International students

[lanceair]

I am the CFI of a small flight school in Southern Manitoba and we really want to get some international students. Could anyone tell me the best way to go about this? Also, we have made contact with a number of "Consultants" from India and they want to know what their fee is going to be. Does anyone have any experience about dealing with consultants or what a reasonable fee would be?
Thanks, Lance

[Shiny Side Up]

CONSULTING

If you aren't part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem.

But seriously, tread carefully on what you're looking for. Your best bet would be to directly contact a school you know that already has a foreign training contract, and offer them to either subcontract some of their training to you, or at the very least get some experienced advice on the subject. From a business point of view it sounds like you're desperate and the idea that you're considering fees before services rendered from these consultants sounds just plain wrong. Long story short, make sure the ducks are in a row before sending off a cheque.

[lanceair]

Thanks for your response. That's a good idea about subcontracting from another flight school but somehow I doubt our competitors would be helpful. I am not really keen on consultants (I just heard back from one of our potential agents and he wants 2500 Cdn for sending a student to us), but other than working on our website and having strong links, I can't really think of another way to prime the line with internationals.

[shitdisturber]

Thanks for your response. That's a good idea about subcontracting from another flight school but somehow I doubt our competitors would be helpful. I am not really keen on consultants (I just heard back from one of our potential agents and he wants 2500 Cdn for sending a student to us), but other than working on our website and having strong links, I can't really think of another way to prime the line with internationals.

I spent a couple of months working in India last year and that sounds about par for the course. Sad as it is to say, pretty much everyone has their hand out over there. I'd go with Shiny's suggestion and talk to a school that has foreign students already, ideally one that's not in your province so it looks less like you're competing directly. It's a very thin distinction but I'd say it's your best option.

[bob sacamano]

India has a population of nearly 1b. Put an add in some papers for a week, then have a telephone line that they can call you, forward that to your southern manitoba office. Go there yourself, hire a translator for a few days (even though majority of kids there speak hinglish). Have an Q&A day/sign up day/info session (powerpoint, as to why they should go to southern manitoba and not Florida, i.e. less hassle for security, dead airspace, -40C, etc) (run it for a few days) at a hotel where these kids come and sign up there.

Instead of 2500 to some dude you never met, go there yourself and make shit happen.