Ten Ideas That Can Improve Your Bottom Line

By David Juwel LPBC

Aviation has such a natural mystique and magnetism to it, that it is relatively easy to draw people into it. The key business problem is getting them to stick. I can’t count the number of aviation businesses I’ve observed whose sole marketing strategy is giving people a $49.00 ride and then asking them if they want to take lessons. No? O.K. Thanks. Who’s next? This is the squirrel marketing technique. They keep digging for nuts until they eventually find one, and they consider that a successful strategy.

The more successful companies will focus on the allure of aviation and combine that with an ease of personal facilitation and accomplishment, made affordable to the prospects budget, while they nurture their relationship with them. Doing that, they quickly develop a customer base.

To develop a sustainable and growing customer base for your company, try implementing the following ten steps:

• Present the sizzle to attract their attention.
• Involve them with a comfortable introductory ride where they get to operate the controls.
• Make the subsequent flight training easy, affordable and goal-oriented.
• Provide a weekly camaraderie social setting.
• Make weekly flying easy, affordable, purposeful and broadening.
• Make the purchase of an aircraft a dream realization, both easy and affordable.
• Make the storage and maintenance easy and affordable.
• Make their ability to upgrade into better or more advanced equipment a reality.
• Make the resale of their aircraft and equipment easy and profitable.
• Become the consummate resource and facilitator for all of their aviation needs and events.

As you can see, easy, affordable and socially beneficial interactions are three of the primary keys to aviation business success. Easy is accomplished when your customer has become confident of their ability. You provide that for them with adequate training and hands-on experience. Easy is also accomplished when you make the activity convenient to the customer. You accomplish that when you use your time, talent and assets to conduct, eliminate or assist in the hard parts as a service to them. Affordability is personal to each person’s financial status. The key here is to develop packaged programs that meet the various financial levels and abilities of your prospective customers. Socially beneficial interaction is accomplished by providing activities that prompt, provoke, stimulate and support developing friendships. There are numerous ways to conduct each of these ten aspects.

I believe that following these guidelines will help to grow your business, and it will also help the aviation industry once again become the vibrant entity that it was in the past.

Wishing you blue skies and greater profitability.

FMI: scoachm@clearwire.net