FBO Best Practices Series #4: Keep Customers by Empowering Your Employees
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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 #4: Empower your employees at the point of transaction in order to diffuse conflict and build long-term profitable customer relationships.
Factoid: Up to 95 percent of dissatisfied customers will return if you handle disputes in a timely and satisfactory manner.
In the FBO business, customers can become dissatisfied over seemingly the slightest of incidences or mishaps. Sometimes they may become irate and perhaps threaten to never come back. That’s because aircraft crews have a lot at stake in making sure their passengers are satisfied with every detail of their trip.
You may have heard of the expression, “You're as good as your last flight!” That’s the mantra of a business aircraft flight crew. And that’s why it’s important for FBO employees to stay in touch and in tune with the flight crew in order to anticipate their needs.
For the FBO owner, operator and manager, the key to keeping the customer happy is to empower employees at the point of transaction or the point of contact. This will help diffuse conflict and go a long way in building long-term profitable customer relationships.
So what do we mean by empowering? Simply put, the FBO operator or manager is giving permission to the employee to act on their behalf in solving disputes when they happen. However, some guidelines have to be established and customer service training of the employee is critical.
Example: A line service technician inadvertently over-fuels an aircraft. Instead of immediately informing the crew of the action, the employee panics, becomes frightened and ponders the mistake for more than 30 minutes before telling a supervisor.
By the time the supervisor is informed and the course of action is discussed, an hour has elapsed and the supervisor is trying to contact the crew who happened to have left for lunch 15 minutes earlier. Before leaving for lunch, the crew informs the customer service representative at the front desk that they want the aircraft positioned for embarking upon returning.
As they say, bad news doesn’t get any better with age.
When the crew was eventually informed they were not happy. Had the employee been empowered to own the mistake and trained to deliver the news to the crew immediately, corrective action could have taken place much sooner and a mutual solution found.
Instead, the inaction set off a chain reaction of rather unpleasant events including a departure delay and irritated passengers. And thanks to social media, the entire Western Hemisphere was informed in a matter of minutes.
In a situation like this, an empowered and properly trained employee would have had an opportunity to confront the crew and perhaps establish a relationship in a meaningful way. By owning the mistake, the employee can demonstrate problem-solving skills and even endear the dissatisfied customer by showing honesty, sincerity, integrity concern and resolve.
“Captain Smith, I have something I need to tell you,” the employee might begin, engaging the customer face-to-face making direct eye contact. “I inadvertently over-fueled your aircraft and I wanted to tell you right away so we can resolve this mishap without delay.”
“I can’t believe this happened,” Capt. Smith replied, raising his voice in disgust. “What did you have in mind? I can’t afford any delays. My passengers will be arriving right after lunch and we need to stay on schedule.”
“I know this is not what you expected,” the employee responds. “Our goal is to have you ready for departure when your passengers arrive. What I can do is …”
Based on the policy of the FBO, the employee can offer to offload some fuel or provide a deep discount for the gallons over fueled. By knowing what to offer the customer in this eventuality, the employee is able to problem solve and come to a solution very quickly without having to consult a supervisor, manager or owner.
The result is more than likely a repaired relationship and a restored level of trust between the employee and the customer. The employee showed concern, had an immediate plan of action, and resolved the incident without delay.
There are many ways to resolve these kinds of issues and a well-planned customer service training program, such as the acclaimed “Don’t Forget the Cheese! aviation training system,” is recommended to help FBOs empower their employees and build long-term profitable customer relationships.
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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 certified 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