The 2005 IBO Executive Committee, including Pat Sheridan (President), Simon Pereira Shorey (1st Vice President), John Guerrera (2nd Vice President), Karen McDermott (Treasurer) and Steve Collins (Secretary), are working very hard and succeeding at creating an exciting year for us. We are planning both social and business events.

The IBO actively promotes business and networking between our members. Our activities will include opportunities for our members and guests to actively network with each other.The April meeting is a great example of where we are headed. We have a great guest speaker, successful entrepreneur / executive John Cullinane, Chairman of the Board, Live Data, Inc. Our member speakers for April are also great professionals who are heading up growing ventures: Mike Christian, President of Patient Advocate Solutions; and Dennis O’Neill, CEO of the Beacon Consulting Group, Inc. The next event is being brought to us by Clare Bennett, our Administrator. It is called "A Taste of Ireland" and will be held on April 28th (see note inside). It is offered to members first and will then be opened to outside guests. This event will be limited to 75 people and I guarantee it will sell out quick (if it has not already). My suggestion: Do not procrastinate! Pick up the phone now, and call Clare to make your reservation.A membership directory will be printed and available for the May general meeting. All members in good standing will be included. If you have not paid your dues or are thinking of joining, please do it quickly. We do not want anyone left out.Our annual golf outing is scheduled for July 11th at Twin Brooks golf course in Watchung NJ. This event will be another sell out. Mark it in your calendar and call Clare Bennett to reserve your foursome.

A special "thank you" to Steve Collins and Clare Bennett for arranging the networking party on March 9th. A very special ‘thank you" to Seamus Kelleher of Black Thorn for playing a great selection of Irish songs and for being our MC during the event. Excitement was in the air as we celebrated our heritage and exchanged business cards. Members sang together and set dates to have breakfast or lunch to discuss business. The IBO was energized and if you were not part of it you missed a great evening.

On St. Patrick’s Day, the IBO marched proudly up 5th Ave. with Jim Faulkner as our aide to the Grand Marshall and Ron Doyle carrying the Irish Flag and Garret Corcoran carrying the American Flag. The IBO banner was carried by several children of our members. It was a great day for all of us and I would like to extend my personal thanks to all who marched with us. Please remember to think of your fellow members during the month and pass along leads or an introduction. I look forward to seeing everyone at our next meeting.

An occasional column by a former IBO President

Richard Levy is a writer for Direct Magazine, one of the few magazine subscriptions I kept on after returning home to Ireland last year. I suppose I just liked his quirkiness, his way of looking at business and ethics, through the glass, darkly, or maybe because I thought I recognised some of me in him, or vice versa, whatever?

Anyway, by way of introduction to him, his column this week rang a bell, (column is called Loose Cannon, see below, with acknowledgement of his copyright, genius etc) and then I remembered a letter I wrote to the guy in charge of TAB, the Aer Lingus frequent flier program, about 3 years ago.

My letter went something like this… (with sincere apologies to the bananna song).

‘‘Hey Mr. TAB-man, tally me my TAB-miles, daylight come, and we nearly home in Shannon’’….

Y’see I just got my TAB statement and it seems that though I have just earned 2,800 miles this quarter, (my best ever), bringing me over the magic 10,000 mileage points needed for a free flight to Ireland, I apparently still do not qualify for a free flight, even after travelling faithfully on Aer Lingus for over 15 years to build up my points.

I am sure you didn’t mean to eliminate me by raising your qualifying points to 12,500 for a free flight, I mean, I ‘flied’ so hard over the past 3 years to make it. And I am sure you didn’t have me in mind either when you decided that unused points that were over 5 years old, were now forfeit, null and void, unuseable. And all points this old, each quarter will now be struck off, as each quarter dawns. At that rate, I will never be able to reach the 12,500 threshold …ever!

Please, Mr. TAB-man, think of me, your most faithful and loyal subject, (I even know all your in-flight announcements off by heart and have never taken a blue-blanket home by accident), and reconsider your decision.

If you cannot find it in your heart to restore my precious mileage points, can you not give me a second chance? Instead of qualifying for a freebie by earning 12,500 points, in a 5 year period, can you give me a free flight if I earn and forfeit 12,500 points over a 5 year period? This way, assuming I still continue to make an average of 3.5 trips annually to Ireland, I will earn a free flight in approx 3.9 years, taking into account an accelerated rate of forfeiture and my newly earned points.

Given that I regularly trust myself, my wife and 3 kids, several extended family and many friends each year to your pilots fine flying skills, I now trust you to do the right thing and let me eventually use my frequent flier points.

Yours, in need of a flight

"Brian Nolan’"

Well, needless to say, I didn’t win that one, and last week at Shannon airport, I was told that I need not any longer present my treasured TAB Card at check-in either, for, as the smoke-deprived lady at the checkin desk said, ‘C’mere to me a second sonny, y’see this card, its no use anymore, ok, its feckin over, get it? It’s done, finished, kaput, ceased to be, its deceased, since last June, don’t you read your mail?’

I tried telling her that the much vaunted Aer-feckin-Lingus-dot-feckin-com website still asks you for your TAB account number, when you book online, and that I had ages ago opted for e-mail notification of my TAB points, and no, I hadn’t seen the notice, or received the letter, but it fell on deaf ears. Not to mention the laugh when I produced my now, not-as-shiny-as-it-was-GOLD Circle Card. Strains of, ‘Will the circle be unbroken’ hummed across the desk as she informed me that my suitcase was 1.47 kgs overweight, and would I like to pay an extra fee for whatever that was in Pounds, (that’s LBS to you dear).

