Second Impressions Count

When I finally decided to do something about my dream of becoming a pilot several years ago, the first thing I did was look for a flight school. There are a limited number in my area. I went down to the closest one to check it out.

They seemed legitimate, and had quite a few students. They offered training airplanes. And they had an adequate staff to meet my needs. From my initial research, I determined that the price was fair. Overall, I got a good first impression.

But as I trained, I noticed some things that made me uncomfortable. They appeared to neglect airplane maintenance. Customer satisfaction was a low priority. They seemed more concerned with making money than making their students (customers) happy.

I stayed long enough to earn my license. However, since that day I have not gone back to lease their planes or take advanced lessons. My bad “second impression” kept me from turning into a lifetime customer.

I still had a lot of money to spend on flying. So I found another training school, have since purchased my own airplane, and use their flight facility for all my aviation needs.

My first flight school lost out on huge potential back-end revenues by forgetting about “second impressions.”

Are you doing the same with your business? Do you focus only on getting new customers “in the door”? Do you forget about meeting their needs once they’re in? If you do, you’re not going to be in business very long.