I often hear people involved in General Aviation saying we can’t grow the pilot population because it is too expensive. Last month I wrote an email about the prices some people pay for luxury cars, watches and household appliances. You can find that email here. Here's...

Successful companies create niche products and services to cater to different segments of their customers. They can then serve those customers better while increasing utilization and productivity, increasing their revenues, and reducing their overhead. So let’s look...

Do you segment your customers? Here are some reasons I have found that make segmenting customers useful and worthwhile. About thirty years ago I worked for one of the well-known collector car auction houses based in London. In our business we had two customer...

Like many families this winter, we’ve been fighting a series of bugs. This past weekend, while my youngest was stuck in bed with a fever, he and I rewatched Disney’s animated feature film Planes: Fire and Rescue (if you haven’t seen it, I recommend it)! The story is...

Imagine the phone rings. A guy is on the line trying to sell you acetylsalicylic acid. He has a great deal for you if you sign up right now. You ask them for more information and they rave about how their acetylsalicylic acid also includes hypromellose, powdered...

Why do people buy Ferrari sports cars? Prices start at around $250,000 with the most expensive production models topping out around double that. The performance is not legally useable on any public road, but the sales figures show Ferrari sold over 11,000 last year....

Customer experience is the process is matching a business’ procedures with customer expectations. Done well and you have created a fan; poorly and you get bad reviews. Recently I took my dad to get a haircut. We went to a nearby barbershop with a sign in the window...

Happy New Year! Like many of you, I traveled over Christmas period to spend time with family: Three generations brought together in one house for several days of celebration. As a member of the middle generation who grew up with time in both camps, I smugly enjoyed...

Last week I posed a question: Can pilots learning to fly for personal reasons play a role in stabilizing the cyclical flight training industry? Here are some of the benefits that personal pilots can bring. Local pilots are not subject to the cyclical nature of airline...

Now that the holiday season is underway, I've been reflecting on the past year. One of the things that keeps coming back is the cyclical nature of flight training. Over the last three years we've seen a shortage of instructors, followed by what seemed like the end of...