FBO Best Practices Series #2: Make a Good First Impression
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By John L. Enticknap and Ron R. Jackson, Aviation Business Strategies Group - ABSGgroup.com
Welcome to our blog series on FBO Best Practices. With each blog post in this series, we’ll discuss “Best Practices” in running an efficient and effective FBO operation.
Best Practice #2: You have but one opportunity to make a good first impression. Operate your FBO from a customer’s perspective.
Let’s face it. Customers choose FBOs that project a positive image and a feeling of trust, two very important elements in delivering a great customer service experience.
Like going to a Broadway play, your FBO is on stage every day for all your customers to see. When the curtain goes up, what do they get? Is it an illusion of smoke and mirrors, or a well-rehearsed movement of employees reading from the same script?
As stakeholders in this production, everyone from the top down and bottom up must view their facility from a customer’s perspective. We call this a customer-centric view. They need to take pride in ownership of the way the facility looks and, perhaps more importantly, the way it feels.
Seeing the way your FBO should look is easy. Go out onto the ramp and look back at your facility the way a customer would see your FBO for the first time taxiing in for service. Is all the equipment lined up and in good repair including the lav cart, APU, safety cones and chocks? Or are things looking a little disjointed, dingy, old with cracking paint, and safety cones that look like ones used in road construction.
The way the facility feels is a little more difficult to ascertain. We’re talking about the persona that your FBO projects ... character, personality and qualities. Do your line service technicians use crisp hand movements when ushering in an aircraft? Do employees present themselves in a professional manner? Is there a sense of teamwork and pride in a job well done?
Will customers feel at ease by what they see and experience? Or will they second guess their choice and wonder if even the bathrooms are clean.
Borrowing a page from our acclaimed Don’t Forget the Cheese!© customer service training program, emotions play a big role in deciding whether a customer will return and whether they recommend your facility.
Aircraft owners and operators are emotional about the care and feeding of one of the most valuable company assets: the business aircraft. With new aircraft costing upwards of $60 million, trust is a huge issue and ranks high in importance on the emotional scale.
When a first-time customer visits your FBO, they will watch your line service employees like a hawk. They watch the way safety cones are placed at the tips of their aircraft, the way tow bars are utilized, the number of wing walkers used, and the safe and professional manner in which hangar movements are made. A returning loyal customer will be a little more at ease as trust continues to build.
Indeed, making that first impression is critical in growing your transient customer base. We all know that pilots have an expression that says, “You’re as good as your last flight.” Likewise, FBOs should hold themselves to a similar standard by saying, “We’re as good as our last fueling.”
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Send us an email to Ron@thejacksongroup.biz or jenticknap@bellsouth.net and visit us online at www.ABSGgroup.com.
About the bloggers:
John Enticknap
John Enticknap has more than 35 years of aviation fueling and FBO services industry experience and has served as president/CEO of Mercury Air Centers, a network of FBOs he grew from four facilities to 21 locations. He has international FBO experience including opening the Royal Aviation Terminal in Kuwait. John has held executive management positions with DynAir Fueling and CSX Becket Aviation and holds a Bachelor of Science in industrial management from Northeastern University. He teaches the acclaimed FBO Success Seminar for the National Aviation Transportation Association (NATA) and is an NATA certified safety auditor. John is the co-author of the forthcoming book FBO Survival! Keeping Your Operation Lean, Mean & Profitable. He also writes an industry blog titled FBO Connection for Penton‘s AC-U-KWIK Alerts. He is an active ATP and CFI rated pilot with more than 8,100 flight hours; certified in both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. jenticknap@bellsouth.net, Ph: 404-867-5518 www.absggroup.com
Ron Jackson
Ron Jackson is co-founder of Aviation Business Strategies Group and president of The Jackson Group, a PR agency specializing in FBO marketing and customer service training. He has held management positions with Cessna Aircraft, Fairchild Aircraft and Bozell Advertising. Ron developed the strategic marketing communication plan and programs for Mercury Air Centers and consults with numerous FBOs in areas of marketing, promotions and customer service training. He is the author of Don’t Forget the Cheese! The Ultimate FBO Customer Service Experience. and co-author of the forthcoming book FBO Survival! Keeping Your Operation Lean, Mean & Profitable. He is a journalist and co-developed NATA’s acclaimed FBO Success Seminar Series. Ron writes an industry blog for Penton’s AC-U-KWIK Alerts titled: The FBO Connection. Ron@thejacksongroup.biz Ph: 972-979-6566 www.absggroup.com