The reason I decided to write this blog post is to explain you how the student journey has changed in the last decade. As I mentioned in the video, consumers are taking more educated decisions and flight training is not the exception.
Thanks for reporting a problem. We'll attach technical data about this session to help us figure out the issue. Which of these best describes the problem?
Any other details or context?
Every potential student starts with a Google research
Awareness Stage
At the age of 30 years old I started questioning myself “when would be a good time to become a recreational pilot?”. At first, I thought that you needed to have a science degree or some special abilities to fly an aircraft. So, I started asking all sort of questions about how difficult is to become a recreational pilot to see for myself if that was true. After reading some blog articles I discovered that flying an airplane was not that difficult.
Consideration Stage
Now that I had discovered that becoming a recreational pilot was not that difficult, I continued my research by asking a different set of questions like “how much?” and “how long will it take?”. I learned that the time it takes to become a private pilot in the US is an average of 60 to 70 Hours. Also, I learned that you need to fly often and be consistent to save time in the process, beside many other things.
Decision Stage
After clarifying my doubts and fears about flying, I moved to the final stage which is about taking a decision. By taking a decision I don’t mean I’m ready to fly but I start asking myself “Why now?” “How about at the retiring age? “What about in 10 years?”. I was researching flight schools all over the US to compare how local schools were equipped in comparison with other schools in the nation. I was considering to spend between US$8,000 to $12,000 plus my time doing ground school learning the material and flight training. Finally, I chose 3 local schools, I visited their website to compare one to another and then I decided to visit them.
Time & Technology
Now that I have explained my journey from research to enrollment in a flight school, let me tell you that this does not happen overnight. It took me around 6 months from research to enrollment to take my decision. Why is this important? We have seen that student pilots take from 6 to 12 months to take their decision to pursue a career in aviation. But you might be asking how a flight school can engage a prospect student for so long? The answer is by using technology. Yes, flight schools could use available technology to empower their employees. Using marketing automation in combination with a customer relationship management (CRM) system, your flight school could engage more qualified pilots and start a conversation with them.
Never is too late to start embracing these positive changes that will help you grow and scale your flight school online. It is well known that change can be difficult at the beginning and decide to move forward with it is a tough decision, but it will payoff in the future.
If you have questions or want to learn more about how you can transform your flight school click here to schedule 30 minutes call directly in my calendar.
2 Comments
Click here to read/write comments