Mesinger Pulse – “Witticisms”
My days are spent going from one client/prospect call to the other and you can only imagine the depth of great wisdom about business, global politics and personal philosophy I am fortunate enough to absorb. However, some of my favorite takeaways from the calls are the witticisms I hear. They are often times priceless. I want to share a few of them with you in this month’s newsletter as well as the context with which they were expressed. They of course have all been stated recently in our discussions about today’s market environment.
The first one I want to address is “Set and Forget”. This was articulated to me by a client who is one of the finest business minds I know. He was lamenting about the continuing declining market. After gathering all of the data points from those he trusted and weighing the pros and cons of buying in what looks like a less than stable market, he was just going to set and forget. I asked him what that meant and he went on to say he was in a position to just buy based on his needs and desires and not focus moment to moment on the future value swings. He of course wants to make a stellar buy and try to mitigate as best he can for future losses. However, he was not going to dwell. In fact, his willingness to still buy in today’s environment and not get distracted should be a model for more prospects as they weigh the value of the tool against all other input. It is this balance that he embraces that will keep the demand side of our industry vibrant.
The second one to address was from a client who is “On a War Path to Simplicity”. I don’t think I have ever heard a better way to describe a point in one’s life where simpler is better, less is more! Often in someone’s life it is just time to scale back and enjoy the spoils. The clients/prospects who we have are all extremely busy and successful individuals. I can totally understand how moving to less clutter in their world starts to be center stage as time moves on. Our job in response to the comment about simplicity as aircraft sales professionals is to be sure we are giving timely and accurate input as to valuations of their aircraft with a view to the current status of value and one for future market times. As we give this input we must be reminded that our industry is not static and therefore constantly changing with surprises around every corner. Global economic shifts that can come out of nowhere as well as global political changes can affect markets and pop up where least expected. This means no matter how sure we may feel about the future, the best gauge we can give is the market today as impacted by the very near term past.
Third, “Even a broken clock is right twice a day!” Not that anyone really ever wants to be compared to a broken clock, but how true. I know like us in our office you work very hard to be right and well founded in client/prospect advice. We want to nail it when asked a question about the type of plane to buy to meet a specific mission or costs of operation or more importantly future values. We all come to our office daily and do the research that will shape the answers. As aircraft professionals none of us want to be right by default. The key to our individual successes is to be right and guide thoughtfully. It is this guidance that if trusted by our clients/prospects will help shape decisions that will provide for fewer days on the market if selling, best buys on aircraft acquired and lower more efficient costs of operations. Trust is the key word. The bond built on trust between our clients and ourselves is priceless.
And one of the most well-known witticisms and an obvious personal pun; “Don’t Shoot the Messenger” not to be misconstrued with “Don’t shoot the Mesinger!!” I do not think this one needs any further explanation.
Our office is focused every day on distilling the raw data in this ever changing market. We collect it from constant contact with other sellers, data points from recent transactions and trends in market segments. Our intelligence is leading to a new level of trust with our clients/prospects that we believe will lead to fewer days on the market and maximized returns. It is more critical than ever to provide your clients/prospects with empirical data to make the point and we are finding that to be a huge asset to the discussions we are having on a daily basis. My last Pulse newsletter discussed how to create selling prices that mean business. In the previous one I cautioned buyers and sellers about the danger of offering too little, asking too much and being too late to affect a sale before the prices fall once again. We want to help our clients be successful in their witticisms and not have to duck when the message is delivered!
I hope I will see many of you next month in Orlando. The NBAA BACE will be taking place November 1st through the 3rd. There are going to be 27,000+ Industry Professionals, 1,100+ Exhibitors, 2 Static Display areas and 50+ Educational sessions. What a great time to come together as an industry. See you there.