Well, maybe they might consider flying my excess weight for free sometime, perhaps by using my old TAB mileage points. Seems to me we all get a bit over-weight sometimes! Can’t be good for one’s wings, or one’s stretchy green uniform either.

No, I jest of course, but Direct Magazine is a valuable medium for people in the marketing world, who want to mine and build their customer base, and maybe are open to suggestions as to how they might improve their business. Through the TAB scheme, Aer Lingus knew my name, address and telephone numbers, my e-mail and fax number. They knew my employer and thir contact details. They even knew my wife and kids names, their ages, dates of birth, preferred food, preferred seats, vacation times, preferred destination, credit card number, travel agent and other stuff that maybe they should not have known.

They new GOLD about me and my family, stuff that any direct marketer would pay good money for. And yet, someone in that hallowed hangar thought so little of their loyal customer base that they chucked it out with the bathwater, in the haze of the internet property-grab. I think we deserved a little more respect than that! Not top mention the bait and switch practices and their failing to fairly fulfil a promised perk. Well, so much for corporate intelligence.

Anyway, here’s the article that prompted my blog, and yes, my bile too. The corporate stupidity extends universally across most airlines. That’s ok, I still fly Aer Lingus, but now I treat them as a commodity, not as a friend! Mores the pity, but that’s the way of the future!

‘‘Loose Cannon: I Can See For Miles (And It Ain't Pretty)’’
By Richard H. Levey (Direct Magazine, April 2005)

’’Nine trillion miles is a very long distance. That's trillion with a "t." For those who don't have a ruler handy, that's more than twice the distance between New York City and Cleveland, OH.

It is also the number of frequent flier miles held by airline travelers, according to New York Times business travel columnist Joe Sharkey, who asserts that figure represents a lot more miles than the airlines are comfortably able to redeem. For fliers trying to turn them in for reservations, this is not a surprise. The carriers have been throwing up barriers, such as limiting the number of seats. Eventually, travellers may well lose faith in their ability to redeem miles, and these miles will devalue as a currency, Sharkey claims.

Sharkey advocates that fliers should redeem their miles before the airlines pull the plugs on their programs. As Sharkey is someone who writes for consumers, his cut-your-losses perspective is appropriate if he fears the system is going to collapse.

But from a business point of view, this is a symptom of poor customer relationship management. The message "Get it now before we jerk it away from you" does not play well with folks who have done a lot of business with a single carrier just to get those miles.

With a little creative thinking, the airlines could call back some of these miles while simultaneously offering unique experiences by charging a 50% premium above the usual miles required for seats aboard theme flights.

Consider smokers, for whom a trans-continental flight without a Pall Mall is agony. What if the Federal Aviation Administration were to waive the no-smoking ban on a few flights? Don't kid yourself, a lot more has been done in the name of airline solvency. Any bets on how long it would take frequent fliers to fill that plane?

For customers who want to treat themselves and some loved ones to travel, why not set up "junket" flights to popular destinations - Orlando, Las Vegas, New York City - and offer goodie bags filled with incentives from local merchants.

Create a flight crew with extra staff, all of whom are skilled in dealing with children and send them aboard planes on child-popular routes. Have kid-friendly meals and entertainment aboard, and let parents know that for a premium of miles, they won't have to worry about business folk scowling at them during the entire trip.

The loss the airlines will take on these no-revenue flights can be offset by the sponsored incentives each flight could offer. Imagine being able to put a marketer's message in front of a captive audience of wealthy-enough-to-earn free-trips travellers. Now that's a viable prospect universe!

There would be a market research benefit as well: The customized flight experiences will permit valuable customers to effectively vote for the types of amenities and services they desire most. And, of course, the flights would enable the airlines to get the points liabilities off their books faster.

Once the number of outstanding miles is down to a manageable level, it might be time to take a cold, hard look at the programs. Because a rewards system that can't deliver on the rewards isn't doing anyone, whether flier or carrier, any favors.’’ END

So there it is! Imagine for one moment that I am not writing about Aer Lingus, nor was Richard Levey writing about Continental, United and Delta. Imagine that it was your business that this article was written about? I suspect you might sit down and have a long hard think about your own corporate practices, and your CRM policies. Remember the proverb… ’A bird in the hand, is better than two in the bush!’

How much did you pay to get each customer on your database? How much would you pay to get 10 more like them? How much would you pay to retain the ones you have and get them to buy more from you? How much would you pay to prevent that loyal customer leaching to a competitor?

Food for thought eh? (And it’s not Chicken or Beef!)

Take my advice, ‘Fly like an eagle, but nurture like a clocking hen!

(Ok, ok, so I made that one up, its not easy trying to give an airline the bird!)

So, time to go… I hope to see you all in Ireland this year…remember, Ireland needs your dollars and your bums in seats….any seat, Aer Lingus, Delta, Continental, US Air, British Airways, American, Air Canada, Aeroflot, ah, feck it…even Ryan Air.

Brian Nolan, Celtic Solutions inc.
65 Ocean Wave, Salthill, Galway, Ireland
Cell 011 353 86 3273560 - Ireland
201 280 5022 - USA
bgnolan@aol.com
Stellar sales, marketing, representation and research for your company or idea.