Top FBOs Demonstrate a Desire to Excel

FBO owners, operators and managers can’t put their finger on it, or hold it in their hands. It’s intangible and yet it drives their organization’s innate desire to succeed, improve and achieve something greater both individually and as a team. 

“It” is the desire to excel. It’s a winning attitude that every FBO employee possesses but sometimes it takes a little coaxing for it to manifest. 

Successful FBOs that want to improve their customer experience, know they must rely on their frontline employees to deliver. They realize that Line Service Technicians (LSTs) and Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) are the face of the enterprise and have the most exposure to customers, particularly aircraft flight crews.  

Holding these employees to written high standards is often hard to do on a consistent basis. That’s because words on paper alone lack the motivation to excel. What’s missing is a combination of subtle finesse and a meaningful challenge.  

We are mindful of an example set forth by Dale Carnegie in his book: How to Win Friends and Influence People. He describes how Charles Schwab, the first president of US Steel back in the early 1900s, threw down an inventive challenge to one of his factories that was underperforming.

Upon visiting the factory, he asked one of the workers how many ‘heats’ (production units) had their shift performed. The answer came back “six”. Then, Schwab asked for a piece of chalk and drew a large number “6” on the factory floor and promptly left without saying a word.

When the night shift arrived, they asked about the number “6” chalked on the floor and were told that the big boss had been there and six was the number of heats the day shift had completed.

The next day when Schwab returned, the number “6” was gone replaced by the number “7”.

Thus, the challenge was on between shifts as the number grew to 10 and the once beleaguered factory became the highest producing.

When we look at the challenges that can be made in the FBO environment, we are mindful of one we set for the Mercury Air Centers network to help improve safety and reduce accidents or incidents involving customer aircraft at all locations. The challenge was to go one year without a reportable accident.

The reward was a leather bomber jacket for each team member. As the accident-free challenge matured, the number “0” was posted for all to see and was cheered on by employees throughout each shift cycle. Thus, the various shifts were motivated to work together for a common good.

At the end of the challenge, more than half the Mercury Air Center locations hit their target goal of zero reportable accidents. Although the initial cost outlay for the bomber jackets was not insignificant, the challenge program helped save the company more than10 fold from costly aircraft repairs.

More importantly, customers noticed increased employee morale and a safer operating environment. As a result, the overall customer satisfaction and experience improved.

Even though the leather jackets were appreciated, they become more than a symbol of reaching a certain goal. They were worn proudly as a sign of membership in a club that, through team effort, indicated that more can be accomplished by working together in order to achieve something greater.

We invite FBOs to become more inventive when seeking solutions to overcome habitual problematic habits. A challenge may be in order to shake up the day-to-day routine and shape a new and improved internal culture.  

A desire to excel is one of four traits successful FBOs have in common and is part of our series on A well balanced FBO management approach. In the initial blog post in this series, we discussed the first trait: A sense of purpose.

The four traits that seem to standout and have shared threads that connect the organization from top to bottom include:

1.     A sense of purpose

2.     A desire to excel

3.     A pervasive sense of trust

4.     A shared passion

 In a follow-on blog post, we’ll discuss the next trait successful FBOs have in common: A pervasive sense of trust.

© 2025 ABSG/TJG

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.