FBO Insight: The Customer Experience is DOA without a Customer Focused Culture

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Getty: Hans Neleman

If your service team is not truly customer focused… not truly tuned into being a part of a customer centric culture… then your customer experience is dead-on-arrival (DOA).

A customer centric culture is the second leg of the three-legged stool that bolsters a robust customer experience platform. Without each leg properly in place and supported by management, the customer experience will wither like a shriveled grape clutching the winter vine.

Whether it’s a repeat customer or a new customer arriving on your ramp for the first time, pilots and crew have an uncanny sixth sense when it comes to distinguishing whether or not the service team is truly customer friendly or simply going through the motions.

A customer centric culture puts the customer at the center of its operational universe. It’s like the construct of an atom where the customer is the nucleus while the electrons that orbit the nucleus represent the various operational departments within the FBO enterprise. These departments include the basic FBO services such as fueling/line service, customer service, accounting, IT and facility maintenance.

FBOs that have a customer centric culture in place understand that every department and every employee touches a customer in some way. Having each department working together to create the best possible customer experience is crucial. We all know that one bad towing job, one dirty restroom or one inaccurate invoice can move customers out of their comfort zone and cause them to defect. 

Developing a customer centric culture is dependent on the mindset of management and supervisors to instill confidence throughout the enterprise.  It’s a two-pronged process: 

 1.     Confidence is gained from doing a task better each time it is performed.

2.     Confidence is instilled as a mindset when recognition is given for doing a good job.

Therefore, it is important to have an internal culture that recognizes employees for excellence in every facet of the operation, even for the most mundane task or procedure. Research indicates that employees respond positively to words of encouragement from management and supervisors. Behavior that is rewarded gets repeated.

Therefore, a kind word or a pat on the back can lift spirits and help create a customer centric environment. Think esprit de corps!  

In our next blog post, we will discuss the third leg of the customer experience platform: Employee Empowerment as a major component of The 7 Immutable Elements of Building Equity in Your FBO Enterprise. 

Please leave any comments you have about this blog post below. If you have any questions, please send us an email: John Enticknap, jenticknap@bellsouth.net,  Ron Jackson,  ronjacksongroup@gmail.com.

ABOUT THE BLOGGERS: John Enticknap is the founder of Aviation Business Strategies Group (ABSG). He 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 ABSG and president of The Jackson Group (TJG), 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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