April 18, 2005
To Provide the Best Customer Service, Put Customers Second, Says Southwest President Colleen Barrett
by Sandie Taylor

Over the past few years, rising oil prices and increased competition from upstart airlines like JetBlue have taken their toll on most major airlines. Bucking that trend is Southwest Airlines, which is not only profitable but expanding.

Southwest’s success has attracted plenty of attention from industry analysts, with much credit going to CEO Gary Kelly. As CFO of Southwest several years ago, Kelly introduced a fuel-hedging strategy that has buffered the airline from rising oil prices.

But according to Colleen Barrett, Southwest’s president and COO, the airline’s competitive strength is about more than just charging the right fare. To gain loyal customers who will travel Southwest again and again, those basic services must be done Texas-style--with warmth and spirit.

“We like relationships and that feeling of ownership both externally and internally,” said Barrett, who spoke April 13 as part of the MBA Executive Speaker Series. "We try to be the absolute best in terms of customer service delivery.”

And at Southwest, to ensure the best customer service, you have to put the customers second. With the "Southwest Model for Leadership," she said, employees are the company’s No. 1 customer.

Barrett, who set up Southwest’s public relations department, spends about 90 percent of her day dealing with employee issues. Her theory, following Southwest’s iconoclastic founder, Herb Kelleher, is that if she can effectively make employees feel good about what they’re doing on a daily basis, satisfied employees will deliver the same sense of friendliness and care to Southwest passengers.

As the airline continues to offer low fares for short-distance flights, Barrett said, the company will maintain programs that let employees raise children between divorced parents, allowing grandparents to see their grandchildren more often and enabling college students to go home to do their laundry over the weekend.

“We are literally helping people fulfill their dreams each year,” she said. “It’s very personal—it’s not just a business anymore.”

This kind of people-oriented environment makes for a fast day with constant change and challenge, Barrett added.

And trying to integrate the Texas spirit into other parts of the country can be a challenge.

When Southwest arrived in Boston, for example, the company was received with no problems because, Barrett said, “people in that part of the country felt they had been overcharged and underserved by other airlines for too long.”

However, when the company started offering flights in the California region, she remembered having flight attendants in her office upset because the state’s passengers would make fun of their thick accents and big hair.

Barrett wondered if much of the problem had to do with the airline not carrying Californians’ drink of choice.

“In California, they drink wine--they don’t just drink whiskey,” she joked.

Barrett believes that the company’s open door policy with employees makes it easier for Southwest to solve problems—and for her to succeed in her “firefighter” role. Within the company, there are no form replies of any kind. And when an idea is rejected, an explanation is always provided.

As a result, Barrett continued, Southwest doesn't need to conduct surveys or use consultants very often to determine what they are doing wrong or well. The employees will tell them to their face year-round.

“We don’t run things by a rule book,” she concluded. “To me, it’s a way of life—you just use common sense.”

After the employee, Barrett says the company’s second focus is the passenger, with shareholders coming in a distant third. Usually, shareholders rankle at that kind of hierarchy.

However, if the employees are happy, Barrett maintains, this will affect the customer’s decision to fly Southwest again, and the same joy experienced by the employee will then trickle down to the shareholders in terms of dollars and cents.

Notable Soundbites

On flight attendants:
"We don't think you have to wear high heels and nylons to be safe. We'd rather our flight attendants be comfortable, so if we need one to kick the door open in an emergency landing, she's going to be able to do it."

On investor relations:
"We have people who court on our airline. Our open seating isn't all bad. We get thousands of letters inviting us to weddings because they met on one of our flights or were able to visit each other more often because of our low fares."

On work-life balance:
“I don’t understand why an employee should have one personality at work and another outside of work. We do offer you the ability and encourage you to come into the business world as who you are. We hire you for your individuality, and we aren’t going to try to spend six months molding you into corporate culture.”

On Southwest's hiring policy:
"We tend to hire for attitude and train for skills—but don't get nervous, we don't hire pilots who can't fly a plane."

On "the customer is always right":
"We make no bones about telling a customer when they are wrong. We will not tolerate bad treatment of our people."

 

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