Friday, January 15, 2010

Southwest Airlines CEO Gives Advice to White House

The White House says it wants to make government more customer-friendly – so it turned to an airline for advice.

In an industry in which companies keep alienating customers with fees and late arrivals, Dallas-based Southwest Airlines has done the opposite. The carrier has managed to embed loyalty in employees and travelers.

So the White House asked on Thursday – how do you do it?

"You need to know what you are," Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly told administration officials at a White House forum on modernizing government. "It's more important for us to be on time and have great employees ... than offer frills."

Kelly was one of several dozen CEOs at the forum, but he was the focus of a discussion on customer service. The forum was another chance for the Obama administration, which has feuded with some parts of the business lobby, to butter up corporate leaders such as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and PepsiCo.'s Indra Nooyi.

Kelly counseled the administration to find ways to constantly get tips from customers and employees, and avoid single-shot surveys that allow companies to "check the box."

Some of the best ways to communicate with customers don't cost much, he said, citing comments on the airline's blog as valuable feedback that many companies might pay a research firm to generate.

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