As an active pilot, a former lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and now
president of Voyager Jet Center, Rich Ryan has dedicated his life to serving people. Whether it’s learning important information about the customer,
going out of his way to be available or
making sure the customer is safe during
tough times, Ryan has put customers’
needs first, which has helped him learn
the good and bad of his company from
its customers’ perspective and become a
better leader.
Ryan’s dedication to serving
customers has also helped the
50-employee charter airline company triple its revenue over the
past five years to reach $20 million
in 2006.
Smart Business spoke with
Ryan about how to think like
your customers and serve them
with a smile.
Q: How do you build relationships
with customers, and how does it
make you a better leader?
Do what you say, and say what
you do to build relationships. If
you make a promise to a customer, you have to fulfill that
promise, even if it costs you
money. Have a system, whether
it’s your BlackBerry or something else that jogs your memory when an item is due.
The advantage to building
relationships is that you do get
to know your customers better, and you also get an appreciation of what it’s like to be
an employee, what makes his
or her job harder or easier.
It’s important to stay focused and stay
apprised of what the customer wants,
what his or her needs are, because without the customer, you are nothing. Ask
questions, be observant and anticipate
the customer’s needs. Anticipating what
the client’s needs are makes a big difference.
Always ask the customer, ‘Is there anything else I can do for you?’ It’s kind of a
catchall, but it often solicits some type
of response. Communication is key.
Q: How do you teach customer service to
employees?
I always ask the employee to think
what it’s like when they’re the customer.
We’re all customers — you buy things, I
buy things. So when you have that experience, whether it’s buying a quart of
milk or a $100 shirt or suit, think about
what you liked whenever you were the
customer, whenever you were on the
other end, and use that in your business.
Also, I’ve used the Disney experience
with my employees. Most people have
been to Disney, and it’s been a positive
experience for most. Disney works hard
at the customer experience, and a
Disneyesque company that does something similar to please its customers
should be successful.
Measurement is one way to know if a
person is exceeding or falling down in
the area of customer service. If you get
feedback from customers, whereby you have a service disappointment, then you
give that feedback in a positive way to
the employee, and hopefully, they will
get better.
Q: How do you communicate your vision
and goals to your employees?
Certainly we have formal meetings …
but I’m a big fan of walkabouts, so you
meet one on one and try and understand
what it’s like in the trenches.
I ask my employees, ‘Do you like your
job?’ The most important question I ask is, ‘How can I be a better president to you?’ Every
review I give to employees ends
with, ‘What can I do to make your
job easier? What can I do to make
you a better employee? What don’t
you like that I do? What in me, do
you not like? How can I be a better
president?’
I’m fortunate that all of the senior
managers are pretty smart, so I’ve
surrounded myself with people,
hopefully, that are smarter than me,
so you don’t have to hit them over
the head to demonstrate the right
leadership styles.
I’m a big believer in empowerment, and the only way to get managers to be responsible is to empower them. Give them responsibility for
the budget. I give them gross profit
and loss responsibilities. For example, how they divide up compensation is their decision and not mine.
Q: What inhibits a company from
growing?
Sometimes growth isn’t necessarily
good, and the marketplace will tell
you that very quickly.
Also, not anticipating the growth, so if
you don’t have your systems in place,
your personnel in place, then you have
individuals working 12 to 14 hours a day.
They can do that in the short run, but in
the long run, they’ll fail. You end up disappointing the customer, and if you disappoint the customer, the marketplace
will punish you.
HOW TO REACH: Voyager Jet Center, (412) 267-8000, (412)
469-0706 or www.voyagerjet.com