Southwest Airlines Customer Service
By: Fran Halford
You have proven that you not only “try” but “do” the right thing.
Our company delivers corporate training services to organizations across the US and abroad. As “road warriors,” our trainers have their share of horror stories of airport or airline experiences. Those negative experiences tend to get told and retold. Unfortunately, truly exceptional service—memorable moments that deserve recognition—often goes unnoticed and unspoken.
Many times, employees providing top-quality customer experiences do not have the opportunity to see they really have made a difference by simply taking an extra step toward service excellence. We would like to change that in at least one case.
When deplaning a recent SWA flight, one of our trainers left a book on the aircraft. The book had been a gift and the trainer blamed himself for his forgetfulness. He accepted the fact that the meaningful inscription on the inside of the page would likely never be duplicated. After telling us what happened, we all recalled the many items we had left on airplanes that were never recovered.
Several days after the incident, a package arrived at our office…the book. Inside was the inscription, a personal poem signed by his dearest friends Margaret and Woody.
SWA personnel found the book and researched the incident. They identified the purchaser of the ticket, Alliance Training and Consulting, by a boarding pass used as a bookmark. They then sent the lost book to our office. This in itself is a superior customer service effort, but here is the best part; the bookmark-boarding pass used by the trainer was a Northwest Airline boarding pass-not even one from SWA!
Our trainer was elated to learn the book had been returned. His enthusiasm for the exceptional customer service was contagious. As our “training personalities” took over, we decided to let all of our trainers know about the incident and ask them to include it in the examples of exceptional customer service in their training sessions.
© 2025 Alliance Training and Consulting, Inc.
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Customer Service: A Profit Center not a Cost Center
By: Vincent Amen and Scott Hornstein
This case study explores how Padgett-Thompson, a seminar company, increased revenue by 47% by refocusing the call center on outstanding customer care. Padgett-Thompson is a respected learning institution with an impressive track record of providing popular, skill-building training since 1977.
With a database of 6.2 million customers and prospects, Padgett-Thompson annually conducted over 8,000 public seminars with over 380,000 attendees. In addition, each year they have conducted over 2,200 onsite customized training programs for individual companies. Their most popular seminars included:
- How to Legally Fire Employees with Attitude Problems
- Basics of Accident Prevention and OSHA Compliance
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Communicating with Tact and Diplomacy
In line with a corporate mandated belt-tightening, Padgett was asked to reduce cost. Since the call center constituted the largest percentage of overhead or payroll budget, Padgett was directed to reduce call-center cost. The call center is viewed as an order taking operation. Additionally, customer service, especially as administered through the call center, had always been viewed as a cost to be controlled. There should always be downward pressure on the cost of an order to increase margin.
We would like to present a different view, where the purpose of the call center is not to take orders, but to deliver outstanding customer service. Superior customer care drives high customer satisfaction, which in turn increases near-term sales and loyalty. Loyalty, in turn, is a key component of long-term profitability.
Thus, the call center should be viewed as a profit center; a key component of the media mix, measured and rewarded for revenue, customer satisfaction and lifetime value.
Here is some supportive research illustrating the impact of poor customer service on customers, revenue and loyalty. Accenture commissioned International Communications Research to survey customers in the US and UK about their customer service experiences, focusing on telephone and Internet customer service interaction (5/05). Source: e-Marketer, 8/01/05). Almost half said that poor customer service led them to change a service provider in the past year.
Following are the reasons cited for switching:
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Poor service or product quality (61%)
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Get lower prices (46%)
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Service reps lack of knowledge about a providers services or products (39%)
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Lack of customized solutions (22%)
Our guess is that poor service, just like poor product quality, refocuses the customer from the benefits of the product to the price. Value-added products compete on benefits, commodities compete on price. Lack of product knowledge is, not surprisingly, a training issue. Training is also a substantial variable in the call center budget and a target of cost-cutting. Customized customer service training solutions are an outgrowth of a company's commitment to quality.
According to this research, the following are the most frustrating aspects of interacting with a customer service representative:
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Being kept on hold too long (78%)
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Needing to repeat information to multiple CSRs (75%)
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Inability of the CSR to solve problems (69%)
Additionally, 43% cited “not personable” and 43% cited “lack of personalized solutions.”
