Knock, knock. Are our competitors home? And do we want to talk to them?

A cutout from an advertisement
we did during this Acquisition.

As a company that has recently shifted its focus from actively getting aircraft listings and selling them to one that acquires aircraft for clients that it represents, Chase Aviation Company, and all of us involved in the projects, have the frequent opportunity to see how our competitors represent their aircraft and that of their clients.  And the results are both frustrating and encouraging at the same time!


While I would never "name names," and I would say that near half of the aircraft we inquire on by phone, DO NOT answer when called.  We leave a voice mail and about half of those return the call within the next 24 hours.  Of those, almost all of them are informed of their "product" enough to answer the initial questions we have and to explain that while the asking price is high, their customer is open of offers.  GREAT.


Of the ones that don't return the phone call in the next 24 hours, we typically follow up with either an email inquiry or a phone inquiry, whichever we had yet to try.  Sometimes that kicks people into gear, sometimes it doesn't.  In a lot of markets, there is enough on-market inventory that we don't need to go any further with the inquiry... the theory being, if they're this hard to get a hold of on an initial inquiry, they'll be a nightmare to work with if we got into a deal.  So the owners of EASILY 25% of the on-market aircraft, are never going to know that they had an interested party that hired a professional aircraft sales company, signed an exclusive agreement doing so and either paid a retainer fee or put a deposit into Escrow, seriously interested in discussing their aircraft further.


To me, hearing that story, I'd be ready to fire my so-called "agent" as soon as I verified that it was true.  After all, what are they being hired for?!


So there are times when I look at our available aircraft for sale and think, "Gees, I wish we had more aircraft for sale. What can I do to better represent our clients thereby earning an even better reputation which will in the end, bring us more listings?"  And then there are times when I realize that the bar is set so low, all I really need to do is wake up in the morning and get to the office, manage my time and simply pick up the phone when it rings!  It is for these reasons that I no longer wonder why aircraft brokers have a bad name in this business and why it is when a good aircraft sales company prospects for a listing, the response is a Pavlovian door slammed in the face.


This is just another story that proves YOU NEED GOOD REPRESENTATION when buying an aircraft, so if you want to discuss the services we provide, please email us at acquisitions@ChaseAviation.com, watch the video below or visit our website at www.ChaseAviation.com!