Great Job Van's
Stein, both your posts are dead on with my comments towards this subject.
I think some get confused on what Van's sells and what their strategy is. Van's does not compete with Cirrus and Cessna. They sell a kit that can be customized to the customers needs. And not just any kit, the most popular kit in the world. When the history books are written about the reciprocating engine driven aeroplane, it will most likely be the most sold kit ever!
Strategy can be defined in 3 ways:
1. What does our customer value?
2. What are we going to say no to?
3. What are we going to be best at?
Van's has customers that value a safe kit (I fly with my two daughters all over our country because of the trust I have in this kit), with a sporty "fun" feel, that is efficient and affordable to fly, that can be built by the average person at a competitive cost. (1/6 - 1/7 the cost of a Cirrus SR22 GTS $724,900
- Very competitive)
Think of all the things they have to say no to. How many people have asked them for a certified version of every model? Different engine support?
Does it jeopardize safety? Does it add cost with no performance increase? I think Van's does a great job holding to their strategy.
Van's is the product leader in the kit built market. Van's is the best at selling kit aircraft that have that "RV" feel, which is a fun flying plane. Like they say, "It flies the way a plane should fly". Even when they branched out to a 2-seat side by side, 4-seat, LSA, they have always delivered the best flying and complete kit in its class. Their culture and systems are designed over the past 30+ years to deliver the results they get. It would be interesting to see how their sales process has evolved over the past 30 years. How did Van sell the RV-3 and RV-4? I think we would all be surprised by the evolution and improvements in all their systems.
Sure some are offended by this thread because we have a more personal relationship with them and know what a great job they do.
So can they improve? Of course. Everyone can improve and become better at what they do? Somehow I was able to understand that Van's delivered on all of my values I listed above without talking to them once.
I would bet this is their experience as well and they may even have data on this.
As the RV community grows and the 8000+ sales force spreads the word, the demographics and values of the new potential customers may be changing. Maybe Van's will have a Platinum RV-10 that comes with a free suite at the Hilton, caviar, and an instrument panel that smells of rich mahogany next year at Oshkosh.
I had to throw that Anchorman quote in there. They would do that because that is what they may think the customer values.
I don't think anyone at Van's would turn down comments but be polite, respectful and genuine. And remember, your talking about the most successful GA company this century! (so far)