Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 19

Strong Ties
Building and maintaining relationships in the aviation industry
By Glenn Hickerson Early in my career, the marketing-oriented head of an OEM reportedly told his sales team: First, sell YOURSELF to your customer. Don’t go further until you’re successful. Then, sell your COMPANY. Finally, after you’re successful in selling these two relationships, sell the AIRCRAFT. I started on the ﬁnance side of aviation, building relationships to help our company finance new aircraft sales to smaller, usually little-known and weaker credit airlines. Relationships with banks and leasing/ﬁnancing sources were extremely important. Small airlines needed the manufacturer to locate ﬁnancing sources and do the analytical analysis to demonstrate the airplane would be successful in repaying the debt or lease obligation. Frequently, the manufacturer needed to provide ﬁnancial support in the form of guarantees and/ or subordinated debt to ﬁll the equity gap the airline couldn’t provide. It’s easy to assume that relationships were more important in those early days then now, when there’s more transparency and aircraft ﬁnancing can mistakenly be perceived as a commodities bus iness. Relationships today are harder to develop because there are so many more players. I never fail to come home from an ISTAT event (or other industry meeting) without getting more from the relationship creation or development opportunities than I had expected. Relationships are so much easier to develop, more lasting and of better quality if they result from personal meetings as opposed to telephone and e-mail communication. The strength of my early industry relationships overcame my then limited industry knowledge to propel me to become treasurer of a small charter airline at a young age. Later—to my complete surprise—I became CEO. There were enormous problems. Our historical business carrying automotive parts went off a cliff

Barcelona

Eighteenth European Conference

18-20 September, 2011 • Hotel Arts • Barcelona, Spain

Connect with your colleagues in the aviation industry for a networking event like no other in this creative and one-of-a-kind city. Join us in Barcelona to hear from industry leaders and discover unique answers for success in the aviation market. For complete details, visit www.ISTAT.org.
Presented by the International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading

Jetrader 19

http://www.istat.org

Jetrader - July/August 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Jetrader - July/August 2011

Jetrader - July/August 2011
A Message from the President
Contents
Calendar/News
State of the Regions: Russia and CIS
Flights to the Finish
Power Play: Changing Engines with the Oil
AirLink Responds to Japan Earthquake
Strong Ties
Aircraft Appraisals
From the ISTAT Foundation
Aviation History
Advertiser.com/ Advertiser Index
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Jetrader - July/August 2011
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Cover2
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 3
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 4
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - A Message from the President
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 6
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Contents
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 8
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Calendar/News
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - State of the Regions: Russia and CIS
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 11
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Flights to the Finish
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 13
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 14
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 15
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Power Play: Changing Engines with the Oil
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - AirLink Responds to Japan Earthquake
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 18
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Strong Ties
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 20
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Aircraft Appraisals
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 22
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - From the ISTAT Foundation
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Aviation History
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - 25
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Advertiser.com/ Advertiser Index
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Cover3
Jetrader - July/August 2011 - Cover4
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0612
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0512
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0412
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0312
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0212
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTR0011
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0112
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0611
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0511
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0411
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0610
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0410
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0310
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0210
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0110
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0609
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0509
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0409
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0309
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0209
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0109
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0608
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0508
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0408
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0308
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/naylor/ISTS0208
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