Thu, Apr 28, 2011
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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