Avionics News March 2014 - 52

Advertisers Index
Accord Technology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Aero Standard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Aeroflex. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Aerospace Optics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Aircell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Aircraft Electronics Association. . . . . . . 89
Alto Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Aspen Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Astronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
ATEQ-Omicron . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Aviation Instrument Services . . . . . . . . 68
Avionics Specialist Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
AVweb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Becker Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
BendixKing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Carpenter Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Cobham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Dallas Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IFC
Dayton-Granger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Device Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Duncan Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
EDMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC
EMTEQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Express Calibration Services . . . . . . . . 95
Flight Display Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Flying Magazine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Garmin International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Georgetown Instrument Services . . . . . 79
GlobalParts.aero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Greenwich/DAC International . . . . . . . . 59
ICG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Intertrade - A Rockwell Collins Company . . . 71
J.A. Air Center . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
KGS Electronics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
L-3 Communications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Latitude Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Mid-Continent Instruments and Avionics . . . 1
Millennium International . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Nason Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Nav-Aids Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
NextGen GA Fund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Pacific Southwest Instruments . . . . . . IBC
PIC Wire & Cable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
ProCal Laboratories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Sensor Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Sun Aviation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
TangoWare . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Tech-Aid Products. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Tri-Star Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
True Blue Power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Universal Avionics Systems Corp. . . . . 35
Velocity Aerospace . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74, 94
Ventura Avionics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

52

AVIONICS NEWS

*

MARCH

2014

BUSINESS BASICS

Continued from page 51

GATHERING GUESTS
The scale of your event determines
how you market it. While an open
house may attract many dozens of
pilots and require casting a wide net,
invitation-only events are more intimate and focused on customers further along in the buying cycle, which
requires a more personal approach. Yet
both still take preparation and planning
to execute effectively.
For an open house, use a mix of email
marketing, social media like Facebook
and Twitter, public relations in local
aviation magazines, listings on pilotgroup calendars, and maybe some paid
advertising and signage. Done early
and often, these tactics work together
to keep the event top of mind with
potential attendees, which helps ensure
a good turnout.
Of course, it helps to give prospects
a reason to attend. "Nobody's going to
come just to come," Saget said, so she
suggested building motivation by tying
the event into your community. For
example, your open house could serve
as a fundraising auction or raffle for
aviation scholarships, aviation museums or even pilot groups, such as Pilots
N Paws or Angel Flight. Likewise, you
can inspire pilots to give up some of
their weekend by offering kid-friendly
activities, such as a bounce house, snow
cone machine and age-appropriate aviation activities.
But you might not want to feed and
water that many barely qualified prospects. In this case, limit your event to
fewer, hot contacts, which enables a
more unique and personal experience
that helps to accelerate a sale. These
invitation-only events might include a
buyout of a private room in a restaurant for a lunch and learn, or a special
occasion that reflects the tastes of your

customers, such as a golf tournament, a
beer tasting or an evening networking
happy hour. The smallest of these might
include a handful of your best customers and prospects. This is an executive
decision-maker type deal, Saget said,
and you can make this reflective of
what prospects will likely spend.
Use addressable media, such as
personal emails or post-mail invitations, follow up with a personal phone
call and require an RSVP. Work with
your sales team to identify who should
attend, get their input for planning
activities, and use them to promote the
event with prospects and customers,
Saget said.
But according to Saget, there's another secret: assign buddies. Each prospect
should be teamed and seated with a
company leader or subject matter expert,
a salesperson and a customer-evangelist.
Not only does this arrangement allow
your happy customer to do the hard selling for you, it also keeps prospects from
feeling ignored and invisible. "It's not
about the party," Saget said. "It's a very
strategic opportunity."
Don't wait until the last minute to
throw it together; you may need some
time to plan something special and
affordable. Be aware of the calendar;
at conferences, schedule around those
of your competitors, host organizations
and vendors. While at home, avoid
major sporting events, holidays and
other high-profile distractions.
AFTER ACTION
The event doesn't end when it's
over - not for you or your customers.
Chances are they're in buying mode,
especially if they paid big bucks to
attend a conference, and you should be
in selling mode, too. The two perspectives come together when you follow
up on the contacts you made.
Continued on page 54
Avionics News March 2014

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