Singapore Airlines Strategy to Satisfy Customer

Singapore Airlines (SIA) is a well-respected airline. The company is based in Singapore. Its ability to become a well-respected airline company, because Singapore Airlines strongly prioritizes superior service, where superior service is realized through its three pillar strategy, covering superior flight services, flights with the most modern technology, and exceptional ground service , so by implementing the 3 pillar strategy, Singapore Airlines has a competitive advantage in terms of differentiation. Which means Singapore Airlines provides more superior services.

One of Singapore Airlines efforts to achieve superior service is to provide continuous training to employees, so that employees can provide the best service for passengers. This effort is reflected in the motto "outstanding service on the ground" which is one of the motto for the ground crew, that superior service is the only source of competitive advantage that allows and considers that the flight they provide is not just an ordinary flight, but is a flight that quality.

In realizing the most modern flight, SIA makes it happen through the use of 18 Boeing 747-400 Megatop planes and 20 Airbus aircraft. The company also plans to add 34 more aircraft to its fleet. SIA also uses aircraft that have an average age of 5 years 1 month, below the industry average which approaches 12 years. In addition, the flight is also equipped with various facilities, namely international airplane telephone services, facsimile facilities, video layers of individual interactions so that passengers can access news, play computer games, order goods sold on the plane and can monitor stocks or money market prices.

In providing exceptional ground service, SIA focuses its attention on improving services in bookings, ticket offices and most importantly at each airport traversed by Singapore Airlines. This handling is carried out by agents scattered in 70 places throughout the world, where at each airport standards are given in terms of timeliness, handling of goods, speed and friendliness of registration, efficiency of the task of booking seats, the number of complaints and praise from customers, and professionalism in handling slowness.

This does not mean that SIA does not have problems with new and old workers, because old workers recruited still have confuse thinking, while new recruits have a more democratic culture in expressing opinions, and this mindset is supported by SIA assessments that assess performance the worker. But that does not mean SIA finally ignores senior workers, SIA also conducts training for talented senior workers to become talented leaders.

SIA companies implement training policies especially for front line employees. The training is held at least once a year. The training costs are obtained from the SIA income with a percentage of 12% of the total SIA income. The training is given with the aim of increasing the ability and ability of each employee regarding sensitivity to products, customers, and services to passengers. The training period is 4 months. The essence of this training emphasizes human touch, meaning employees are able to remember the name of the passenger and learn to know which passengers want to communicate and who don't want to communicate. The motto emphasized in the training is "don't ever think of the customer as a nuisance, but instead the customer is our owner. The method used in the training includes experimental learning. In addition, there are 2 other methods that are included rescripting and brainstorming, where the aim is to increase self-confidence and think to solve problems.

SIA provides recognition and appreciation for staff who provide exceptional service for customers and good ideas for the company. In 1992 an OSG feedback competition tested staff understanding of problems that occurred on the front line. This activity encourages staff to think more in order to get appreciation.

SIA has a committee to measure the level of customer satisfaction incorporated in the SIA Complaints and Praise committee. The average cabin crew receives 9 letters of praise for one complaint. This situation is very different from the ground staff, where the percentage of praise and criticism is almost the same. A survey conducted by the service performance index states that every quarter of 18,000 passengers rate 30 factors, such as food attractiveness, friendliness of registration staff and so on. Index

Problems:

1. Can maintain operational costs without having to reduce the quality of service

2. How does SIA meet customer needs

3. How to maintain the "Singapore girl" symbol as a competitive advantage in differentiating its services with those of competitors.

Analysis:

1. Analysis of the first problem

AIS can improve quality while maintaining cost levels or can even reduce it by implementing Total Quality Management (TQM). Because by improving quality, SIA can increase revenue from sales of food, in terms of increasing responsiveness, getting justification for setting high prices and improving the company's image. And can reduce costs in terms of increasing productivity, reducing the level of complaints and reduce the cost of quality assurance of servants. With an increase in revenue from sales and a decrease in costs, the company will get an increase in profits. The implementation of TQM is not only carried out by one department, but is carried out in an integrated manner that is carried out by all departments in general and employees in particular. So that all employee activities will become integrated.

The things that are done in an integrated manner in the implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) are as follows.

a. Organizational practices, which include:

1. Leadership

SIA emphasizes leadership development in front line or field commander supervisors, the aim of which is to motivate them and secure the quality of their leadership. SIA has confidence, with good leadership in facilitating or solving problems of cultural differences in the new generation of staff. This development program also includes development for senior cabin crew. The purpose of this program is to make senior cabin crews feel part of management which can ultimately encourage joint commitment. For land service supervisors the same program "take the lead" is applied. This program is useful to make them more active role and provide better guidance to their subordinates. It is hoped that with this program, the land service supervisory leaders can take their own initiative in deciding on a problem.

