Since 2002 the bestselling certified single-engine airplane in the world has been the Cirrus SR22. More than 700 new Cirruses have been sold per year for the past two years, and the company hopes to sell 800 in 2008. The question is, how do they do that?
How do you take on Cessna and Columbia and prevail in this market? To find out, I spent a few days with Bill Settle, a Cirrus Regional Training Manager. From him I learned about the selling and marketing philosophy at Cirrus and I heard a little about the structure of these initiatives. These airplanes, it turns out, don’t just fly off the shelves by themselves.
