
lic and management through its
to em
ployees.
These are problems that have
been with us for some time but
they will grow more in impor
tance to the general public as
flight times are decreased.
Our Maintenance Department
has a system for keeping rec
ords on each aircraft part. They
know when new parts are need
ed and they know before the old
parts fail.
We have no system to keep
records on the number of times
our customers are not able to
contact us by phone.
Qualify Control
I propose that some type of
check be kept on our phones as
a means of quality control.
This could be done by station
personnel or by an independent
firm. A report of this type would
give management much needed
information to help in making
decisions on new phones and
personnel.
Another area that concerns
me is the no show problem.
How many times do we turn
away known business and the
flight leaves with empty seats?
Perhaps a committee of some
of our people from connecting
stations, intermediate stations,
space control and the General
Office would come up with some
recommendations to help this
problem.
I also think that a general em
ployee suggestion system would
be a very practical idea. In my
opinion, one of the most impor
tant areas of communication in
any company is the “feed back”
from employees who are in daily
contact with the customers.
Some stations are large enough
(Continued on I’age Two)