Private Jet Leadership in a Public Transportation World

On November 19, 2008, the chief executive officers (CEO) of the United States’ “Big Three” automakers (Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors) trekked to Washington, DC seeking support for federal loans to prop up their businesses. Their march was by way of their companies’ private aircraft. And the world as our politicians want us to know fell apart.

“There is a delicious irony in seeing private luxury jets flying into Washington, D.C., and people coming off of them with tin cups in their hand, saying that they’re going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses,” Rep. Gary Ackerman, D-New York, told the chief executive officers at a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee.

“It’s almost like seeing a guy show up at the soup kitchen in high hat and tuxedo. It kind of makes you a little bit suspicious.”

He added, “couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here? It would have at least sent a message that you do get it.”

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-California, pressed the private jet issue, asking the three CEOs to “raise their hand if they flew here commercial.”

“Let the record show, no hands went up,” Sherman said. “Second, I’m going to ask you to raise your hand if you are planning to sell your jet in place now and fly back commercial. Let the record show, no hands went up.”

Licking their wounds, on December 3, 2008, the same three CEOs drove back to Washington, DC to ask for more assistance. This time, each CEO drove more than 500 miles in one of his company’s hybrid vehicles.

I’m still waiting for Reps. Ackerman and Sherman to chide the CEOs for not taking the Metro (Washington D.C.’s subway) from their hotel to the Capitol.

In hindsight, perhaps the jet pool option was a better route. A first class fare from Detroit would have sufficed. Driving oneself back to Washington, D.C. was pure pandering and sucking up. Nevertheless, the damage was done and corporate jets were evil.

Enter Cessna Aircraft Company and their Leadership Campaign. Read their words.

“We’ve all read the articles and seen the pundits portraying business aviation as needless excess, and those that use it as being out of touch with the realities of the day. We think it’s time the other side of the story be told, and that support be given to those with the courage to stare down the beast, and use business aviation to not only help their businesses survive the current financial crisis, but more quickly forge a path toward an economic upturn. We think it’s time to rise.

We have begun replacing our normal product-focused advertising with a new series of messages we call the Leadership Campaign. At this most challenging of times, it is vital a clear voice of reason be heard. This campaign is intended to provide that voice and, in so doing, salute those with the courage to rise above adversity and lead the world to a fiscal turnaround.

These new ads have been purposefully created to contrast the seemingly endless stream of misinformation surrounding business aviation with what we know instead to be true: That no one has ever saved their way into prosperity, and that there are few better tools for productivity and efficiency, than a well-deployed business aircraft.

We want this campaign to serve as a rallying point for business aviation customers world-wide, carrying the message that it is, indeed, okay to fly – and highlighting the fact that the use of business aviation will play a vital role in the global economic recovery.

Regardless of the aircraft, of the manner of aviation program one chooses, we believe the most important thing is to keep flying – making the absolute most out of the multitude of advantages business aviation provides. Because, in so doing, customers will emerge from today’s conditions even stronger than before, replacing the uncertainty that surrounds many, with the confidence and courage to light the way for all.”

Cessna knows the reality about the value of their product. They know the features, advantages, and benefits of their product in all economies. And they are not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and “these times” in order to succeed.

In times like these, luck tends to help those who make courageous, crucial moves. Make no mistake – in these economic times, there will be winners and losers. Your chief undertaking is to make certain that you and your company are among the latter.

In the words of Cessna: “Rise. Above the skeptics. Above the naysayers. To the challenge.”

 

Sham-Wow Your Customers

You have seen the commercial. You have watched it and chuckled. You might have “You-Tubed” it for your colleagues who are not aware of it. You may even have purchased it.

It is the Sham Wow!® towel, chamois, and sponge – all in one. And, you know, that after using it each time, You’ll Say Wow Everytime®. I know and I do – I own two.

Marketing authority Phil Fragasso, in his book, Marketing for Rainmakers, states that “…today’s best marketing occurs between the hours of midnight and four o’clock in the morning – the prime time of infomercials.” To loads of people, infomercials epitomize all that is mistaken with marketing – tactless, acquisitive, undignified, and scheming. Simultaneously, infomercials are also zealous, interactive, and keenly determined. They are laden with heaps of reasons to buy and buy now. They track the archetypal model that rules direct marketing – Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. It is the timeless mold that we wish for our customers to adhere to.

Not every business can or should construct an infomercial. Not every product is well-matched for a 30-minute red-eye slot. However, every sales and marketing team – for one afternoon – can slum down the back alleys of Infomercial Land and crystallize the story of their product. Such an exercise compels us to instill life and liveliness into our brand’s intention, our unique selling proposition, and all of the other suggestions that we spend far too much time and money developing and hiding behind. It insists on an unsullied peep at all we do to advance our product. It forces us into our customer’s shoes as we polish a well-rehearsed, vigilantly designed elevator pitch. We concentrate exclusively on what our customers witness, heed, and sense.

