The Savvy Flight Instructor: Secrets of the Successful CFI

As a manager and chief instructor of a flight school, I found The Savvy Flight Instructor to be one of the best tools around to help instructors understand the real world of flight instruction - in particular handling customer relationships and creating a professional demeanor. I now ask each instructor applicant at our school for a "book report" on this book as a part of their employment interview, and we've made it required reading for our customer service people as well. This book is an absolute gem. I wish I'd read it when I became an instructor 22 years ago.

I recommend the book for it's insightful view into promoting not only yourself as an instructor - but also the flight school at which you may be working. There is a lot of common-sense type information, however there are even more 'tid-bits' of into that one would not even have thought about. It really altered the way I think with regard to marketing. Once you read it, you'll definitely want to be sure your fellow instructors (and flight school owners) get their own copies !

Mr. Brown, a Master CFI and columnist in the National Association of Flight Instructors (NAFI) explores flight instruction *as a business*. Viewed another way, The Savvy Flight Instructor picks up where the FAA's Fundamentals of Instruction left off. In addition to discussing how to successfully build a career out of flight instruction, Mr Brown presents a marketing plan: how to position yourself, where to find prospective students (and how to advertise), determining how serious they are, closing "the deal" and maintaining "customer satisfaction." Having worked with over 25 different instructors in the last five years, I found the customer satisfaction (and projecting professionalism) sections are wonderful. These should be required reading because too often we forget that students *are customers* - they need to feel important, should have their expectations set accurately, can be recurring customers, AND are the best form of advertising. We're not competing amongst each other as much as we are against other ways to use disposable income (e.g., a $6000 jjet-ski).Finally, Mr Brown offers specific suggestions for flight schools. Some of these are no-brainers like "keep the airplanes well-maintained," but there are some more subtle ideas like incorporate a formal ground school (often overlooked), set expectations on how students will be billed (instructors are prone to not bill for time; this also encourages more efficient planning) and incentives for instructors to minimize burnout.This is a great reference for the career instructor as well as the CFI building time for his or her airline job.

As a Flight Instructor, you probably can't wait to do something else. Maybe night freight in a Baron. Maybe right seat in a Beech 1900. But have you ever stopped to consider, in your rush to leave Instructing, that you might be missing a huge opportunity not only to improve your piloting skills, but to improve yourself on a personal level and to MAKE MORE MONEY?Are you hanging up on customers who call your school without getting a name and number? Are you sitting there waiting for the customer to come to you? Are you sick and tired of staring out the window on days with low ceilings, moaning about what a tough life the CFI lives? Are you fed up with driving an 81 econobox with 240,000 miles on it? Are you sick of eating Ramen noodles for dinner and with sharing an apartment with 3 other guys who are just as poor as you are?You can MAKE MORE MONEY in Flight Instructing. The reason you are poor and not flying enough is because your piloting skills alone are just a foundation for your instructing career; now you need to be open to learning about how you can make sure those skills are earning what they are really worth, which I guarantee you is more than $24 a flight hour. If you don't believe me, find the December 1998 issue of Flight Training Magazine and read page 6 very carefully; it's time you opened your eyes and learned about selling, about business, about supply and demand, and about how you can play a part in making the job of the CFI into the Profession we all say it should be. Then, buy this book and start learning.Sincerely,Jeff Packer, CFII