Want to Deliver a Better Customer Service Experience? Start with External Operational Audits

By John L. Enticknap

What does an external audit program have to do with delivering a better customer service experience? Let’s explore the possibilities.

One of the most popular events at the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) FBO Success Seminar, conducted by the Aviation Business Strategies Group, is a discussion on lowering FBO insurance rates through better operations management. This includes training the CSR and executive staff on safety, customer service, technical procedures and practical application of quality aircraft ground handling techniques.

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NATA’s FBO Leadership Conference: A Gathering Worth Attending!

By John L. Enticknap

 Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.          —Og Mandino 

As a principal of Aviation Business Strategies Group, I’m always tuned into the FBO industry and attend various workshops and seminars to keep abreast of our ever-changing industry.

At the National Air Transportation Association (NATA) Leadership Conference and Day On-the-Hill, which I just returned from, I had the opportunity to rub shoulders with more than 200 industry leaders and get a sense of what is happening to the FBO business on a macroeconomic scale.

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Jet Aviation Dubai FBO Receives Jeppesen Handler Of The Year Award

Jet Aviation Dubai was recently presented the Jeppesen Handler of the Year award in recognition of its outstanding customer service within the region of Africa, the Middle East and India.

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Your Airport Lease: The Lifeblood of Your FBO

by John L. Enticknap

If you build that foundation… the business foundation, and the experience foundation, then the building won't crumble.—Henry Kravis

Like most FBO owners and operators, you probably wonder what your FBO is worth. To answer this question, you should start by asking another important question: What is my lease worth? That’s because they are inherently linked. 

If you are thinking about capitalizing your investment or looking to sell your business, the first thing a banker or a buyer will assess is the value of your lease, especially the length and terms. 

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Use Good Customer Service Ingredients, and the Proof Is in the Pudding

A loyal, happy customer remains a customer for a greater length of time. So you should be tracking your customers to make sure they are coming back to your facility every time they travel to your destination. You can use a flight tracking service to monitor incoming flights.

Your line service personnel should become familiar with regular customers’ aircraft registration numbers and be alert when tracking inbound flights to your airport and surrounding airports.

If you haven’t seen a regular customer in a while, pick up the phone and call to learn why. If your line service personnel notices a regular customer going to a competitor, again, pick up the phone and find out what you might have done wrong.

Source: Strativity Group, in partnership with Customer Service Experts.Research shows that most unsatisfied customers won’t tell you there is a problem before they jump ship. They simply change their buying habits. So you need to know why they made a change and why they became unhappy with your service.

Loyal Customers Lead to Financial Rewards

As the chart indicates, a happy customer is a loyal customer and stays with you for a longer period of time.  A satisfied customer also tends to spend more and, thus, take on more fuel at your facility.

And oddly enough, a satisfied customer does not need incentives or discounts to continue being loyal. In fact, they do not mind paying a small premium to be treated well.

In the end, the payoff for delivering a truly memorable customer service experience is a contingent of loyal, highly engaged advocates who will recommend you at the drop of a hat.

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Lessons of $1 Hot Dogs Help FBOs Cut the Mustard

Recently, I read a sidebar article about Dollar Hot Dog Night at the Rangers’ stadium. On Wednesdays when the Rangers are in town, they cook some 65,000 hot dogs for hungry patrons. At a buck each, the promotion attracts a lot of families to the game, and the conies are quickly snatched up!

The Art of the Deal

I’m sure you have your favorite sport, and if it’s baseball, you know how a hot dog with your favorite beverage tastes on a warm summer night around the diamond. It hits the spot! But something else is going on at the ballpark.

In the article, the writer asks a university professor for his opinion on why a $1 hot dog attracts so many to a game when patrons can have all the hot dogs they want for a lot less money by buying them at a supermarket and eating them at home.

His answer, posted in the Dallas Morning News, is what spurred me into writing this blog post.

According to Ernan Haruvy, a management professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, a perceived deal, such as the $1 hot dog, depends on several factors, including:

1. Your physical surroundings
2. The customer’s mood
3. What the customer believes is a fair value for the transaction

OK, that all sounds logical because the customer is at the ballpark; therefore, the surroundings are fun. Secondly, because a day watching baseball is better than a day at work, the customer is probably in a pretty good mood. And lastly, $1 for a dog that usually costs $4 seems like a relatively fair value.

But what does this have to do with an FBO?

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Reeling in Customers: Either Fish, or Cut Bait

I have returned from a much needed vacation to the Canadian outback where I enjoyed a week of fishing with no phone, TV or newspaper.

Every year, I travel to the far western reaches of Ontario for our annual fish camp outing that has been a part of my family tradition since 1961, when my father first went with his buddies to the same waters we fish today. I started going with my dad in 1984, and now his 16-year-old great-grandson, my grand nephew, is representing the fourth generation to wet a line in these great Northern waters.

On this most recent outing, I started to think about writing a blog post based on the similarities between fishing for dinner and casting a net for new FBO customers.

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Deliver Great Customer Service by Practicing Your Craft

Recently, I was reading a newspaper article about the practice habits of professional golfer Vijay Singh, and I thought this would be a good basis for a blog post on delivering the ultimate FBO customer service experience. Perhaps this seems a little disjointed, so allow me to explain.

Whether you follow golf or any other sport, I’m sure you’ve run across articles and have heard TV announcers remark about the successes and failures of professional athletes. Frankly, I like to learn about the elements of success, rather than the failures, so when I read this article on Singh, it reminded me of his breakout year in 2004.

As you may recall, Tiger Woods had vaulted to the top of the world ranking and looked invincible. Then came Singh, playing like a man possessed, and he eventually replaced Woods as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, at least for a period of time. He openly admitted that his goal was to become the No. 1 golfer in the world, thus replacing Woods, and he knew it would take long hours of practice.

Even Madison Avenue took notice that year. Singh appeared in a TV commercial where he was shown practicing putting on a frozen lake in Alaska while native Eskimos looked on in bewilderment.

And what was the message the commercial was trying to drive home? What made Singh so successful?

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Andrea Bahr Hired as Banyan Air Service Customer Support Manager

Andrea Bahr has joined Banyan Air Service at FXE as customer support manager, a role with responsibilities that include management, training, scheduling and staffing of the customer support team.

Bahr has 10 years of aviation experience and has previously worked at Galaxy Aviation (PBI), Signature Flight Support (MIA), Sheltair and most recently Orion Jet Center (OPF). Bahr has a BSBA in marketing from the University of South Carolina and an MBA from Nova Southeastern University.

“We are delighted to have Andrea join the Banyan team,” Banyan director of FBO services John Mason said. “Her extensive background in customer service will empower us to develop new processes focusing on a high level of customer service.”

FBO Marketing, Part 1: Low- and No-Cost Promotion

Did you know there are ways you can market your FBO with little or no out-of-pocket expense?

At our NATA FBO Success Seminars, we examine various aspects of marketing for an FBO. One of the most popular sessions is Marketing and Communications for Any Size FBO.

Many FBOs that attend our seminars believe they can’t compete with the big FBO chains because they don’t have the money and resources. To that, I kindly say, “Bunk”. There are plenty of ways you can “shake hands” with your customers or potential customers without breaking your budget or robbing your kids’ piggy bank.

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