Are you a COSTAR? Are your clients? Reporters?
By Peter Shankman

Greetings, as most-always, from the air. This time, on my way back from the IEMA conference in Las Vegas that I helped produce. Home for the evening, then off to a meeting overseas. Then a long weekend in Greece, but you need not know that, lest you hate me more than normal. 

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Anyhow – Interesting story happened on the beginning of this flight back to Newark, which made me stop and think.

Having had way too many Diet Pepsi’s while waiting to board the plane, our take off found me sweating the seconds until I could pop the seat belt and head to the bathroom. Sure enough, the 10,000 foot ding sounded, and I bolted to the lavatory like I was jet-propelled.

Feeling much lighter upon my exit, I wandered back to my seat – (I’d been upgraded because of my frequency of travel.) Passing the flight attendant’s station, I noticed a piece of paper (the flight manifest) on the counter. Naturally, because I’m nosy, I looked. (As a former employee once said to me, “you don’t read things, you just skim them looking for your name.”)

OK, so I skimmed it, looking for my name. And I saw me – “Shankman, Peter, Mr. 02A. 

As I scanned down, I saw my name again – this time in a different category, with two other people – it said, “COSTARS ON FLIGHT” then my name, and two other people.

I had no idea what that meant – Was I unwittingly starring in some sort of reality TV show about which no one happened to inform me? 

So I went back to my seat, and after dinner, as the flight attendant was asking if I wanted any more soda (never turn down soda, duh!) I casually mentioned that I’d been hearing a lot of talk about COSTARS on some web site, and does she happen to know what they are?

“Oh, COSTARS are our best passengers. They fly with us constantly, so we’re informed of who they are before they get onto the plane. It lets us greet them by name, welcome them back, and attempt to make their flight a little more pleasant.” 

Then, she really floored me: “In fact, Mr. Shankman, you’re a COSTAR. Did you know that?”

After feigning surprise and telling her that I was not aware, I started thinking… What a freakin’ brilliant idea! I’m assuming the criteria is most-likely lots of flights, coupled with some last-minute fares (which tend to raise the prices tremendously) – in other words, a Continental Airlines wet dream – the 10% of their customer base that’s responsible for 80% of so of their revenue. (Contrary to popular belief, the bigger airlines don’t make their money through mom and dad and junior going to visit Grandma. Perhaps they should, but that’s a JetBlue vs. the old school debate. We can get into that another time.)

Anyhow, how brilliant is that move? It costs nothing extra to do, and it locks in their business even more. (Trust me, going from a status airline to one where you’re one of the pack truly sucks.) So it’s a win-win – the customer feels even happier, and Continental makes sure they’re keeping their business.

So, I ask – Are you doing this? Are you making all of your clients COSTARS? Are you calling them just to talk? Just to say, “Hi, just checking in – wanted to see if anything new was on your mind” Are you cutting out interesting articles from magazines and sending them to them with a little note telling them why you thought they might want to see this? (Tip that I love: Take a few postage-paid envelopes with you on the plane. When you’re reading all the magazines you never have time to read on the ground, and come across an interesting article, cut it out, and mail it to the client when you land.

So if you’re not doing these things, ask yourself – why not? Five minutes a day, and the rewards are huge – Not just for you – Think about doing this for some of your favorite reporters – send them story ideas that aren’t directly related to your client – just for kicks. They’ll remember you when they’re doing something on your clients’ market – and it’ll come back to help you 100x. Imagine – a reporter calling YOU telling you that he’s doing a story on your clients’ segment, and wants to include you. You can’t beat that.

So think about it – Pass the memo around, let all know that you want to create COSTARS out of all your clients and favorite media contacts. Why not? You’ve got nothing to lose, it costs you nothing, and the rewards are as good as any unexpected seat upgrade you’re ever going to get. 

OK then. Now it’s your turn – Tell me what you want to see me write about. If this was a blog, would you be more likely to read it? Tell me how I can improve stuff for you.

 

Peter Shankman