A client of mine once said,
I'm tired of just taking up air. And it's foul air."
Another said,
I know what to do but I'm just not doing it. Do you have a program where you just kick me in the a$$?"
2010 2012 2016 2020 will be another tough year for you if you keep your blinders on as you clutch desperately to "what used to work just fine," stumbling forward with ever-larger doses of "hopium," as you hang out in a social media echo chamber, hearing only what you want to hear when it comes to growing your sales and taking responsibility for your growth.
Lying here, during all this time after my own small fall, it has become my conviction that things mean pretty much what we want them to mean. We'll pluck significance from the least consequential happenstance if it suits us and happily ignore the most flagrantly obvious symmetry between separate aspects of our lives if it threatens some cherished prejudice or cosily comforting belief; we are blindest to precisely whatever might be most illuminating."
—from Transition, by Iain M. Banks
Still a man hears what he wants to hear
And disregards the rest"
—The Boxer, by Paul Simon
*Social media marketing has come and gone.
It's now a pay-to-play arena.
Retargeting is now being restricted as our "right to be forgotten" gains momentum.
LinkedIn prospecting is being infected by "funnel hacks" and "high-ticket closers."
We've all been told how important video is to marketing so everyone with a smart phone and/or a webcam is going live despite having nothing to say.
But that creates more noise that makes it harder for your signal to get through.
*See: 7 Reasons Social Media Marketing Experts Are Broke
We're also seeing evidence that:
- webinars aren't working
- cold calling is not working
- direct mail is hard to make profitable
- SEO is dead
- PPC is too expensive
- nobody is listening to the radio
- DVRs and Netflix make it impossible to run ads
- nobody buys newspapers or magazines so print ads are out
- live events are too expensive to run profitably
- trade shows are a money-suck
- email marketing is dead
- SMS/Text messaging is full of scammers and fines.
What's left to grow your sales?
The fact is any or all of those processes may work for your business...or they could ruin you.
What you need is a fresh set of eyes, ears and ideas to light a spark.
Case in point: on yesterday's group call in my private sales training group, I helped Shirley come up with an idea to convert more foot traffic into warm prospects.
You see, Shirley owns a postal annex type of store and she gets a ton of foot traffic from people dropping off their Amazon returns.
It's great for her because she makes a little on each package and she gets a lot of people coming into her store.
However, they're not identifying themselves by filling out a form or transacting any business, so they literally walk in, hand over the package, and walk out.
No way to connect, bond, and form a relationship. (And I told her, who would want to form a relationship with a shipping store? I know where the two nearest me are and I go in when needed and walk out just the same.)
So I gave her an idea.
I told her to instruct her staff to ask everyone who comes in one simple, unexpected question:
Mexican food or sushi?"
You see, that's our job in sales. To ask questions our prospects can't answer or at least questions they're not expecting.
That's how you get to the truth. You shock your prospects with great questions and listen.
But in Shirley's case, the question is meant to get her prospects to stop, look up from their phones, and say..."What?"
That's when her staff explains...
We have a deal with the two restaurants here in our shopping center where we can give this coupon for a free burrito or a free sushi roll to all of our customers. Which one would you like?"
Shirley knows the owners of those restaurants and is cutting a deal with them to make this happen. Maybe it's a buy one/get one or 50% off or free drink with order, etc.
The main thing is it's a good offer with an expiration date and the customer must present the coupon to redeem the offer.
Now they will carry around that coupon that has Shirley's store on the back, which helps build brand awareness.
It's an idea she can test immediately and is putting into place now.
How'd I come up with this idea since I have no shipping industry experience?
It's just what I do.
I have people experience. I have life experience. I know what makes people tick and I know how to get their attention.
To get linear, predictive growth "like everyone else," hire the same consultants and join the same programs your competitors are joining.
To get exponential, explosive, life-changing results, hire an outsider who has no sacred cows in your industry.
The distance you put between yourself and your competition in the next 12 months will pay dividends to your grandchildren because once you pull ahead it takes the fight out of your competition.
That's how you end up buying them for pennies on the dollar and expanding faster than you ever thought possible.
Prove to yourself that you're tired and sick of being tired and sick.
Call now. You'll be glad you did.
Now go sell something! 👍
