Speaker 1: 0:00

Hello and welcome everybody. My name is Tom Lelio. I'm your ultimate jet guide and on this channel we pull back the curtain on private aviation to help you buy or sell a private jet with no experience necessary to get started. Today's episode we're pulling back the curtain on the private jet broker code. Keep to the code. It's just like the pirates. We got a code, a code of conduct, a code of ethics, if you will, a code that I think doesn't get enough exposure. People don't talk about it a lot. I'm not saying I wrote the code, but this is the code that I made for myself. When I first got started, I was like I need to figure out what my core values are, and so you see them in the videos, right, they're up here Positivity, resilience, education, transparency, honesty and humility, and so I wanted to take those and I wanted to put them into action. What would it look like if a jet broker actually did that? What would that jet broker look like? So I've got we created it into the I don't know if you can see that, if it'll zoom in on that Yep, the jet broker code. So this is straight out of our workbook for private jet brokers. If you want to take our private jet broker certificate course and I'm going to share with you what a jet broker ought to be like. So let's see what we got here the jet broker code. Let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:31

A jet broker is positive. So this means a jet broker is positive. They are developing an abundance mindset, always seeing the glass half full. The positivity should be reflected in all transactions, as well as relationships with clients and other industry professionals. Let's just be honest here, guys there's a lot of negativity in the world, and there can be a lot of negativity when it comes to aviation. Sometimes other brokers are just trying to shoot you down. Right, people get mad. And sometimes it's not even negativity, it's just like people are mad, they're upset, they're not getting the deal that they want. Or the seller just found out that his plane needs $100,000 worth of stuff that needs to get fixed. He's not happy, and so having a positive mindset I think is really important, and I think brokers ought to resign themselves or commit themselves to an attitude of positivity or commit themselves to an attitude of positivity. It's just how I think is best for us all to work together to find successful transactions. So a jet broker is positive.

Speaker 1: 2:34

Number two a jet broker is resilient. As I mentioned, a lot of things. If anything's gonna go wrong, it will go wrong, and resiliency is really important. So resilience means that problems are opportunities. When issues arise with a client or with other brokers, a broker should remain committed to professional, ethical, successful transactions. So when things pop up, whether it's within the deal or outside of a deal, maybe another broker gets mad at you because a deal went south, maybe another, maybe a pilot or mechanic gets upset with how you handle a transaction.

Speaker 1: 3:11

We want to stay committed to resiliency, and the key to resiliency I think I talked about it last week or two weeks ago the key to resiliency is having a strong why, a strong core reason for what we're doing here. Jet brokers can't crumble. You can't be the kind of person that is going to fall apart when things get hard. And I guess I want to say something I should have said earlier these, this code, these values. This isn't like oh, act like Tom, because I have all these values. These are things that I'm constantly striving towards, and I want to invite you to strive towards them with me so that together we can raise the level of professionalism in the industry. This is bigger than just JetLife Aero Brokerage or Tom. This is my hope, my efforts, my contribution to raise the level of professionalism within the aviation community, and that's at the service of brokers, but it's also at the service of clients, the people that we deal with on a daily basis, the people who are buying or selling those high net worth individuals. This is a service to them as well when we commit to this JetBroker.

Speaker 1: 4:18

Code Number three a JetBroker seeks learning. Jetbroker is being committed to ongoing education in the aviation field, including market knowledge, industry best practices and professional development. A lot of great resources out there MBAA, yopros maybe you're part of GLADA, iata, nafa, avbuyer Online, ain Online, global Air. Just talking with people, meeting the people that are part of this aviation ecosystem, always learning. Don't be the smartest person in the room. If you're the smartest person in the room, if you're the smartest person in the room, you need to find a new room. We should always be striving to improve ourselves. So that's the commitment to learning.

Speaker 1: 5:04

A jet broker is transparent, that is, they ensure clarity and fairness in every transaction for clients and other professionals. A jet broker should be providing accurate representations of authority, commissions and aircraft specifications. I think this is really important. I think that transparency is something that people are afraid of because if you're transparent, it could hurt you in a deal. It could hurt you monetarily, it could hurt you with getting a deal. Hey sir, I'm sorry, I don't think your plane's worth $2 million, it's only worth 1.5. And then some other broker tells them like, hey, it's worth 1.5. They exaggerate the market value. I'm sorry, worth 2 million and you lose that listing. So it can be hard, but clarity and fairness, I think, is we need more of. It doesn't mean being that, doesn't mean getting walked over. But hey, sir, like I'm not going to cut my commission anymore because this is what I need to make a living at this, I'm worth every single penny and and be transparent about that, like why you're asking what you're asking them.

