Not All Customers are Created Equal
/Or, Sometimes You’ve Got to Tell Them How the Cow Ate the Cabbage!
By Ron Jackson
Recently we completed our fall NATA FBO Success Seminar in Atlanta and we had a great turnout of FBO attendees representing locations from as close as the Atlanta area to as far away as Grand Rapids, Michigan, and points in between. We were fortunate to have as one of our sponsors AC-U-KWIK, and Jodi Espinoza made a very informative presentation.
One of our discussion topics at the FBO Success Seminar is how to work with customers who want everything but are not willing to pay for anything. Sound familiar?
The old adage “The Customer is Always Right” is usually true. However, every once in a while you run across customers who break this general customer service axiom. They seem to know everything, want everything, and want it now. Unfortunately, these customers usually don’t purchase a lot fuel, if any. Yet we manage to spend an exorbitant amount of time, resources and energy trying to make them happy.
My business partner in Aviation Business Strategies Group (ABSG), John Enticknap, knows all too well that a customer is not always right, and that sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands. In one case, the customer was an Army Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) and John was the pilot of a Huey Helicopter doing Command & Control (C&C) reconnaissance during the Vietnam War.
“We were out flying, doing some C&C work, and I kept checking the fuel gauges when the yellow caution light went off indicating 20 minutes of fuel remaining,” John recalled. “I told the LTC we needed to get to the fuel dump to refuel. He said we’ll go in just a minute.”
Warrant Officer John Enticknap, center, with his Huey Crew in Vietnam, 1969John said five minutes went past and they’re still on the C&C point, and so he reminded the LTC of the fuel situation. “Just give me another minute or two and we’ll go,” the LTC told John. After five more minutes, John told the LTC “We need to go now,” pulling the ship’s nose around for a dead-head run to the fuel dump, while the LTC was yelling expletives from the rear of the aircraft.
“As we approached the fuel dump, I radioed for a direct approach instead of the customary routing,” John said.
“Good thing. We were flaring to a landing point, and we’re about 10 feet off the ground when poof, the engine quit and we went straight down doing a hovering autorotation.”
“What the heck happened?,” the LTC exclaimed, picking his jaw up off the floor of the Huey. “We ran out of fuel, sir,” John exclaimed.
After refueling and going back on C&C again for another two hour sortie, John told the LTC it’s time to get fuel. To which he replied, “Let’s go now…I can’t handle another one of them landings.”
Of course, this is an extreme situation, but as my dad always said, “sometimes you just have to tell someone how the cow ate the cabbage.” (Read the origin here.)
I wasn’t sure about the origins of this saying, but the way Dad used to say it, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Sometimes, you just can’t afford to put up with all the nonsense.
When John was President of Mercury Air Center’s chain of FBOs, he would tell his General Mangers not to put up with the non-paying habitual complainers. “It’s not worth it,” John explained. “I told my GMs to invite these types of customers to take a walk across the field. These folks are not really customers. I’d rather have my competition deal with these types of individuals so I can concentrate on wowing my really faithful, as well as profitable, customers.”
Giving up a customer sounds contrary to good business sense. But sometimes it is the best business decision. Your goal should always be to seek out and nurture long-term profitable customer relationships. They key word here is “profitable.“
I'd like to hear from you regarding how you handle these types of customers. Please email me at Ron@thejacksongroup.biz
Ron Jackson
Ron is Co-Founder of ABSG and President of The Jackson Group, a public relations agency specializing in aviation and FBO marketing. He has held management positions with Cessna Aircraft and Bozell Advertising and is the author of “Mission Marketing: Creating Brand Value” and co-author of “Don’t Forget the Cheese!” the ultimate FBO Customer Service Experience.