At Southwest, the “family” approach and a strong emphasis on culture clearly get results. In an industry where most carriers are either bankrupt or threatening to go under, Southwest has never had a money-losing year.

Southwest enjoys its competitive advantage largely through the intangibles of people and culture. Competitors can buy the same airplanes, computers and facilities as Southwest. What they can’t buy are the unique Southwest people.

In addition to employees making sure planes take off and land on time and that luggage arrives with the passengers, the pilots tell jokes and flight attendants sing silly songs. The airline hires high-energy fun-loving people who love serving customers.

On the retail side Tony and Deborah Blomfield, owners of Port of Call, a furniture, art gallery and frame shop in Warwick say; “The three ingredients of successful customer service are relationships, relationships and relationships.”

“Everyone talks about customer service” says Tony, “ and while no business likes problems, only problems offer the opportunity to demonstrate the reality of customer service.”

“We pride ourselves in doing whatever it takes to satisfy the customer,” Deborah continued. “This develops relationships that creates confidence, customer loyalty and ultimately repeat business.”

What can Hudson Valley business leaders learn about instilling a high-performance customer service culture at their companies? Southwest and Port of Call provide the following guides.

Focus on competitors, customers, and societal changes, rather than internal business forms, protocols, and procedures. Deborah did six weeks of market study before selecting French Country style as the right fit for the homes being built and the demographic changes of their market.

Rely on a set of well-understood organizational values to drive employees’ behavior and empower them to help customers, rather than inflexible rules and ponderous procedures manuals.

Customers don’t want to deal with sales, marketing and shipping to solve their problems. Avoid endless analysis by admitting there’s no “perfect knowledge,” only good judgment. Require everyone to work with customers and have them report on what they learned and what they plan to do with this knowledge.

Recognize that budgets and other documents are worthless unless they lead to meaningful customer satisfaction and that they can be changed. Be a true “intellectual,” valuing complaints on their merits rather than on the status of those who submit them.

Give people the opportunity to solve problems in areas other that those of direct responsibility, and let employees learn each other’s jobs to develop empathy, learning, and unity.

Create a general strategic plan to use as a benchmark, not a bible to guide your decisions and actions. Be prepared to pass up revenues and markets to carve out a definable and understandable “niche.”

“The art gallery makes us a destination, and compliments the custom framing we do and what we display in our furniture store,” says Tony. “The Sunday Blue Laws of New Jersey drive more leisurely customers to us seeking an interesting experience. They arrive with both the time to shop and money to spend.”

Blue Laws are an excellent example of what not to do. Customer service mandates an enjoyable and convenient experience. Profits are the by-product of creating and presenting it.

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