Stunning photo capturing takeoff from an aircraft carrier courtesy of MilitaryWallpapers.net

“Lift” is an important concept in aviation. It’s also an important concept in sales and marketing.

To take off, we have to accelerate to a speed that generates enough lift from air flowing over the wings to get the aircraft safely off the ground.

In fact, each aircraft has a listed “rotation speed” – it varies depending on the size, weight, wing design and configuration of the aircraft. (Larger, heavier aircraft typically have to go faster to get off the ground.)

VR – Rotation speed. The speed at which the aircraft’s nosewheel leaves the ground.

So, if the rotation speed for your airplane is 75 knots, and you can’t accelerate past 74  knots for whatever reason, you’ll NEVER get the airplane off the ground, no matter how long you travel.  This is dangerous in an airplane because you’ll run out of runway before you get the lift you need to take off.

This concept also applies to sales and marketing.  People who start or run businesses can find themselves failing to climb, or failing to get off the ground to start with, because they don’t perform enough sales and marketing activities to generate the sales they need. This is dangerous in a business because you’ll run out of time, money and resources before you generate sufficient sales to support the overhead.

It takes a tremendous amount of energy to get an airplane off the ground. One of our pilot friends reports that a CRJ-200 uses about  6000 pounds of fuel per hour during takeoff,  and only 2000 to 3000 pounds per hour at cruise.  That’s two to three much times as much energy to take off as it takes to remain at a stable altitude.

In our sales and marketing consulting practice, we are always conscious of using resources with maximum efficiency.  Wasting money is as detrimental is wasting fuel on an airplane.  For some of our clients at times, we understand that it is sometimes necessary to go into “conservation mode” as a business faces a cash flow issue or crisis.  We do our best to accommodate.  There are things we can do to maintain altitude and conserve fuel.  We have to do this with great care. As pilots know, trying to climb without adding power can result in a stall.   In business, trying to increase sales or expand market share without spending more money and energy is usually unwise.  Simple physics tells us we’re trading potential energy (fuel, in the case of an airplane; or money, in the case of a business) for height and speed as efficiently as possible.

There are things we can do for small companies or startups that can’t spend a lot of money to “take off” or improve their sales situation.  We designed our Light Aircraft Program to provide results with a minimum amount of effort and budget to get a sales and marketing campaign “off the ground” and to a good start.

We don’t offer anything less than that service level because performing at less than VR or Rotation Speed is like racing around on the ground, at speeds just under what is required to take off –  a dangerous waste of fuel and time.

Want to see our version of minimum rotation speed?   See our Light Aircraft Program for more details.

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