Page 16 - February 2015 Volume 19 Number 2

By John LoughmillerFor many years, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) and General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) trade groups have been telling the business world that General Aviation is a viable business tool, using the slogan “No Plane, No Gain”. The message is often considered to be aimed at larger companies, but its logic applies to all companies, regardless of size. It’s a catchy slogan, but what are some real-world ways to turn your airplane into a cash flow- producing tool, instead of a deduction that makes your accountant cringe every tax filing?Consider this: You have a client that needs a product your company sells and after-sales support is extremely important to her. Including your company, she has three firms from which to choose. One is a multi- million dollar conglomerate with a worldwide footprint. The second is a very small operation with a product line that pretty much matches yours, but it can sell at a lower price because it has less overhead than your company. And then there’s your sole-proprietorship company: 25 employees, a brilliant but small engineering team, and two sales people including you. Oh, one more thing; you own a cabin-class airplane.What’s your strategy to land the order?How about you button-hole an engineer with good people skills and encourage him to take an airplane ride. You call up the client and ask if she can meet you at a restaurant which happens to be near a General Aviation airport and her company’s office. Over lunch, you introduce the engineer and casually remark that if she has any after-sales support issues that require onsite support, he can be at her location within a few hours via your company airplane. Later, during a quick look at the airplane, the engineer makes an off- hand remark that he’s going to install a firmware upgrade on another client’s machine on the way home. Without belaboring the point, you’ve just proven the superior after-sale support claim you made at lunch.How does the competition match that level of support? First of all, the large company won’t match it. Its legal staff has long since banned employee-flown airplanes due to perceived liability issues. The low- overhead company isn’t going to ruin its meager profit margin by allowing anyone on the staff to submit an expense report with a rental aircraft on the sheet, and the head honcho has zero interest in buying a company airplane for thesame reason: a misread of the impact on SG&A costs (Sales – General and Administrative).Result? You get the order.Another example:Your company has introduced a new widget to the marketplace. Unfortunately, you know from past experience that a press release and a few phone calls aren’t going to result in a quick sale because customers want to see the product actually work. You need to prove the widget really is better than anything on the ma rket, but your customer base is scattered out in cities large and small, within a circle roughly defined by a 500-mile radius from your office. You could drive to some and fly commercially to others, but doing so would mean three weeks on the road. You can’t use the airlines exclusively because they only serve 50% of your market. What to do?You start with a press release heralding the imminent availability of the new widget and within the press release you mention you’ll be utilizing a company aircraft to demonstrate the product to your customers. You send emails with the press release attached to all your current customers as well as some of those ‘tough to crack’ potential customers that you’ve tried to reach in the past.You follow up the email with personal-invitation phone calls and set up your schedule. You have pictures taken of you and some staff members in front of your airplane and, after the Dog and Pony show is over, you do a follow-up press release praising the immediate acceptance14 • TWIN & TURBINEFEBRUARY 2015NO PLANE NO GAIN