The results of this research certainly seem to uncover substantial opportunity. And that opportunity starts with investing in, and tasking the call center with, providing outstanding customer service. Instead of cutting cost, let’s generate more revenue under the existing cost structure. While intellectually this is a “no-brainer,” implementation involved basic but substantial change in three areas: positioning, measurement and process.
The call center needed to be repositioned as a corporate resource, providing outstanding customer care as a strategic product of the corporation. Representatives then became a corporate asset, moving from a “customer service representative” to “Learning Consultants.” Measurement must include the basic call center metrics as well as a system for recognizing and rewarding achievement in customer service and revenue.
The process had to change in order to view the customer differently. Prior to this, the customer was viewed as a call, as a transaction. Take the order and move on to the next call. The process now had to encompass a view of the customer lifecycle – the customers’ wants, needs, and aspirations from the time they are thinking about training; to the research and investigation of specific training programs; to the actual seminar; and back at the office when they use the skills and concepts taught. Instead of just recording a sale, the learning consultants were expected to help customers make informed decisions based upon their goals. Necessarily, ongoing training became the catalyst for change.
© 2025 Alliance Training and Consulting, Inc.
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Customer Service Skills for Success - $65.00
Learn the skills needed to communicate effectively with customers and deliver world class service customers expect.
Product Code: CS101
Duration of Course Access: 12 months
Introduction and Overview
Customers are the lifeline of any organization. You can advertise incredible promotions and drastically reduce your prices to build your customer base, but unless you retain your customers, your organization will not survive.
Studies have shown 25% of an organization’s customers are unhappy all the time. And if that unhappy customer takes their business elsewhere, it will cost the organization five times as much to replace them as it would have cost to keep them.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course you will be able to:
- Determine who your customer is
- Know how your customers buy
- Identify what the customer actually wants from you
- Become customer-focused
- Satisfy the customer
This online program is designed to aid Customer Service Representatives in delivering quality service to avoid costly service errors, minimize customer frustration and improve customer retention.
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View: Instructor-Led Customer Service Courses, Seminars and Workshops
Customer Service Training Course Directory
Customer Service Courses
We bring Customer Service training to you - offering live, instructor-led sessions either onsite at your workplace or virtually, giving your team the flexibility to learn in the way that works best for them.
Customer Service Training Information
Learn Customer Care Skills to Achieve "World Class" Customer Service
These customer service interactive workshops and webinars are for companies who want to create a strong service culture that builds loyal relationships with customers and a better environment for their employees.
Our training sessions help organizations define company-wide customer service standards, implement strategies for effective service communication, and effectively solve customer service problems.
Customer Service Training that works!
Our onsite CSR training and our CSR Webinars provide more than a list of do’s and don'ts. Through interactive exercises, cases and experiential activities, participants discover practical ways to hold on to your valuable customer base and win repeat business. Practice sessions built into every course develop skills to effectively and efficiently handle all types of customer interactions.
Proven Training Solutions that Get to the Heart of the Customer Experience
All courses are available in Onsite or Webinar formats.
We train service representatives how to
- Create superior levels of customer satisfaction
- Discover what the customer "really" wants
- Ensure repeat business
- Improve sales and "up" selling techniques
- Put the customer at the heart of your organization
- Deal with difficult and demanding customers effectively
- Inspire loyalty with new and existing customers
- and much more...
Onsite or On-Demand training to Handle Even the Most Difficult Customer Service Situations Effectively
Our customer service training helps organizations
- Uncover obstacles preventing a higher level of customer service
- Provide better customer service using telephone, email, and face-to-face communication
- Discover new ways to overcome service obstacles
- Implement techniques to ensure service excellence and increase customer loyalty
- Focus service providers' efforts to achieve the results most important to the customer
- Improve sales
- Expand the customer base
Excellent service is the key to success. Your service representatives are expected to be courteous, knowledgeable, and efficient in every situation. You would not expect your accountants, engineers, or computer programmers to be knowledgeable, successful employees without any training. Customer service personnel need training to handle difficult customers and demanding customer service challenges of all types. Customer service training is an acquired talent requiring training.