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By Hilary Judd
Adams' comments marked the start of the 13th Annual Customer Service and Marketing Seminar, part of USU's Partners in Business conference series. Held in the Eccles Conference Center, the College of Business event attracts students as well as business professionals. "We try to under-promise and over-deliver," Adams said of JetBlue Airways, a company founded on the goal of bringing humanity back to air travel. "We think we're in the people business, not the airline business." JetBlue Airways established itself completely on innovative, "out-of-the-box" thought processes, and a "what can I do to make a difference" attitude, Adams said. "I hope an airplane ride is more like Disneyland and less like the dentist," Adams said. "Because [our customers] are expecting a good time." JetBlue began, according to jetblue.com, as experienced airline-owner David Neeleman aimed to start a major airline at world-renowned yet infamous JFK International Airport in New York City. In 1999, Neeleman secured a hand-picked management team and $130 million in capital funding from investors such as Weston Presidio Capital, George Soros and Chase Capital. Critics' questions of CEO and Utah-native Neeleman's proposal abounded, and multiplied. Why, why now and why there, they wondered. But it's simple, Adams said -- New York's 20 million potential customers. Countless critics, numerous top-of-the-industry awards and 17 million customers later, Esquire magazine named Neeleman one of 2003's Best and Brightest. "Customers are coming at the expense of other airlines, and we're OK with that," Adams said. "We believe, sincerely, [other airlines] cannot copy our values system." JetBlue trains from within, focusing on inspirational leadership. The company has no mission statement, and doesn't teach its crew members values. Instead, JetBlue seeks crew members already implementing its five core values -- safety, caring, integrity, fun and passion. "One of our values is fun," Adams said, "We're allowed to have fun, we're supposed to have fun, and that comes from the top." JetBlue Chief Security Officer Usto Schulz said, "You can't not have a culture," and Adams and JetBlue agree. But once the values are defined, the company lets the culture carry itself. "I don't know there's any magical formula for great customer service," Adams said. "But we're doing the things we're doing because our crewmembers are phenomenal." Customers and crew members must agree. The company's growth rate is astonishing, especially when other airlines are simply attempting survival. Sixty percent of customers are new, and 60 percent of those customers have come because of word of mouth, Adams said. This positive trend continues reducing JetBlue's marketing budget each year. Projected passenger estimates, for the current industry leader in customer service and reliability, in 2003 are 8 million, and 11 million in 2004. JetBlue adds a new Airbus A320 to its fleet every month, featuring all wide, leather seats—one inch wider than competitors, to be exact—live-feed, 24-channel DirecTV at every seat and "cool snacks." And all of it's at about half the cost of other domestic carriers. "We're very focused on cost," Adams said, but not the kind that falls to the customer. "We're the only airline with a cost of five to six cents per mile of service." JetBlue also adds nine crew members daily. But the company's already backlogged with 60,000 applications to fill the 1,500 available crewmember positions next year, Adams said. Prospective crew members must agree with Adams' favorite company accolade, Forbes' naming JetBlue one of the year's 100 Best Places to Work. MS |
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