Evolution of an Enterprise, Chapter 15: Pounding the Pavement

When it comes to marketing their business, the owners of Voyager Industries LLC are getting back to basics.

Founders Josh Somers and Binh Uebinger had a good week to end July, cleaning six planes in seven days at Springfield-Branson National Airport’s general aviation facility.

The reason, according to Uebinger, is a renewed focus on face-to-face contact.

“This has definitely been our busiest week, and it’s just from us going old-school, being out there and getting in front of (people),” Uebinger said.

One of those jobs was cleaning a Citation Sovereign for Bass Pro Shops chief pilot Jeff Magnuson, a $900 job that was the result of that pavement-pounding effort.

“The way I heard about them was from them coming over and just introducing themselves,” Magnuson said. “As far as the work goes, I’m 100 percent satisfied. They did a good job and put a lot of effort into it.”

Magnuson has a regular crew to clean the plane, but the group was unavailable, he said, adding that he could see using Voyager again, if a similar situation arises.

Uebinger added that the pair was especially excited to work on Magnuson’s aircraft – a 63-foot, twin-engine plane that they noted is one of the largest corporate jet models in the air.

“We work hard on every job, but I don’t think we’ve ever put in as much work as we did on this job, because we really wanted to impress them,” he said.

Somers said he and Uebinger have spent a lot of time in recent weeks at the general aviation facility – and pilots being able to see the duo in action is the best advertisement they could ask for.

“We’re not isolated in someone’s hangar – we’re right in the middle of everything and people can see what we’re doing,” Somers said. “We actually got two more jobs from people seeing us working there, and while we were working on those two planes, we got essentially three more.”

Two of those planes belong to local private pilot Jack Reynolds. The duo also cleaned architect Geoffrey Butler’s Piper Archer.

Voyager Industries also is taking new approaches to spreading their company name; Uebinger has decked out his Jeep in company logos and information, a move he said has garnered numerous looks at busy intersections.

The two also are keeping busy at the airport, even when they don’t have scheduled cleaning jobs.

“We’re going to be out there knocking bugs off of planes for free if we have to,” Somers said. “Or we can clean the leading edges, vacuum out the inside and clean your windows for $49, something like that. It’s an ice-breaker.”

Beverly Schmitz, customer service coordinator for the airport’s General Aviation services, said that go-getter attitude is a good approach to take, especially among the tight-knit aviation community.

“Everything spreads by word-of-mouth; if you’re doing a good job, pilots will let other pilots know,” she said. “The key is just letting them know you’re here.”

To further boost awareness, Voyager also secured permission to hang Voyager Industries signs on the front door of the general aviation facility, which provides good visibility with negligible cost.

The most important aspect of that marketing, Schmitz added, is realizing that name recognition is not as important for Voyager as making sure people know what services the firm can provide.

“I don’t know that it was a service offered at the airport beforehand, so letting people know that you’re here and available is great,” she said. “Pilots will learn your name after they know you have the product that they need.”

The hand-to-hand local marketing is something Somers said the duo has learned during their first few months of business, and it applies to any startup.

“Even if you have great ideas or experience or knowledge of how to market yourself, you end up doing it how your customers need it done, not how you think it should be done,” he said.