Here’s how:

1. Classify your audience. Who loves you? Who will applaud on cue? Who’s sidetracked? Who is busy with the bothers of day-to-day life? This is significant. It drives your infomercial scrutiny of your business.
2. Establish your layout. Do you advertise your business like a talk show or a small group dialogue? Are you primarily lecture or extremely interactive? Do you bring forward demonstrations, testimonials, or hands-on training? Are you enlightening, compelling, or schmaltzy? Your answers showcase the design of your sales culture.
3. Pick your talking head. Male or female? Youthful or seasoned? Street, casual, business, or formal attire? Down home, refined, or obscure in tone? How you come into view to your customers is how they connect with you.
4. Zero in on the one advantage you offer. This is your hook, so select watchfully. What is the most important basis I should pay money for your product? From here, you can distinguish a number of corollary benefits that build off of your one central benefit.
5. Agree on your selling price. Not too high, not too low but, most of all, present incomparable value. Don’t defer to your existing pricing arrangement. Start from scratch. Acknowledge that price is a significant piece of every sales and marketing equation. Gauge expected lifetime value of every customer, new and existing.
6. Put into words why a purchase must come about at the moment. You may not make the sale on the spot, but your customer needs to be familiar with why he should buy and buy at this moment. Act as if the choice will be completed today. Now assert why it should be made today.
7. Set apart an act-now inducement that draws the fence-sitters in your audience. A free toaster won’t pass muster. How about a complimentary consultation? A 10 percent discount? More basis points on a deposit or below rate financing? The solution is to be ingenious. Identify with what would stimulate the audience you classified in #1 above. Package it in a mouth-watering bid that no one can turn down.

When you bring to a close the demarcation of your infomercial line of attack to sales and service, you will have fashioned a roadmap for all of your ensuing marketing efforts. You will be on familiar terms with unerringly why your customers ought to buy from you. You will appreciate customer hot buttons. You will recognize customer enticements. You will grasp the one reason why customers should select you.

What may have felt like a sellout at first will, in the end, lend a hand as you sell out of your products. For that alone, You’ll say WOW Everytime®.

Populism, Groupthink, and Conventional Wisdom – Like Lemmings off A Cliff

For a moment, reflect on the expression, “Like lemmings off of a cliff.” What images come to your mind? The lunacy of crowds? The frame of mind of the herd? Following the rear end in front you despite the consequences of the ultimate conclusion?

The statement comes from the migratory habits of the lemming, a diminutive rodent found in the arctic tundra. When their population density becomes too outsized, brawny biological compulsions send masses of the rodents running. In the case of Norway lemmings, the considerable groups will sooner or later come upon a cliff having a view over the ocean. As more and more lemmings arrive from the back of the pack, those in the front and middle are pushed or run off the boundary of the cliff. While the impression of premeditated mass lemming suicide is legend, potentially perilous or grave consequences go together with anyone who goes along – indubitably – with popular opinion, thinking, and behavior.

This is not E1™ philosophy, the approach of The Elite One Percent™.

Go back to your days as a child. Did your parents ever ask you, “If all of your friends jumped off of a cliff, would you?” Of course they did. You were doing something that you were not supposed to do because everyone else was doing it, too. Now, be honest: Have you asked the same question to your children? Now, be even more straightforward: Have you asked the same question of yourself? Are we thinking and acting like lemmings off of a cliff?

Populism, groupthink, and conventional wisdom follow us all through life. It occasionally influences how we reason, act, react, and act in response. For most, this class of thinking is driven by the path of the multitude. And it belongs nowhere in close proximity to the E1™ system of thinking. Nearly 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville would call this populist mindset a product of “the tyranny of the majority.”

The hazard in accepting populist messages, groupthink, and conventional wisdom is that we move forward without independent thought and action. Populism, historically, is the archetypal mêlée of the common folk critical of the elite. The “Haves” versus the “Have Not’s.” How dare someone reason differently, act another way, and receive something altogether poles apart. After all, if we all fuse together, isn’t it complex to pull away? At its root, populism asks that we side with the majority.

Groupthink is no different. Groupthink is a category of deliberation exhibited by party members who endeavor to reduce disagreement and arrive at consensus exclusive of critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating thoughts. It aims to do something because something must be done. At its root, groupthink wants to please all and upset none.

Conventional wisdom is a term used to explain ideas or clarifications that are by and large accepted as accurate by the public or by experts in a field. It points to a higher authority since tenure and pre-eminence must bring the correct way out with it. At its root, conventional wisdom asks that we trust those in power.

For example, look at the existing economic confusion that leaders in Washington, DC are struggling to solve. How does E1™ thinking stand out against what many would like us to, without issue, acknowledge and trust?

• Populism asks, “What must the federal government do to stimulate the economy?” E1™ thinking asks “Why is ‘must’ our only option?”
• Groupthink says “We must get credit flowing and force banks to lend.” E1™ thinking wonders, “Why are we assuming that people and businesses want to borrow in the first place?”
• Conventional wisdom states that deficit spending is good policy. E1™ thinking states, “Maybe we should think twice about borrowing too much when future income is uncertain. Isn’t that the business of venture capital?”

I chose a political illustration for the reason that that it tends to be the conversation essence of today. However, you can utilize this rival means of cogitating in all situations in life. It’s really just a matter of self-determining scrutiny and contemplation before arriving at your inference.

I’ll go out on a limb and state that E1™ thinking should refuse to accept populism, groupthink, and conventional wisdom. In thinking autonomously, we may arrive at the same conclusion as the other 99 percent, but not without consideration. More important, we may ascertain that the other 99 percent have it all wrong. Our thinking will then maneuver our actions and generate our results – Elite One Percent™ results.