Maverick Helicopters is a Las Vegas-based aerial-tour company that runs excursions to the West Rim and the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. I recently had the pleasure of flying them to Grand Canyon West from Las Vegas. Here is a review of my trip:Maverick Helicopters is a premium provider of heli tours. They pride themselves on quality and client service. I examined them on a couple of highly regarded travel forums. Customers unanimously praised their experience. Definitely a good sign.Maverick has a lot of terrific trips from which to choose, ranging from canyon sunset flights and river-rafting adventures to glass observation deck tickets and Valley of Fire flyovers. I reserved an all-inclusive excursion called the Wind Dancer. It flies to the base of the canyon.One thing that sets apart Maverick from the pack is the site of its terminal. It’s ideally found on the south end of the Las Vegas strip. Transport from hotel to the heliport takes minutes. Plus, by virtue of its location, all Maverick flights include flying over The Strip.The business’s fleet of helicopters is made up entirely of EcoStar 130 aircraft. The EcoStar’s cabin is 25 % larger than the typical chopper’s. The additional space translates into theater-style seating and plenty of leg-and-elbow room. It also sports a 180-degree wraparound windshield and a Fenestron tail rotor that reduces sound. Passengers receive their own headsets. This enables you to plug in to the digital communication system and tune in to a trip narration or chat with the pilot and the other guests.The trip over was amazing. The West Rim is a 45-minute flight from Maverick Helicopter’s heliport. The flight plan goes directly over Lake Mead, the Hoover Dam, and the brand new Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge. Choppers fly at a lower altitude than airplanes so the bird’s eye view you get of the Dam is magnificent.Our West Rim approach was spectacular. I saw the Grand Canyon glass walkway gleaming beneath the desert sun. The 4,000-foot descent takes you through 3 cycles of geological time before coming to a landing. Maverick Helicopter’s dirt helipad was near the legendary Colorado River. It’s humbling when you consider that this river single-handedly made the Grand Canyon. I got out of my reverie and joined up with the rest of the group for a Champagne brunch.Our pilot agreed to guide us about the base (we were also able to explore on our own). I chose to go out with him. I’m glad I did. If not I would have had my head buried in my guidebook. Maverick also provides a chopper trip that lets you prolong a bottom landing with a smooth-water rafting trip down the Colorado.The flight back is fantastic. We re-visited Lake Mead and Hoover Dam and then deviated northward and strafed the Valley of Fire. This region is made up of vibrant orange sandstone. It is a unique place and I’ve never quite seen anything like it. One traveler said it reminded him of Moab, UT.Our return took us over the Las Vegas Strip. This is one more of those Maverick benefits. We hovered above the skyline. To my left, I saw the Planet Hollywood, Paris, MGM Grand, the Wynn, and more. On the ground, I opted to purchase my tour on DVD. The product quality is superb and makes the perfect souvenir.Pick Maverick Helicopters if you are looking for a high quality Grand Canyon helicopter tour from Vegas. The customer service is 5-star. The aircraft are state-of-the-art. And the quality of the flight is peerless. Cut costs by reserving their tours on-line. I did and I know for certain that I nipped off 20%. A visit to Las Vegas is not complete without a West Rim helicopter tour. So do it in style. Do it with Maverick Helicopters.

By Ron Roberts

What I’m going to share with you today is the single most powerful trick I know for supercharging your bottom line.

At some point in time, if you are going to grow your construction business beyond $2 million, you are going to need someone working on sales full time. Now, maybe sales is your thing and you want to do that full time. Fantastic.

It’s almost always best when a business owner is committed to selling. But even if you sell successfully, you may still end up wanting to add another salesman.

If sales isn’t your thing, then you will definitely need to hire a salesman. Either way, you are going to be faced with a critical decision.

How should you pay your new salesman?

Draw (salary) plus commission? Bonuses for sales generated? Increased commission with increased sales volume? A higher commission for new customers? Straight salary?

All of these are commonly used approaches. Not one of them is likely to produce the profit results you seek.

If you let your salesman have his way, he will want a draw plus commission. Most will ask for a pretty stout draw and a relatively modest commission based on revenue sold. Don’t agree to that!

Draw plus commission lines the pockets of your salesman regardless of whether he is making you any money. The purpose of draw plus commission is to drive sales volume. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking sales volume is important.

You need your salesman to focus on PROFITABLE work. Let your competition sell the unprofitable work. That’s work you don’t want and you certainly don’t want your own salesman bringing it to you.

How do you get your salesman to chase profitable work? You align his pay to profit.

Put in place a pay plan that rewards him for profitable work and punishes him for unprofitable work. Basically, make him a pseudo-partner. It is surprisingly easy to do and I’m going to show you how.

1. His entire compensation should be based on commissions on gross profit (a commission rate often in the 20% range).

2. He should be guaranteed a minimum income, whether his earned commissions surpass it or not.

3. His commission rate should stay the same regardless of sales volume or profit generated.

4. If he doesn’t earn his guaranteed minimum income within a reasonable time period, say 18 months, you replace him.

With this approach your salesman will be highly motivated to ask for the highest price possible. He will not leave $100 on the table, because with a 20% commission, he would be leaving $20 behind. An example will drive the point home quite clearly.

Let’s say your salesman has estimated a job’s direct costs will run $10,000. Let’s look at how the usual approach, draw plus commission, compares against my recommended approach for driving desired sales behavior.

The salesman being compensated with the standard salary plus 2% of sales has little incentive to risk losing a sale by raising price. If he sold the job at cost, he would earn a $200 commission. If he sold the job for $15,000, he would earn a $300 commission. He only makes an extra $100for substantially increasing the likelihood of losing the job.

He will not raise the price to $15,000 just to earn the extra $100. Of course, you lose money if he sells the job at $10,000 but he doesn’t care. It’s all about volume, right?

Now, let’s look at my recommended approach.

Your salesman earns nothing if he sells the job at $10,000. He earns $1,000 if he sells the job for $15,000 and he earns $2,000 if he sells it for $20,000. How motivated will he be to pursue the highest price possible? Very, very motivated.

Do to the potential windfall he can earn, he will become a master at qualifying customers. He will not spend time on price sensitive customers. He will aggressively pursue the customers who value your company’s superior services and are willing to pay for them.

These are exactly the customers you want him to pursue because not only are they profitable, they tend to be far more loyal, and tend to be far more willing to refer you to their friends, family, and professional associates.

Look at what you get when you are paying a 20% commission on gross profit. You pocket $4,000 for every $5,000 of gross profit your salesman generates. Sure, a great salesman will make a killing with this type of pay plan, but you’re going to make an even greater killing.

You want your salesman earning $200,000 because that means he contributing $800,000 to your OH&P. Imagine having four such salesmen in your company. How well off would you be?

This is the type of pay plan that will draw top salesmen like flies. Where else in the construction industry, or any industry, are they going to have a chance to make that kind of money?

You know the difference between a $50,000 salesman and a $200,000 salesman? You go broke with the first and get rich with the second!

In summary, the best way to supercharge your bottom line is to implement a sales commission plan that rewards your sales force for generating gross profit. In doing so, you will make sure that they have your best interest in mind.

About the Author: Ron Roberts, The Contractor’s Business Coach, teaches contractors how to turn their businesses into a profit spewing machines. To receive Ron’s FREE Contractor Best Practices Newsletter visit FilthyRichContractor.com.

Source: isnare.com

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