"We are humbled and honored again, and I say this every year, but this is not something we take lightly," Delta SVP of global sales Bob Somers told BTN. "This is important not only to [the sales team,] but to our entire company."
Delta's top scores were for "quality of client communications" (4.37), "networks, partnerships and frequencies" (4.36) and "complaint/problem resolution" (4.33). The carrier, however, saw its ratings dip in each of the 11 categories compared with last year, with "flexibility in negotiating services and amenities" falling 0.26 points, to 3.99. It still, however, was the highest rated airline for that category.
"We will pay close attention to the areas that we're down," Somers said. "We use it as a reference tool to justify where we need to invest."
Still, respondents overwhelmingly gave Delta positive feedback in the survey's open-ended comments section, with several praising the carrier's account managers, communications and "rock-solid" partnership.
Delta achieves this by investing in extensive training for its sales members to keep them current and “on top of their game at all times,” Somers said. He also noted that this past year has been "kind of crazy," with the U.S. government shutdown at the start of the year, tariffs and a notable spate of severe weather.
"Add fuel volatility, geopolitical uncertainty, you name it," he said. "Some of that stuff is in our control. Some of it is not. We try to make sure our sellers know what our 100,000 employees know, and that is that people are the difference, and how you respond to things, whether we control it or not, is really important."
In addition to the announcements Delta has made about its investment in aircraft and the onboard and lounge customer experience, including an enhanced Delta One, the carrier also has been investing in technology products—not just its NDC solution, which will be unveiled "very soon," but also in other areas.
Delta VP of sales development and distribution Mike Owen said the carrier continues to roll out its new Delta Business site and expand its self-service, program-benefit, reporting and account-management capabilities. Delta also launched Business Wallet, which centralizes travel managers’ access to program value, and an unused-ticket transfer program this year. “We’re going to continue to enhance our data and reporting,” Owen said, adding that further improvements are planned in the coming months.
AI is part of that plan, too.
"In the sales world, we're going to use it to make our sales reps more efficient, more productive," Somers said. "RFPs might take three months today to respond to, maybe it takes a week in the future. Or, we can react quicker to challenges or competitive advantages. … Our sellers are very excited about that because they can use technology to make themselves more productive and more beneficial to the corporate customers and then agency customers."