Helicopter Leads

Helicopter Money is a concept gaining airtime lately.

It’s an economics construct. Supposedly to help when a country experiences low growth and low interest rates. The idea is that, rather than pile ginormous wads into the vaults of the banksters through ‘quantitative easing’, you instead print money for the masses. For them to do with how they wish. “As if the money was being scattered from a helicopter”.

Tax cuts are considered a flavour of such chopper cash. It theoretically stimulates demand, although there’s no guarantee consumers would prefer to otherwise save or invest their windfall.

There is a Sales parallel.

When numbers are bobbling along at barely beyond those of last year. When price pressure feels looming. When new products are less frequent. You’re washing your face, yet is seems a bit of a struggle. What does central command do?

One temptation is to ramp up lead generation. Get Marketing on the case. Whip up Business Development. Go Promo crazy.

I understand the arguments that these once-off shots can be a combo of both too late and too isolated.

Yet where do all the leads go?

A classic is the famed Glengarry gold. You dish out the fresh leads not on the basis of any existing territory claims, but according to who has sold most in the run up to their creation.

This ‘reverse Robin Hood’ policy remains extremely popular within corporate salesteams;

“For every certified self-generated lead, you earn two campaign qualified ones”.

Administration clearly needs to be thought through too.

A sales effort where helicopter leads are randomly garlanded around the room is seldom successful. Someone on high nearly always has to match optimal workload with ideal opportunity. Even when in the exalted state of having 100% leads generated for sales resource. So if you are sales management thinking of making this special extra effort for your charges, make sure you consider the consequences selling history unveils.