2. Mission statement

SIA in its mission statement states that SIA wants to be the number one company in terms of service.

3. Effective operating procedures

            Delegate power from the upper level to the lower level. SIA employees as a very democratic company, where leaders can be criticized, open to new ideas and decisions can come from the lower levels. Organizations in SIA are more inclined to the flat organizational model, where each business unit can make decisions based on the circumstances they face in accordance with the aim to satisfy passengers. The policy on management mobility, rotation of managers and directors is carried out every 3-5 years. This is done to prevent managers from becoming tired and can form a good work team.

In addition, SIA management gives authority to each employee to be able to make decisions independently so that employees can innovate to give birth to new things in serving customers.

4. Training

Applicants who have passed the selection will be given very rigorous training, such as following a full four months of training, and when compared to the average industry other airlines SIA is longer in training, this is caused by SIA workers who do not have to depend on service procedures , but SIA workers must be able to provide a human touch which indeed is the differentiation of SIA compared to other airlines. This can be seen from the SIA investment which invests 12% of its income.

b. Quality Principles

1 Customer focus

    Front line staff at SIA are made more flexible, in the sense that they are not sticking to existing regulations but they are allowed to innovate in providing services to passengers.

a. Employee fulfillment

Before satisfying a customer, SIA must satisfy its employees first. By giving a "total human reward" to employees, they will have a "sense of ownership" of the company and will provide "total quality service" to customers who will also make customers loyal and provide "long term profit" for the company. The "recognition" and reward system owned by SIA needs to be added so that SIA can provide more rewards to employees. This system is called "total human reward. This system is given based on a "market competitive" system, so that the "reward" is given through a flexible global system structure, meaning that the reward given can be adjusted to the diversity and change of the work and business environment and in accordance with the choices of the loyal

b. Customer satisfaction.

 To maintain and increase customer satisfaction SIA can do this by adding value to the products offered to customers. What is meant by the value here is what is obtained by the customer from what he bought when contracting with the company (Barnes, 2001: 33-87).

   Adding value to customers is not as simple as providing "the core of product and service" that is better or at a lower price than competitors, although these things can show the value creation of some customers in some situations, but these things cannot create the "long term satisfaction" and "retention" that is expected by the company. In creating value for customers who can provide "long term satisfaction" and "Retention", the company must add four factors, namely "support service and systems", in terms of complaints handling systems, and other facilities that can improve and support "the core ". "Technical performance", the emphasis is on ensuring that "the core product or service" and "support service and systems" are properly delivered to customers by the company. "Element of customer interaction", on this factor the company interacts with customers whether done through face to face directly or through "technology_based contact", for example, such as providing a web site. The emphasis on this factor is to make customers feel the ease in interacting with the company. The last factor is the "emotional element", at this stage the emphasis is how to grow positive feelings within customers towards the company (Barnes, 2001: 66-73).

To measure and manage customer satisfaction SIA has an SIA Complaint and Praise committee. The average cabin crew receives 9 letters of praise for one complaint. This situation is very different from the ground staff, where the percentage of praise and criticism is almost the same. A survey conducted by the service performance index states that every quarter of 18,000 passengers rate 30 factors, such as food attractiveness, friendliness of registration staff and so on. The index is described to be increasing every year, this indicates the level of customer satisfaction SIA for the services provided by SIA is very satisfying.

c. Repeat customer

By increasing the value that the customer gets every time he interacts with SIA, as a result it will create high customer satisfaction and "customer retention". The pleasant service received by the customer makes the customer loyal (Barnes, 2001: 34).

By increasing customer satisfaction and always maintaining satisfaction, it will have an impact on increasing customer loyalty.

2. Analysis of the second problem

 To anticipate the needs of customers, SIA must implement one to one marketing, because by implementing one to one marketing, companies can understand and meet individual customer needs, thus making customers satisfied and ultimately they become loyal. By using One to one marketing, SIA can identify customers, not only the name and address, but also include customer needs, differentiate which means differentiating customers based on the customer's value of the company and the needs of these customers, interacting which means conducting two-way communication with customers and customize products to suit customer needs. Information obtained by the company from customers is then stored in a data base and based on these data, the company can predict customer needs in the future. To implement one to one marketing, SIA can start by providing a call center with a toll free system so as to facilitate two-way communication with customers

3. Analysis of the third problem

The difficulty of finding the real Singapore girl, which means looking for Singaporean flight attendants, it is better for SIA to apply the real Singapore Girl as an image product, so that the SIA service image can highlight the culture of Singapore that is reflected in clothing, and behavior.

Conclusion

1. SIA can improve the quality of service while maintaining the level of cost by implementing Total Quality Management (TQM).

2. SIA can meet the needs of its customers by implementing, one to one marketing.

3. Making the real Singapore girl. As a product image.

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