Business Development for Aerospace Professionals Online
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Taught by a former Senior Vice President at Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems with vast experience and expertise in the field, this is the ONLY course of its kind that teaches business development in the aerospace industry.
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This course is ideal for aerospace technical and scientific people transitioning to new business roles with responsibility for generating and growing sales. This includes company founders, business development staff and leaders, general managers, business owners, and CEOs. If your company is experiencing flat or declining sales, struggling to figure out what customers want, conflicted about which product development projects to fund, this course is for you.
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For each key discipline, essential concepts and actionable techniques are discussed in detail. The focus is on real-world applications that you can leverage immediately and consistently. Lessons learned are derived from patterns seen in aerospace and other high-tech industries.
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All students will receive an AIAA Certificate of Completion at the end of the course
OVERVIEW
This course is designed to teach smart technical and scientific aerospace professionals how to identify innovation opportunities that match winning value propositions with customer needs. This motivates customers to buy which, in turn, generates sales. The course also tackles difficult problems like how best to manage sales forecasts and track sales opportunities as they progress through the sales funnel. The experience and expertise of the instructor is unmatched in this field. The goal is to pass on business development expertise to students so they can ensure business success.
Each class will include a presentation and provide examples and templates. Before each class students will be sent a white paper that explains key concepts, and which can be used as a reference later. Emphasis is on actionable concepts and techniques in a logical sequence. Students may apply any part of the methodology to their current business situation. This is not a course on product development, program management, operations management, or other technical disciplines. This is all about motivating the customer to buy, by systematically identifying and then satisfying the customer’s needs.
- How a customer need is actually a desired outcome
- How to determine which desired outcomes are the most important to the customer
- How to measure the customer’s satisfaction with current outcomes
- How to combine importance and satisfaction to prioritize which desired outcomes to address
- How to define a value proposition that matches the highest priority customer desired outcomes
- How to determine what services and support the customer will expect when using your solution
- How to capture and assess the customer’s experiences before and after the solution is available
- How to write a positioning statement that captures competitive position and provides focus for marketing and sales efforts
- How to manage the sales funnel to generate accurate sales forecasts, plan sales campaigns, track sales opportunities, and close business
- Detailed course outline below
Type of Course: Instructor-Led Short Course
Course Level: Fundamentals
Course Length: 3-4 days
AIAA CEU's available: Yes
Step 1 – Customer Needs and Opportunities Analysis
- Defining a customer need as a desired outcome
- How to identify the customer’s desired outcomes
- Measuring importance of each desired outcome
- Measuring the customer’s satisfaction with current solutions for each desired outcome
- Combining importance and satisfaction into an opportunity score for each desired outcome
- How to use the opportunity score to identify the best opportunities to increase the customer’s satisfaction for the most important desired outcomes
- Example discussion and optional homework for Step 2
Step 2 – Value Propositions
- Figuring out how to satisfy customer needs with a value proposition
- The value proposition model – what it is and how it works
- How to use opportunities analysis results from Step 1 to develop your value proposition
- Example discussion and optional homework for Step 3
Step 3 – The Whole Product
- Identifying services and support the customer will need to use your product
- The whole product model – what it is and how it works
- Example discussion and optional homework for Step 4
Step 4 – Target Customer Scenarios
- Identifying the customer’s experiences before and after your value proposition is available, as a reality check that your value proposition delivers what customers need
- Target customer scenario content and format
- Example discussion and optional homework for Step 5
Step 5 – Positioning Statements
- Describe your value proposition’s competitive position in a concise and memorable positioning statement to focus marketing and sales activities
- Positioning statement content and format
- Example discussion and optional homework for Step 6
Step 6 – Sales Funnel Management
- How to plan effective sales campaigns and commit accurate sales forecasts
- The sales funnel model – what it is and how it works
- Special cases and how to manage them
- Tracking sales opportunities as they progress through the sales funnel
- Example discussion
- Course wrap-up
Instructor: Paul M. Streit is an expert in business execution for new and growing aerospace companies or other firms that manufacture high-tech, engineering-driven, mission-critical, high-reliability products, especially in a complex, regulated environment.
Experience:
- General Management: P&L management experience with strong focus on revenue, profitable growth, performance metrics, executive management, customer development and satisfaction, employee development and retention, business execution including accountability, teamwork, and continuous improvement, world class operations/manufacturing, product and market development, negotiation and conflict resolution, leading change, inspiring groups, presenter, collaborating with C-suite executives
- Project Management: program management, product development, product lifecycle management, earned value, contract management, scope management, government contracting, metrics, PMI PMP Certification
- Marketing & Sales: direct (territory) sales, understanding customer demand, market segmentation, sales lead generation, sales team leadership, sales operations, key account management, customer relationship management, customer development and satisfaction, customer-focused
- Operations/Manufacturing: process design, JIT metrics, managing job shops, compliance, operations restructuring, budget and resource planning, resource allocation, supply chain design and development, inventory strategies, outsourcing, world class manufacturing
As SVP at Sierra Nevada Corporation Space Systems:
- Led the integration of MSI, Inc. and SpaceDev, Inc. to form SNC Space Systems
- Subsequently led integration of Orbitec, Inc. into SNC Space Systems
- Helped grow equity value 35x without debt to an independent valuation of $1.2B
- Grew revenue 15x from $34M to over $500M with over $3B backlog that extends into the next decade
- Grew employment 17x from 60 employees to currently over 840 plus another 200 contractors
- Grew facilities and infrastructure from 1 location to 12 locations across 5 states
- Products included actuators, pin pullers, pin pushers, gimbals, satellites, thermal louvers, solar arrays, spacecraft and spacecraft constellations, subsystems, and larger systems
At SpaceDev, VP Operations:
- Responsible for business execution on all aerospace, space and defense programs
- Turned around the business from losing $150K/month on $36M of revenue to breaking even within 18 months of arrival
AIAA Training Links
For information, group discounts,
and private course pricing, contact:
Lisa Le, Education Specialist (lisal@aiaa.org)