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Cookies...and that Personal Touch The 27 October 2003 edition of the Zeitgeist e-Zine I’m flying back from DFW on Midwest Airlines flight 330. The sun is setting over my left shoulder, giving the cabin a warm glow. It’s the perfect setting for what has become one of Midwest’s most fabeled hallmarks.
And then, from the back of the jet, she starts sharing the confections with a group of captured customers whose mouths are already watering. And as we polish off these moist, rich gifts, every single passenger has the same thought flitting through their mind. “Why don’t I fly these guys more often?” Sure, they have first class-sized leather seats in all rows (every seat on Midwest is considered first-class). Sure, their flight attendants are some of the friendliest in the sky. But it’s the cookies that make us all wonder why we fly the other guys. Except, of course, for the other two cool American airlines, Southwest and JetBlue. And, their passengers are asking the same question on every flight. When the Southwest crew makes you laugh out loud for the fourth time this flight…and as you marvel at the choice of 20 satellite channels at every seat on JetBlue, everybody asks themselves, “why would I ever fly anybody else?” It goes to show how deceptively easy it is to stand-out in the airline business. Bake Cookies. Hire fun people. Put satellite TV in ever seatback. And two out three of these airlines are making money while the rest are whining to Congress for a hand-out. In fact, Southwest has turned a profit every quarter for over a decade and didn’t lay a single person off in the days after 9/11…while most airlines axed their payrolls like Lizzie Borden on speed. Even in a commoditized world like airlines, it only takes a little ingenuity to turn passive customers into evangelists. How ‘bout your business or your destination? What will you be known for? OK, maybe you can’t afford plasma TV screens. Maybe you can’t afford cookie dough. But, please…you can at least try to afford a smile. And, today, sometimes that’s all ya need to stand out in a crowd. Have a
great week,
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ZEITGEIST
CONSULTING |
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Warm,
gooey chocolate chip cookies. And the way they serve them is soooo perfect.
They warm them in a microwave oven just behind the cockpit. A flight
attendant then walks down the aisle with a basket filled to overflowing
of the delectable confections…giving every passenger a whiff of
something so warming. So comforting.