Marketing Solution

In today's economy, you have to stay ahead of the game no matter what it takes. This is true in any business during these times. Unfortunately, Classic Airlines seems to have taken a step back from where they used to be, and they need help to come back from a possible true economical down-fall. This paper will discuss the situation, find alternatives, asses risks, and find outwhat steps need to be taken for Classic Airlines to make a comeback.

The situation at the moment looks rather bleak for Classic Airlines: they have lost market share, they continue to lose members of their rewards program, customer service levels are descending, fuel costs, as well as others, continue to climb, and they cannot restructure a union contract. This is a lot to comprehend, and a lot to fix in a short amount of time (in the eyes of shareholders of any company, they want problems solved as quickly as humanly possible). The other issue is that the front office does not seem to meet eye to eye on what should matter most (marketing, restructuring, cost, etc.). The organization must come to an agreement that following up with customers on a normal basis and giving good customer service, will help bring back customers to Classic Airlines. But how?

Classic Airlines needs to start with the "end-state" goals. It is important to learn how to describe end states, which means you also have to learn how to envision them and make them concrete (2012). The profitability measures can be easily monitored every quarter; but while Classic Airlines is in turmoil, they should be looked at every month (and discussed in monthly meetings, which will be talked about soon). Innovation will also be important. Technology will be key in finding out how customers like the service they are receiving, whether they are making a call to customer service, or how the service was on their flight. An easy way to do this is to email a questionnaire to each passenger of a flight, or after a call is made to reserve a flight (or whatever the nature is for their call), and ask questions such as:

* Did the Customer Service Representative answer your questions to your liking?

* Did the CSR give you a fair change of flight (if other flight was cancelled, etc)?

* Was the flight attendant courteous when he/she approached you?

* Did the flight attendant greet you when you got on the plane/left the plane?

* Were all drinks/snacks you requested available on your flight?

* Would you like a Classic Airlines manager to call you in regards to this questionnaire?

Since the questions would be answered numerically (there would be questions that would scale 1-10 on this form as well, not just yes and no ones), a scanner would be able to sort the answers from