Zig When the Other Guys Zag

The essence of being a maverick is to chart your own course, whether it is in business, in sports, or in life.  If all of the others in your field or industry move in one direction, one has a choice.  You can follow in their footsteps, or you can decide to be different. 

One of the most essential elements of any business is to seek a competitive advantage.  You can do this several ways:  quality, service, price, or a combination thereof.  It’s much easier to follow the pack, but choosing to be different can go a long way in staking out a competitive advantage. 

Case in point:  the airline industry now offers a la carte pricing for things that used to be included in the price of an airline ticket.  You all have come to know these fees well…bag fees, change fees, soda/snack fees, seat fees, talk-to-a-real person fee, and on and on.    

Southwest had a choice:  follow the industry and start charging fees and hope that Customers would not penalize us for it.  Or, we could choose to be different.  We could stake our claim and stand our ground once again as a low fare leader, opting instead to continue offering basic services that we believe are inherent in an airline ticket.  After all, if you go on a trip, stands to reason you will need to bring a bag. 

While our Employees and our Customers love this choice, Wall Street didn’t, at first.  Now, I believe Wall Street understands we would lose more loyal Customers than we would gain in fees.  It seemed counter-intuitive to us to claim that we dare to be different and stand for low fares, and then turn around and nickel and dime our Customers—like everyone else. 

In short, we chose to zig when the other guys zagged.  And, in the process, we’ve even created our own name for it.  In this case, we call it, “Transfarency.”  We are introducing this word in a campaign designed to reinforce in the minds of our Customers that we are different.  After all, a competitive advantage doesn’t do you any good if your Customers don’t know it. 

For us, the decision to not charge hidden fees has paid handsome dividends.  Our Customers reward us with loyalty and high brand rankings.  We reward them with our low fares and promise to not be like everybody else.   Today, one in four Customers in the U.S. travel on Southwest Airlines—more than any other airline.  Not only that, but we have more immediate expansion opportunities than at any other time in our history.     

I’m proud that we didn’t follow the pack.  Wouldn’t you rather fly with an airline that really likes you?