It’s been a little over a year since Judy and I moved to the area, and I have found my business is changing as a result of the move. In the past, I had been active in the same community for 35 years so most of my business contacts were well established. As I am new to Airdrie, I find it necessary to re-establish new contacts to expand my On Hold Advertising Business. My business is responsible for those annoying messages you hear while you are on hold. Of course, it is much less annoying than listening to Acid Rock when you are a Classical music fan, or radio static, and the business gets to inform you about other products that may interest you.

So now, I get to make cold calls to get the word out that I am open for business. Now that might sound like an easy thing to do, but as most salesmen know, the cold call or prospecting is one of the toughest things to do. Your mind becomes full of negative thoughts about all the things that might go wrong when cold calling. The fear of rejection is crippling and most times it is so much easier to put it off for another day.

I got to thinking about new potential members coming to a meeting. It is a sort of a cold call but instead of meeting just one or two people the perspective new member meets 30 or 40 people all at once. Talk about fear of rejection.

When a new person attends a meeting, we all have to make an extra effort to make that person feel welcome. We sure don’t want a new prospect to think he or she has just walked into an old boys’ club with no room for the newbie. As a group there is so much, we can share with each other, and what a shame it is when that new person gets turned off at the first meeting never to return. I have seen one or two guest appearances and disappearances.

One thought I had in mind was an executive position that would welcome the new person and direct them to the area of expertise that would help them out the best. I had asked a particular person to take up this torch but work and business commitments make it difficult for him to take on this post at this time.

In the meantime I ask everyone to meet and greet any prospective member and help them feel welcome. Just introduce yourself and ask what the person’s area of interest is: What do they like to fly? Do they fly? Are they building something? Are they at a point where some help might be required? Are there any questions about the club they would like answered? Engage the new person in a conversation by asking them questions. You might be amazed at what you might learn. And while I think about it, how about bringing a friend to a meeting. Maybe someone you know has expressed an interest in flight and a meeting may be a great way to further explore their interest, especially when you think of our meeting facility.

Recently, because my Avid is waiting for a motor, I have been lucky enough to share a couple of rides with fellow members and picked up a couple of tips. I went for a ride in Bert Lougheed’s Tiger and was again amazed at the smooth performance and great winter air. There are times I enjoy the ride even more than piloting the plane myself and we had a great day with perfect air. I am sure there are others that enjoy the right seat so if you are headed skyward and have a spare seat why not invite someone along. You could look at it as your contribution to member recruitment. One proviso is to make sure you are legal to do so and carry insurance on the passenger.

I also got a chance to ride with Brian Byl in his Cessna 140 and enjoyed the day. We flew from Carstairs to Linden and then to Airdrie. The air in Carstairs and Linden was nice and smooth, but Airdrie had a good Crosswind with some burbling air at 4000-4500 feet. By the way, Brian nailed the crosswind landing. Always nice to do when you have a witness. It continued to burble until we were north of Crossfield. On the ground at Carstairs it was pretty much dead calm. Now for a tip from the journals of Brian. Brian has a kneeboard, with a list taped to the back. The list on the back of the kneeboard has all the weekend flyers, their names and the call letters of their aircraft. This might be an old tip for the group, but one I had never seen and so I thought I would remind all about a great way to stay in touch in the air.

But now it’s time for me to get back to my cold calling, and in a shameless effort at self-promotion. If you know of someone looking to add some informative messages to their phone system, please let them know you know someone that can help them.

Till next time Good Lies and smooth Skies