Something for next week
One of the most popular TED talks is focused on why people procrastinate. I have not actually got around to watching it yet, but Tim Urban, the presenter, apparently ends by arguing that we should all hurry up and not delay doing things.
Many people selling aircraft this summer will agree with this sentiment. One of the greatest advantages of using business aviation is that it gives people more time. But this also means that most aircraft are bought by busy people.
Once someone has identified that they need an aircraft, salespeople have limited time to get things agreed before the buyer gets distracted by something like a takeover opportunity or a new project (one superyacht broker estimates that they often have less than a week to get things tied up). Documenting (and financing) the sale obviously takes longer – but the key is to get the initial commitment.
Urban’s presentation explains why this is true. He says that the easiest things to procrastinate on are projects or decisions where there is no hard deadline (like choosing an aircraft as opposed to taking delivery of an aircraft).
One of the problems with 2016 is that there are a lot of distractions out there. We have seen volatile markets, many shocking events and lots of geopolitical worry. Things like the UK referendum and the US elections where dates are set in advance are particularly bad. Brokers are already talking about customers delaying until they know who the president will be.
It is hard to find an answer for this problem. I don’t have one. But if I did I would probably save it for next week’s email anyway.
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