Several years ago, I was given my first opportunity to visit Augusta National Golf Club as a guest of a new customer. As does happen occasionally, customers will cordially throw out offers to stay at the lake house, or use their ski condo, etc., but rarely, does this ever end up happening. Not in this case.
The trip was an honor and an enlightening process! Not only did it drive home the deep traditions of golf at Augusta National, but it showed me how much our customers valued our relationship. What an ideal forum and venue to spend quality time with your business partners and show your appreciation. If only we could take all our customers, business partners, and vendors to a place to show our appreciation on a Masters level! It is the highest “Holy Grail” of events—not only for golf lovers, but for lovers of all sports. Bucket list item to say the least!
When I first walked onto the grounds of Augusta National, I was speechless. There’s not one blade of grass out of place. Everything is green—everything. Even the trash cans and TV towers are green! Oh, and by the way, you cannot see them because they’re hidden in the trees. There are no cables running on the ground, no electronic scoreboards, nothing that would show you anything other than what the club was originally built to be, and how the tradition was meant to uphold.
So how does this pertain to the Pilatus program and the JetSwiss model? Well, the Masters is the only major tournament that is played at the same venue every year—tradition. The Masters holds exclusive rights to everything; TV and media, apparel, tickets, etc.—exclusivity and highly focused expertise if you will. Sound familiar? Pilatus did not create five different aircraft models. Yes, they’ve created a few different models over the years, but largely in part due to their military trainer background. JetSwiss originally decided to be hyper-focused on Pilatus because of our background, history, and tradition. The Masters winners receive the heralded green jacket (which must be always worn on the grounds while a member is there). JetSwiss has created a few traditions of our own. Each delivery has our little Kahu Hawaiian dashboard dancer (Hawaiian for honored attendant, guardian, nurse, regent, keeper, administrator, warden, caretaker) on the glare shield. Each delivery starts with a big red bow on top (symbolizing that the process is complete to the fullest of abilities and celebrating the starting day of a new Pilatus journey). Look around you. You can see examples of what I am talking about all over. Rolex makes watches, they don’t make other things like pens or wallets. Lamborghini makes luxury sports cars and SUV’s. They don’t attempt to be everything to everybody. Rolex, Lamborghini, Augusta National Golf Club and Jetswiss have similar characteristics. They are all small batch production, with a focus on craftsmanship, pricing integrity, exclusivity, traditions, and demand. Only 4% of the worldwide PC-12 fleet is for sale as compared to 4.5% of the entire turboprop fleet and 7% of the light jet segment being listed for sale. Subsequently, since we started tracking the data back in 2014, never has the PC-12 traded (on average) below the 73% residual mark. In fact, during this time period, the PC-12 has averaged 82.5% residual. These statistics put Pilatus in a category all by itself. Call it tradition.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have a champions dinner like the Masters winners do? Who would you invite? Your favorite and best clients?!?
Fly Safe,
Bub