Coaching Provides Valuable Seasoned Advice

At some point in our lives, we all need a little coaching to get through the task ahead of us.

I remember when my dad took the training wheels off my bike and encouraged me to keep the handlebars straight as he ran alongside on my first solo ride.

High school football and baseball coaches shaped the way I performed on the field and taught me valuable lessons about life along the way.

As a student pilot, my instructor coached me through turns and stalls and built up my confidence for the eventual solo flight.

After a couple of decades of developing marketing plans for companies such as Cessna and Fairchild Aircraft, I had the opportunity in the year 2000 to create a public relations campaign for the grand opening of a Mercury Air Center location in Burbank, Calif. My client was John Enticknap, who served as president of the 21-location FBO chain. 

I didn’t have a lot of experience in the FBO business back then, but under John’s tutelage, I’ve been spending the last 11 years soaking up his vast knowledge of the FBO business.

When John and I discussed starting an FBO consulting business together, I knew I had a partner that had a lot to offer the FBO community. So in 2006, John laid the groundwork for Aviation Business Strategies Group by outlining his vision for the fledgling company.

Vision of Helping FBOs

He told me he wanted to start a business that would help aviation service companies, FBOs in particular, become more profitable. His vision was to provide an affordable resource to the FBO industry through sharing, teaching and coaching.

As a basis for the new business, I suggested we put together a list of initiatives that would help FBOs run their businesses better and ultimately become more profitable.  There were several marketing projects that John and I worked on together for the Mercury Air Center chain that would make great white papers and teaching strategies.

The result was what we called 10 Steps to FBO Success. It was way more than “FBO Business 101.” It was the essence of years of real-life experience seeking solutions to problems that arise from operating an FBO.

One problem we attacked was the high cost of FBO insurance. After the Sept. 11, 2001, tragedy, insurance companies began dramatically raising FBOs’ premiums. Mercury’s insurance premiums for the 21 FBO locations were escalating exponentially.

We decided to create a strategy for lowering the insurance premiums by developing a better insurance story for the insurance brokers to evaluate. (This is one of the 10 Steps to FBO Success and a subject of one of the sessions we teach at the NATA-sponsored FBO Success Seminar.)

Under John’s coaching, I absorbed what insurance underwriters were looking for in terms of safety and security of all FBO operations. We took this information and built a comprehensive safety audit program. Part of this initiative raised awareness among FBO employees for the need for two wing walkers, especially for aircraft movements inside hangars.

We created some large banners and posters for display in the hangars and then conducted safety classes for employees on a regular basis. One of the banners exclaimed, “Don’t Get into a Tow Jam!” and a supporting poster listed all the steps to safely tow an aircraft.

As a result of this industry coaching initiative, hangar rash went way down, the level of safety went way up, and customers actually liked seeing the banners and posters as a reminder of how carefully the FBOs were treating their aircraft. And, by the way, insurance premiums started to come down.

The business coaching John gave me helped me in understanding what I needed to do to get my job done. It also helped FBO employees improve and FBO owners control insurance costs.

Who Can Benefit from Business Coaching?

Over the past several years, business coaching has come to mean a lot of different things. What I’m talking about is not a personal life coach, which is different from what a savvy business coach can offer an FBO.

FBO owners, operators and managers can benefit from a little or a lot of FBO business coaching. The best candidates for such coaching services are:

• Those seeking to improve FBO business performance and earn a better return on their capital investment.
• Those who are committed to improving the FBO operations and are thus unsatisfied with the status quo.

Working with a coach is normal for many. Musicians, tennis players and golfers, to name a few, work regularly with coaches to improve their performances. In the mainstream population, hiring a personal trainer is not uncommon.

Business coaching can be found through various channels. Find a mentor in your business you can bounce ideas off of, attend seminars and workshops, or even hire a professional coach. The goal is to improve the way we manage and to seek solutions to problems that plague the efficiency of an FBO operation.

Learning Opportunities

If you are interested in some seminars specifically for FBO owners, operators and managers, here are some opportunities:

Florida Aviation Trades Association Annual Meeting

On June 14, John will be a guest speaker at the annual convention for the Florida Aviation Trades Association (FATA) in Sarasota, Fla. Working pro bono, John will be teaching two sessions:

• Session 1: Risk Management & Claims Avoidance Through Better Operating Practices
• Session 2: Developing Your Own Third-Party Fuel Pricing Strategy

FBO Success Seminar

Those seminars are also part of the three-day FBO Success Seminar we will be teaching Nov. 8-10 in Atlanta during the NATA’s first FBO Fuel Summit. 

If you can attend either or both of these seminars, I would encourage doing so. These are opportunities to get some good advice from a seasoned professional.

If you would like to share a teaching or coaching story, please email me at Ron@thejacksongroup.biz.

Ron Jackson

Ron Jackson is co-founder of ABSG and president of The Jackson Group, a public relations agency specializing in aviation and FBO marketing. He has held management positions with Cessna Aircraft and Bozell Advertising and is the author of Mission Marketing: Creating Brand Value and co-author of Don’t Forget the Cheese!, the Ultimate FBO Customer Service Experience.