Even the bad times can be good for the men and women in the frontline

This issue, EBAN begins a series of features looking at the issues facing a particular group of business aviation professionals. 'Perspectives' will sound out decision makers on their working life, how they overcome problems and their hopes for the future.

The aircraft salesman has to learn how to cope with the stress of working with extremely demanding clients across multiple time zones that can be as much as 17 hours apart in order to cope with a lifestyle that is less glamorous than it appears to the outsider.

Buyers in Europe and the Middle East have access to a competitive global marketplace and the salesman's approach is governed by the knowledge that some deals will be quick, others will be slow and many will fall through – often at the last minute.

Gabriella Somerville, md ConnectJets Limited, says: "Selling is similar to childbirth. Some deliveries are long, painful and drawn out, others are over in the blink of an eye. The engagement period is normally about nine months, but if finance is not required then the timeline can be reduced."

Somerville adds: "Intuition plays a huge part in sales. From the moment of engagement, the broker should have a pretty clear idea of where their client is in the process. Normally the shortest deals are transacted when the timing is absolutely ripe, the groundwork has been done and the buyer is positioned and ready to purchase. There are some clients who merely dance with the idea of acquisition and engage multiple brokers which can be a waste of valuable time. Then there are those who require a long-term approach but are nonetheless serious buyers who go on to transact eight to 15 months down the road."

Companies which carry out private charter and source aircraft for clients say the clients benefit from their operational experience. Edward Queffelec, sales manager of Geneva-based Masterjet Aircraft Trading, says: "I believe it is important for an aircraft salesman to be working together with an aircraft operator to get the operational feedback with the benefit that the technical department will assist on the most complex aspects. We at Masterjet commercially operate Cessna, Learjet, Bombardier, Dassault and Airbus aircraft which gives me a real-life analysis of the aircraft's performances and reliability, technical assistance to locate the potential flaws of an aircraft, the charter potential of an aircraft type, or even to provide the buyer with a management budget so he can really have all the information before launching the project. Furthermore, having some charter customers on an aircraft type gives us some potential customers when we have such aircraft for sale."

The choice of aircraft is so fundamental that potential buyers turn to a wide variety of contacts for advice ranging from pilots to charter operators. Philippe Fragnière, for instance, points out that Exklusiv Aviation is not a broker. "Among its other functions, it acts as an exclusive charter sales agent working closely with a few selected charter operators."

However: "We work together with aviation professionals to select the aircraft according to the wishes of our clients. We often work directly with the aircraft manufacturer in case the client wishes to purchase a brand new aircraft. We prefer otherwise to work with each manufacturers' second hand aircraft department to provide a pre-owned aircraft."

Harduin Putrich of the JetAlliance Group confirms that the culture and business mentality of a country greatly affects negotiations. "In southern Eastern Europe one has to expect long negotiations, many meetings and many evening events – the personal contact in these countries is indispensable and lots of patience is required when you want to conclude a contract here. On the other hand in eastern countries such as Poland or the Czech Republic the entire process, although personalised, can be described as more formal."

Andrew Hughes, Ocean Sky's managing director aircraft management, says high end sales require passion, commitment and time. "You are dealing with very high net worth individuals with exacting standards, not to mention the high value luxury products that they are looking to buy. That is a 24-7 world where you may be in Frankfurt when the client is in Hong Kong or you may be in Washington and the client in Dubai so there simply are no off-duty hours. If you're on the end of a $50m deal then you don't tell the client to leave an answerphone message and if they want to see you in person, you go to wherever it is.

"On the plus side there is great travel, you socialise and network and visit the client's business or the aircraft manufacturers and so, yes, there is what would be seen as the 'glamour' part of the job as well."

Huxley Cowen of PC Aviation says aircraft sales are arguably the least regulated and most difficult part of aviation as a whole. "To do it properly requires a large amount of knowledge, an ability to negotiate with the most hard-nosed of people, a mass of experience, the patience of Job and a good sense of humour. Unfortunately, because there are no exams to pass or qualifications to collect, it is open to any Tom, Dick or Mary with a good line in patter, who may care to chance their arm. In addition, because the commissions can be large, it tends to attract the less desirable 'sales people' who wrongly see it as an easy way to make large amounts of money."

But Cowen reports that the global economic crisis has had positive effects. "Fortunately due to the downturn in the aviation sales market many of these 'sales people' are no longer interested as the sales are few and you have to really work at them to get through to completion."

Rob Seaman, founder and president of The Aviation Advantage Inc (AvAd Inc), says the economic recession created new levels of desperation, stress and tension. "Buyers sometimes made ridiculous offers to see how desperate sellers were. Fortunately that is not nearly as common now as it was a few months ago as the market has sorted itself, the deals are not as plentiful and the buyers and sellers are less panicked. All that said, the question we still get first from most sellers is "does the buyer have their money?"

"Cash is king and many sellers simply will not tie up their asset while a prospective buyer looks for their funds after finding the right aircraft. The best advice remains: if you are serious about buying, do the bank process first – it will give your offer more substance when the seller looks at it."

The job generates moments of boredom mixed with others of sheer panic and stress. "For those who thrive on such, the rewards are there. When the times are good and sales are happening it is a great way to work. When times are tough, you better have good back-up – either money in the bank or other income streams besides just selling aircraft."

Stress is directly related to market conditions. Daniel Jennings, ceo The Private Jet Company, says the market has returned to 2007/2008 levels of interest regarding calls and real buyers, but prices and transactions are still significantly below 2007 highs."

He says: "I have a few thoughts as a fixed wing corporate jet broker. The career as an aircraft broker has evolved to include market forecaster, distress loan adviser, psychiatrist and financial adviser. What I mean is, I hear from my clients and they are telling me the good, bad and ugly of their business and looking for options of how to either get out of the aircraft they are currently in with the least amount of pain or looking to take advantage of the distressed market to make the best deal possible.

"Buyers until the fourth quarter of 2010 were in the most part unrealistic with regards to pricing as, no matter where the aircraft was priced, they would offer 35 per cent below and sellers outright rejected such bids. At this time many of the higher value late model repo and distress aircraft are gone and what comes to market is priced to sell, with less negotiation room as markets begin to tighten."

Jennings may well hold some sort of record for both the shortest and longest sales period. "The longest process was a buyer I spoke to for three years and finally completed a transaction and the shortest was a BBJ $60m purchase that was started on a Friday and closed the following Thursday all cash. We negotiated and worked with attorneys in three countries and two US states through five times zones almost 24-7 for six days to meet the closing schedule."