Before commencing with this post can I define "quality" customer from a business point of view:
Not just someone who pays up on time, but someone who values quality service and goods and is prepared to pay a small, but justifiable premium for them.
Someone who will not accept second best, especially from a service point of view and who appreciates a business that will put themselves out for them, the customer.
Someone who is prepared to demand the best value for money and is not afraid to ask for it. This does not necessarily mean being a toff or t**t, just someone who demands excellence in return for spending their money. That doesn't mean they have to be overcharged and DOES NOT preclude the majority of us from the equation.
The problem lies in the fact that we are all too prepared to roll over and just accept that the situation will not change. I am not dismissing older aircraft, indeed would be more than happy to own a 1946 Cessna 120 or suchlike, but the question posed is how do we attract new blood to GA. There will always be those of us who love the older or PFA type aircraft, but we need to remember that this is about attracting those that may never have considered flying as a hobby, or have been put off by the dilapidated state of the average school aircraft.
In addition, there is very little encouragement to continue because of the discussed lack of a real club atmosphere. They are out there, but the majority of clubs I have come across are no more than a means of providing refreshment to thirsty students and tired, unenthusiastic instructors.
Something else that needs considering is that we also need to attract younger, as well as the better off, newcomers. As they grow up, kids are used to having the latest games and technology and then....... those with aspirations to fly for fun are greeted by the typical worn out/ageing school fleet of Cessna's. Hence only those with a REAL desire to fly are going to go ahead and do so.
There is a quality customer/consumer inside all of us, we just need to demand more.
How many schools/clubs actually know about marketing their product?? Judging by what I see, not many do, not in an effective manner.
This was touched on in an earlier post, and noone has seized on it. Effective marketing is the one way to raise your company profile, turnover and profits. Why else do all the major companies in the world spend so much on marketing and promotion? Because it works!!!!
With regard to promoting a flying school/club it needs to be directed to the correct market in the right way. There are so many options open to business to contact their target groups these days there can be no excuse for being able to reach them.
Directly, and in the comfort of their own homes.
And in a professional manner, offering a professional product/service that would actually atrract them to aviation rather than restricting the attraction to those of us that desperately want to fly and will therefore, it seems, put up with whatever is thrown at us. Or to those that will put up with it in order to achieve their dream of a RHS in a shiny jet.
So, yes the way ahead is for a school/club with a modern outlook, in the right area, staffed with the right people, with modern aircraft and offering much more than is currently available. And yes I believe it would make a long term profit and raise the profile of GA, desperately needed everywhere. And maybe, just maybe, when others saw that it was working, they too would make the effort and the changes neccesary to compete.
It can only be beneficial to us all.