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Southwest Airlines Community

A Day in the Life of Corporate Sales

erichardson
Explorer C

The Marketing Department at Southwest Airlines is an exciting place to be!  We work diligently every day to create demand for our brand.  While the majority of Marketing’s efforts target travelers directly, the Corporate Sales Team’s Customers are a little different.  We work with corporate travel decision makers, rather than the business travelers themselves, to position Southwest Airlines as a preferred carrier in their companies’ travel programs.  What does this mean exactly?  Our job is to promote Southwest as the “airline of choice” for corporations so that all of their employees’ travel in our markets will be on us! 

As a Corporate Relations Specialist, I work with companies of all sizes, from small mom and pop shops to Corporate Travel 100 companies (the top 100 companies in the U.S. with the biggest travel spend).  A huge part of my job is educating corporate travel decision makers on the value Southwest brings to their travel program.  In many cases, the decision makers we work with don’t travel themselves (they spend their time in the office managing travel programs, and usually have other procurement-related responsibilities), so they often have misperceptions on who we are.  With our everyday low fares and no change fees* or fees for their travelers’ first or second checked bags**, we give companies the freedom to conduct business even during challenging economic times.  I love showing travel managers how much money they save just by flying Southwest over other carriers.  I put their travel data in a spreadsheet (we call this a “cost analysis”) and they can see the inherent cost savings they get when they use Southwest.

The value we provide to businesses and their travelers goes beyond cost.  We are ranked number one (per the Department of Transportation) in Customer Service.  We fly an all jet fleet (no small regional jets) and are implementing Wi-Fi on all of our planes.  We continue to add more destinations and have rolled out products that cater to the business traveler including Business Select and A-List, and made over our gate areas to provide power stations and leather club chairs.  All of these efforts have made Southwest more appealing to business travelers by enhancing their Southwest experience and allowing them to be more productive on the road.  

Every day I learn about other companies’ policies, procedures, and cultures.  I started my career at Southwest four years ago as an Intern, so being involved with business-to-business interactions has been eye-opening as it’s given me better perspective on the uniqueness of Southwest.  I truly appreciate the professionalism and Spirit of our People, the smart operating decisions made by our trusted Leaders, and our commitment to Customer Service.  I’m lucky to work for such an outstanding brand and promote a product of which I’m proud.  It’s satisfying to share the Southwest Spirit with other companies as we partner with them to bring value to their travel programs.

*Fare difference applies.
**Size and weight limits apply.

1 Comment
airtran371
Explorer B
Very Interesting! Would've been better as a video tho.