Speaker 1: 6:06

Uh, I think it's important that we're transparent with clients and other professionals and accurate representations of authority. That means that we don't go pitching somebody else's plane Like I'll have people that go say, hey, I have, I have a you know a Mustang for sale. Actually I had somebody pitch me a Mustang and it was one of our brokers. It's like you don't have this for sale, this is this is this is somebody else's listing. So don't, don't present yourself that you're. You have the authority to sell this and you don't. Or they'll say hey, I got a guy, I got a buyer. Okay, do you have a written agreement? Well, no, okay, well then you don't have authority to talk on behalf of this person. So don't misrepresent that. Be transparent, really. Listen, I have a guy. He hasn't signed a contract, um, but I know through X, y and Z and aircraft specifications, so we don't hide things. If we know there's something going on with an aircraft, it's not like we're like oh, hopefully they don't find out. No, we're transparent, even and this goes into the next one honesty. We're transparent even if it's not in our best interest. So honesty means representing your authority again and your aircraft accurately and truthfully, and your aircraft accurately and truthfully, providing competent and timely communication to clients and colleagues, while avoiding exaggeration, misrepresentation or concealment of facts.

Speaker 1: 7:23

Slash commissions I'm very upfront with commissions. I always want to talk. What's one of the first things I talk to you when I talk to somebody? It's like how's everybody getting paid? Are you taken care of? Are you taking care of it? Great, okay, we're all taken care of. Now we can move forward Instead of. I had one deal once where the pilot called me up the day of closing Okay, where's my cut? Wait, what are you talking about? Like, honestly, to the best of your knowledge. And again, honesty, even if it doesn't serve you, it's at the service of the client. And that goes into humility. A jet broker is humble. We put service ahead of sales. We treat all parties with fairness and deference, approaching every transaction with humility.

Speaker 1: 8:10

Prioritizing professionalism Actually changed this. Prioritizing people, relationships, professionalism and ethical standards over self-interest. Again, this doesn't mean that you become a doormat. Okay, I have to tell people often like don't, can, don't, confuse my agreeability with weakness. Okay, I'm very I I, I believe in deference and I had to look it up because I heard it today and it means submission out of respect. You know, a a um, I'm okay submitting because I believe submission means to be put under someone's mission. So if the mission is to go buy a jet and I'm not the one buying it, it's my client Well, I'm under their mission, I submit to the client and and I give, I show them respect. That's humility.

Speaker 1: 8:55

The other thing with humility is you know, I was listening to my podcast today and somebody mentioned that because of humility, we don't have to worry about what other people think. Like, if I'm humble and I think I'm not the greatest, well, when someone comes out of nowhere and says, hey, tom, you're not the greatest, it's like, yeah, I know I can do better and I strive to do better. So it also gives you a bulletproof. You know, um, disposition. Uh, if I know I'm just starting out and I can, when I call somebody, it's annoying to them. Then, when they say, stop calling me, you're annoying, it's like, yeah, man, I know I got to get better and that encourages me to do better. Next time I call that person, I don't just waste their time.

Speaker 1: 9:33

And that goes into taking responsibility. See, when I find out that I'm doing something wrong, I just don't be like, okay, screw that guy, I take responsibility. I need to be better. Taking responsibility, as we have here in our workbook, is to assume responsibility for your actions, ensure clients take the appropriate actions as outlined in the documents of a deal, working collaboratively with all involved in the transaction. So the reason I put responsibility here I think this is important because a lot of times I've noticed it can be very easy to try to shuck responsibility.

Speaker 1: 10:04

Oh, I haven't heard back from the person or oh, the lender hasn't signed this yet. Okay, well, I need to go to. So an example would be you know, a document needs to get signed for closing. So I don't just put that on escrow but like, okay, go get that. Go get that document signed. Like no, I put it on my checklist and I either follow up with escrow or I go call that that person that needs to sign and say, hey, I need you to sign this because the escrow is busy doing other things. So I take responsibility to go get that. And when I make a mistake, I take full responsibility and I learn and I feel it, I live with it and then I grow from it, and I think that's really, really important.

Speaker 1: 10:43

When we're talking about what does it mean to be a jet broker? So, like I said, this is not an exhaustive list, but I think this is a good start. It's built out of the core values that I've tried to espouse the last few years with my brokerage and just individually, and I think it's time that we raise the level of professional jet brokers by committing to a code, a code that's not just for few, but it's for all, and I would like to invite you to check this out. There's a link to the PDF below. Check it out, sign it and feel free to hang it up and take a picture with it and show others, show yourself and show people listen. I'm committed to the code.