Christopher Doran - www.christopherdoran.co.uk

Chinook JV

Here is a brief story about Chinook helicopters and what it means to your business… So please listen up and “Get Fell In!”

I served as a part time soldier which meant I had a full time civilian career alongside a part time military one. On my last posting I was working with a very small unit of men. We were under-tasked and had a lot of spare but not free time available. So we had to be engaged in military activity but there wasn’t anything useful to do. We were becoming pretty fed up and bored.

So I asked my ‘Band Of Brothers’ what they would like from Father Christmas, and they said they would love to get to go in a chopper (helicopter to the uninitiated!).

Without donning my red robes, I pondered a little and thought.

Inspiration then hit me. I quickly grabbed the internal military phone directory and looked up ‘helicopters’ - you know the drill - a bit like ‘good old’ Yellow Pages.

It wasn’t long before I was on the right page.

So with number pen and paper to hand, I called up the number where it said I could get helicopters. (It didn’t actually say ‘helicopters’ of course but it wasn’t hard to work out who to call.)

I wasn’t to be disappointed.

The person who answered when I asked him tongue-in-cheek “How do I get to go in a helicopter?” Said “Well we have a nice range of Chinooks on station - how many men do you have?” (Again he didn’t use those exact words of course but he confirmed he did have what I wanted: helicopters!)

Well, as you can see from the photo, we were a little …. how shall we say ‘under staffed’ at this time so I had to admit - “About a half dozen”.

To which he indignantly asked: “You do realise how many personnel a Chinook carries don’t you?”

I paused to think and count. He didn’t wait and obviously wanted to ‘big up’ (as they say) his ‘fleet’ (probably the wrong service expression!) and told me around 200 if I remember rightly.

So he said “Get more bodies!”

So I left it if I could get more troops together I would come back and we would ‘do a deal’. Again not military terminology but I’m sure you get my drift.

So to cut a long but quite amusing story short that is exactly what I did.

As you can see from the pictures:’no bull’ (that’s definitely a military expression!). Success was achieved. In fact they sent not one but two Chinooks to airlift all six of us skywards for an exercise planned around just us few.

The regular full time soldiers laughed because they told me it was impossible to get these machines for their own parachute training. So a part timer with only a group of six had no chance.

So what has this got to do with business you may well ask?

The answer is easy. Here goes:

1. Belief.

If you believe you can or cannot do something then you’re right on both counts. I didn’t make any big deal out of the task at hand. I didn’t have a conscious thought either way. I didn’t question if it could be done. I just assumed it could be. That was why it worked out. How often do we think of a good idea and then kill it dead with analysis?

2. Unconscious Thinking.

I did the quickest and simplest thing I could think of. That was a good thing. I just got on the phone and asked the first person I thought could help me. That was essential. How many times do we think too much? If we just ‘did’ more often and take action immediately we would get the result we want many times more than we do - and quicker.

3. Fast Track.

Take the short route. Shoot first and ask questions later. This doesn’t mean take stupid risks. It means go the most obvious road. I could have got wound up with all sorts of reasons why I should ask another officer and go through the rule book for the correct procedure etc. That would have taken time. Time I didn’t have. Also it would have stopped any chance of success. Taking quick immediate straightforward action gets the job at hand done.

4. Joint Venturing.

I did not look for the answer inside my unit (read business sector) I went outside it to the service responsible for aircraft. Obvious perhaps but most times we run in straight lines. We need to look sideways for more effective solutions to problems. This is definitely so in business. Allying your business with others is a very effective way of multiplying profits. If you need help then make contact with me right away. I can explain how to do it.

5. Success Breeds Success.

Here is the punch line to this story. Successfully getting this small group air borne gave me credibility. It was then very easy indeed to do the same thing again. Next time I made it useful for my new business.

I was just starting out and needed new clients quick. So what I did was call up other units in the area of where these Chinooks were based and asked if they would like to have me organise a similar air lift. They all jumped at the chance. It was very easy to organise the same exercise for them with this proviso:
“If I get your troops up in the air, then in return I want to have the opportunity to present them with what my business can do for them individually.”

The result was a hangar full of hundreds of men sitting up waiting for my business presentation. Everyone won. The pilots got their training in. The troops got their first flight in a Chinook and I got a room full of prospects for my business. It all started from a silly, simple idea. Troops want to go in a helicopter. What’s the best way to do this?

Find out who has what you want. Call them and ask the question you need an answer to. Work out the details and put one piece together with another one until the picture or task is completed. Simple. Easy when you have done it once. Very easy afterwards and quick.

So think of simple solutions to definite objectives and put them into action in the easiest way and do it quickly.

Hope this helps you creates more business. Get in touch if you need help. Hey you may even get to go in a Chinook!

Christopher

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