The Sebring LSA Show Reveals That The Light-Sport Industry Still Has Much To Learn

Our good friend, Dave Juwel, has done a marvelous job of helping ANN evaluate the sport and general aviation industry's ability to market itself effectively. A number of years ago, Aero-News published an article that he wrote titled, "Does Your Aviation Business Suffer From ITBOA BNITBOB Disease?" ITBOA BNITBOB is an acronym for, "In The Business Of Aviation... But Not In The Business Of Business." To this day, it is one of the most requested of our older feature stories.

This year, Dave took on a familiar role... that of an 'Undercover Customer'.

Dave wrote an engaging evaluation of the process and noted that, "Each year I go to the various national fly-in's. I go to each booth acting like a potential customer (which I am) that can afford their product (which I can) with the hope that someday someone will so practically help me with the realization of my dreams, that they'll actually separate me from my money. But so far that hasn't happened. What I run into (more typically than not), are some of the most inept presentations of a business product that I have ever seen. It turns me off to their product every time I experience or see it."

The results were a bit unexpected... Dave notes that, "...of all the exhibitors I talked with, only ONE aircraft manufacturer asked me for my name and address. That means only ONE aircraft manufacturer can follow-up and continue to finesse me toward a sale.

Only ONE aircraft manufacturer out of the various exhibitors has the ability to continue the sales process in my life. You almost never make the sale at the first presentation. But you'll never make the second presentation if you don't initiate some interaction that gives you the ability to follow-up."

Join ANN's Jim Campbell and Dave Juwel for an engaging conversation about the marketing (or lack thereof) of the Light Sport Aircraft industry.

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