CatYaaak
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2002
- Posts
- 809
You have to have a little "salesman" in you, but even if you are like me and couldn't sell a lifejacket to a drowning man, selling "flying" comes naturally if you love it and let that enthusiam show through. Being professional does not equate with being stoic, and at some level the prospective student shares that enthusiam.
Remember that time spent with you, the instructor, is time they will not be spending with their significant others, spouses, kids, or at their jobs. Other people in their lives may be negative motivators, telling the student that flying is a waste of time, their hard-earned money, or may possibly get them killed. Give them the things that counteract these doubts which they may to some degree harbor themselves: enthused professionalism and individual attention.
Sometimes selling yourself or school over another is a matter of information and what kind of instructor you want to be. For instance, I instructed at a place that had no policy regarding what to charge for ground school. Since I believe a student is owed a good brief and debrief as a part of every flight lesson, I told them up front they wouldn't be charged for them if they prepared. I let them know there were only 3 times they would be billed for ground school, and the length of those sessions would depend entirely on how much they studied: 1 session prior to soloing, 1 long session during x-country work, and 1 session prior to their check ride. "Hangar flying" was never billed. Generally for older students, their time is in demand, and since studying may not be something they have done in decades, motivating them to do so is harder than for a college kid. I gave something tangible in return for doing so; money saved. For those who could have easily afforded it, it still served at least as a token of my recognition that their time was valuable (they were the kind who would give you a bottle of Dom, etc. for X-mas). Students appreciate openess and consideration, and you never know when or what will tip the scales in your favor.
Outside of flying aerobatics, I think the most consistently fun and rewarding thing I've done in aviation has occured on the ground; watching a student's first solo. From the look on their faces the moment you exit the running airplane and proclaim you are sick and tired of riding around the traffic pattern with someone who's performance has relegated you to serving as mere ballast and then watching them grease 3 on, to the new confidence and sometimes outright joy they express as they as they egress ("I'll take care of the postflight and tie down today because I'm still your instructor dammit and I'm instructing you to go use the phone and tell someone what an awesome job you just did flying this airplane").
I think I always shared in their natural high, remembering my own first solo. And I'd venture to guess that because no alcohol is ever involved, a greater percentage of people can accurately reflect and remember the excitement of "knowing I can fly" than they do at least one of the other rite-of-passage "firsts" in their lives. I've never met anyone who has forgotten.
Remember that time spent with you, the instructor, is time they will not be spending with their significant others, spouses, kids, or at their jobs. Other people in their lives may be negative motivators, telling the student that flying is a waste of time, their hard-earned money, or may possibly get them killed. Give them the things that counteract these doubts which they may to some degree harbor themselves: enthused professionalism and individual attention.
Sometimes selling yourself or school over another is a matter of information and what kind of instructor you want to be. For instance, I instructed at a place that had no policy regarding what to charge for ground school. Since I believe a student is owed a good brief and debrief as a part of every flight lesson, I told them up front they wouldn't be charged for them if they prepared. I let them know there were only 3 times they would be billed for ground school, and the length of those sessions would depend entirely on how much they studied: 1 session prior to soloing, 1 long session during x-country work, and 1 session prior to their check ride. "Hangar flying" was never billed. Generally for older students, their time is in demand, and since studying may not be something they have done in decades, motivating them to do so is harder than for a college kid. I gave something tangible in return for doing so; money saved. For those who could have easily afforded it, it still served at least as a token of my recognition that their time was valuable (they were the kind who would give you a bottle of Dom, etc. for X-mas). Students appreciate openess and consideration, and you never know when or what will tip the scales in your favor.
Outside of flying aerobatics, I think the most consistently fun and rewarding thing I've done in aviation has occured on the ground; watching a student's first solo. From the look on their faces the moment you exit the running airplane and proclaim you are sick and tired of riding around the traffic pattern with someone who's performance has relegated you to serving as mere ballast and then watching them grease 3 on, to the new confidence and sometimes outright joy they express as they as they egress ("I'll take care of the postflight and tie down today because I'm still your instructor dammit and I'm instructing you to go use the phone and tell someone what an awesome job you just did flying this airplane").
I think I always shared in their natural high, remembering my own first solo. And I'd venture to guess that because no alcohol is ever involved, a greater percentage of people can accurately reflect and remember the excitement of "knowing I can fly" than they do at least one of the other rite-of-passage "firsts" in their lives. I've never met anyone who has forgotten.
