Three Key Marketing Elements for Every FBO

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As we turn a page on another year, it is time to think about your marketing strategies to help build a stronger and larger customer base. 

The cornerstone of any FBO marketing plan should include the following three key elements:

  1. Customer Acquisition
  2. Customer Retention
  3. Customer Recommendation

Customer Acquisition

Central to developing a customer acquisition initiative is to create consistent and coordinated touchpoints that make it easy for customers, both current and potential, to interface with your operations.

These touchpoints include channels by which you communicate your central messages. They include advertising, promotions, social media, direct mail, website, telephone, email and of course, in person.

The key is to create consistency with your marketing messages across all of these channels, and to have a coordinated response throughout your organization. That is why it is important to train and include your frontline employees in this process.  

Customer Retention

It is one thing to drive potential customers to your facility, and quite another to retain them. The two keys to retaining customers are:

  1. Consistency in delivering a great customer service experience.
  2. Timely follow-through after service is delivered. 

Delivering a great customer service experience should be foremost in everyone’s mind. Paying attention to detail, anticipating your customer’s needs, displaying good teamwork and making the customer feel welcome are just a few things to keep in mind.

Also remember, customers have a sixth sense. Do you come across as warm and fuzzy, cold or indifferent or somewhere in between?

But just as important as delivering a great customer service experience, is how you follow-up and follow-through with your customers. Yes, you can send a thank you email, but if you were the customer, wouldn’t you be more impressed if you received a handwritten note? Now that’s being warm and fuzzy!

Customer Recommendation

As part of your customer follow-through, make sure the customer has every opportunity to give you feedback through a customer service survey. Keep it short; no more than five multiple choice questions, plus an area to write comments.

Above all, make sure your last question is: “Would you recommend us?”

Obtaining a customer recommendation should be the goal of delivering the great customer service experience. It is the crème de la crème, the prize of all prizes! It is the equivalent of a customer endorsement and should be revered and treasured.

That is why everyone in your organization should be vigilant about meeting a customer’s expectation. Before customers leave your facility, ask if your service met their expectations. If a customer hesitates in answering or seems to be bothered by something, try to find out if there is a problem and, if so, fix it on the spot. 

The universe of business aviation is very small, especially among pilots and flight crews. So it is important that your customers send the right messages about your facility and that you have control of the narrative.

Please leave any comments you have about this blog post below. If you have any questions, please give us a call or send us an email: jenticknap@bellsouth.net, 404-867-5518; ronjacksongroup@gmail.com, 972-979-6566.

ABOUT THE BLOGGERS: John Enticknap has more than 35 years of aviation fueling and FBO services industry experience and is an IS-BAH Accredited auditor. 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. Visit the biography page or absggroup.com for more background.

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