Flying First Class
Flying First Class
How much would you pay if you wanted to fly from Phoenix to New York this weekend?
If you booked your flight on United Airlines you could be standing on Broadway to see a show on Saturday night for only 620. Why not go all out and travel first class? It will only cost you 3378.
Many don’t see the value in that 2758 difference. But no matter how empty the coach section of the plane those few first class seats are almost always sold out.
Yahoo founder and author Seth Godin challenges us to discover How Much Extra for Nice?
Although the perceived value of that first class seat is over 3000 what’s the incremental cost to the airline? You’ll get a lot more attention from the flight attendant. You’ll get a meal instead of peanuts. You may even cost the airline a few dollars in drinks.
The airline will spend about 100 more on you and book an additional 2658 in gross profit.
What can you do to offer your clients and customers the opportunity to travel first class? You need to start by providing great basic service. Great basic service would include everything that your competition claims to offer but you need to actually deliver that level of service.
Your next step is to really understand what motivates your clients. Why do they buy from you now? What would make them buy again? What would cause them to tell their friends and family about your business?
How do you get the answers to those challenging questions? Quite simply you ask. You could get very formal with focus groups and research questionnaires but all you really need are a few questions and the willingness to reach out to your customers and ask for their feedback.
Now you take that feedback and engineer your profits and pricing to reflect those firstclass opportunities on your business jet. It can’t hurt to just be nice to everyone but filling those firstclass seats could make a big difference in your bottomline.
I hope to see you on Broadway this weekend. Be sure to say “hi” when you see me in the first class section!
About the writer:nbsp;nbsp;Bill Merrow has over 30 years of management and consulting experience as a general manager sales and marketing executive finance and operations manager as well as numerous accomplishments implementing major information systems.
Bill can be reached at 602.821.7340 or via email at billazprofitplanners.com.
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