“DO”ing the Continental (Airlines)

In the January/February issue of eBiz Insider, my column was called “Good Riddance 2008” and in it I discussed the new mantra on how we all have to do business moving forward in this “new economy.” I talked about how as small business owners we’re not going to get bailed out like these large corporations, how we need to keep a close eye on our balance sheet and expenses, and how we must keep one step ahead of our competition.

I ended the column talking about the importance of good customer service, giving the customers what they want and kissing your customer’s ass. Yes indeed. It’s true that the businesses who take care of their customers today will be around tomorrow, so pucker up.

I just returned from an amazing event put on by Continental Airlines at their headquarters in Houston, TX. “Continental Airlines DO IV” was a customer appreciation event designed to not only thank their most valuable frequent flyers but to gain important insight on their products and services from the people who use them the most and are the most critical.

Of the 500+ flyers who were there, about 99.9% of them were participants in various aviation forums such as FlyerTalk.com, FFOCUS.org and USAviation.com. As someone who frequents many forums, I can tell you, forum participants are very vocal and when something goes wrong, the world knows about it! These are definitely the people you want to cuddle up to and keep them happy.

The event kicked off with a cocktail reception Friday evening where company executives including Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner were on hand to meet and mingle with the attendees. Saturday was a fun-filled day which included tours of the airline’s maintenance facility, baggage handling area, catering facility, flight simulators and a “mystery tour” in addition to several breakout sessions. The breakout sessions covered a variety of topics but the most important occurred at the end of the day. Mr. Kellner and Continental’s president and chief operating officer, Jeff Smisek, fielded questions from audience members for well over an hour and the questions ranged from “Do you ever fly in coach?” to questions on the new Boeing 787 and Continental’s frequent flyer program, OnePass.

The event capped off with a Hangar Party Saturday night, which you will have to read the March/April issue of eBiz Insider to learn about as well as what that “mystery tour” consisted of.

The moral of the story is simple. Continental Airlines did NOT have to put an event like this together. But they did. And they did because they know that customer service and keeping their most valuable assets (their customers) satisfied and happy will keep them coming back for more. They did it because they realize that the participants at this event are going to blog, twitter, e-mail and Facebook about the fun they had this weekend and word is going to travel and others are going to read it and say “Wow, it’s amazing that a company would do that for their customers, I’m going to use them next time I fly.”

I came back from this event with a renewed sense of what customer service really means and the wheels inside my head are turning! After reading this, yours should be too.