As Usual, Some Do It Better Than Others
By David Juwel
Prior to the start of the LSA Expo this year, I wrote an article
about ways to improve your presentation at the show. While at the
show I evaluated the various booths and product presentations to
see if there was any improvement. The fascinating thing that I
observed was that some vendors took my articles to heart and really
improved their public presentations. Contrariwise, I also observed
some of the worst sales activities possible. The contrast was
amazing.

I simply can't imagine spending the fees for the show
and then allowing your booth to become the epitome of an anti-sales
environment. One company was introducing a new product, and it
appeared to be an excellent product. I stood at their booth for
twenty minutes and watched numerous patrons look at it and discuss
among themselves what they were seeing. Sounds great doesn't it?
The only problem was that there were no company representatives at
the booth for the entire time I watched. I stopped at one booth
where two representatives were reading books. I said hello and one
said hello back. Neither of them put their books down, or stood up
to talk to me. I simply walked away. One booth had a limited number
of products displayed, but didn’t have a representative
present for almost the whole show. At another booth there was a
provocatively dressed girl sitting on the display table. She was
wearing a t-shirt that said, "Remove before flight." Nobody else
was at the booth. This wasn't a high ticket item, it didn't require
a model, and the patrons that stopped at the booth spent most of
their time talking to her instead of examining the product. I
observed another booth with a very expensive layout. One of the
senior managers was selling his heart out at the airplane while
four other sales people sat around a canopy table hanger flying.
When i approached, nobody even said hello. The only thing missing
was a deck of cards!
The gates of the event opened at 0800 hrs. In the merchandise
building, nobody had opened up yet. At 0915 hrs, twenty-one of the
booths were still unattended. At 1000 hrs, eight of the booths were
still unattended. This occurred every day. You know my feelings
about this; if the public can be there at 8:00 A.M., so should the
sales people!
And I saw many more equally unprofessional activities occurring
throughout the event. I'll tell you, if there is one thing I can't
stand, its having to beg sales people to do their job so I can give
them money. Don't you just hate that? But let's not dwell any
further on the negative. Let me tell you about some of the positive
things I saw.
I saw sales people and company representatives dressed in
professional, easily identifiable corporate attire instead of plain
Levi's and sneakers. I observed upgrades in interior upholstery,
open cockpit planes with multiple choice canopies, planes that can
carry bigger people, electric innovations, a tow vehicle
innovation, better aircraft displays, and sales people that were
more attentive. This was very encouraging to me because I know that
success will follow the upgrades, innovations, and
attentiveness.
Now let me tell you about two of the best presenters that I saw
at the show. One was Pipistrel aircraft, and the other was Revo
Trikes.
Pipistrel Virus Motorglider

Pipistrel aircraft had an excellent display. They had aircraft
available for demonstration flights and potential customer flights.
They had a representative at their booth prior to the gates
opening. He was dressing up the display aircraft and was
immediately available for questions. One morning, at precisely 8:00
A.M., I stepped inside their display area and I was immediately
approached with an offer of assistance. The majority of the
competition's representatives hadn't even shown up at the airport
yet. If you want to buy an aircraft, get there early. You'll
quickly be able to separate the wheat from the chaff. What's that
old saying about the early bird gets the worm? Brochures were amply
available. Sales assistance was immediately available, you didn't
have to search them out or interrupt their hanger flying. The area
was clean and neat. The sales manager showed me a program where
they have the ability to follow-up on every contact they make at
the show. This is a critical aspect of their operation and one that
will enable them to fill their sales pipeline. I was impressed.
They have an excellent product and I wish them the best of
success.
Revo Trike

The other company was Revo Trikes. This is a company that really
has their act together. They arrive at a show in a self-contained
trailer with a billboard size sign on it. Neat, clean and
professionally done. They pull their trikes out of it, set them up,
dress them up, and immediately start selling. They have materials,
DVD's, and every answer you're looking for about their genre of
flight. In fact, this company is a trend setter. They have taken
the trike and changed it into a near fixed-wing experience. No
longer is trike flying limited to early morning and early evening
flying. Because their trike has a 10 lb per square foot wing
loading (which is comparable to fixed wings), it can fly all day
long and it's not as susceptible to turbulence. As proof, one of
the sales representatives (Todd Halver) flew his trike solo with no
ground crew, from North Carolina to Sebring (600 miles). Cruising
at 85 mph, it took him 7.75 hrs to make the flight. Larry Mednick,
Chief Designer at the company, recently flew a group of trikes from
Tampa to Oshkosh (round-trip) to attend the EAA AirVenture event.
These people document real world experiences and make it part of
their sales presentation. They offer rides and give demonstration
flights. When some of the ultralights are grounded due to the wind
components, they're still flying. Their aircraft is truly the
motorcycle of the air. Their staff manifests a lot of enthusiasm
which draws people in. They have numerous videos on YouTube and
their website. It's hard for me to walk past their booth for all
the sales activity I observe. It makes this old sales manager
shiver with nostalgia. And when the day is over, they quietly pack
their equipment back into their trailer and lock it up safe and
secure until the next day. Neat, efficient and professional.
Does any of this marketing stuff work? I asked one of the
company managers. They stated that doing all of the professional
things they do when they market, they have sold as many as seven
aircraft in a single month. If you want to increase your sales,
look around the site when you attend a fly-in. Look to see who is
doing benchmark activities, and then simply emulate them.