Aging Like Fine Milk

50% of You Are Below Average

By definition, 50% of students, athletes, websites, businesses, and sales people are below average. (Don’t hate the messenger. It’s just math.)

The question is, do the same people live and dwell in that bottom 50% or do some of the under-performers get hungry, get their acts together and rise up, thereby displacing some of the comfortable top-performers and send them packing?

Asking the Right Questions Is 80% of the Battle

Inside the previous sentence are some key questions that help reveal the answers to help you stake—and keep—your claim to the top. Those questions ask if some:

• Get hungry

• Get their acts together

• Rise to the top.

Coach Lou Holtz has said,

“In this world you’re either growing or you’re dying so get in motion and grow.”

In “Rocky III,” Rocky’s trainer, Mickey, told him 

“The worst thing that could happen to a fighter happened to you: you got civilized.”

This is just before Rocky got beaten by the hungry and aggressive James “Clubber” Lang played by tough guy, Mr. T.

But that helped Rocky re-ignite the fire in his belly, and of course we know what happened then.

Are You Rocky Before or After “Clubber” Lang?

Rocky stopped growing, so he was slowly dying and he didn’t know it until he got his bell rung for all the world to see by a younger, more aggressive, hungrier competitor.

But like all champions, Rocky surrounded himself with good people that wouldn’t sugarcoat the facts and he got back to basics and reclaimed his title.

So where are you in your business and in your sales skills? Have you had some early wins and now you’re coasting, not even realizing your grip on the top spot is slipping? 

Have you already been beaten and you’re licking your wounds, moping around reminiscing about the good ol’ days? 

While the fundamentals of sales and marketing will never change—ABCDE: Attract. Bond. Close. Deliver. Endear.—the tactics will and do and have changed.

Marketing and sales skills age like milk.

Sure, you can keep the old glass container from back in the day as your framework, but you better clean it and put new milk in if you want to build strong, healthy bones…and inbound sales.

Growing Inbound Sales In 2018 and Beyond

In the 90’s the dot com bubble made everyone in technology and/or telecom look like geniuses, geniuses really smart people.

When the Fed flooded the market with liquidity and lowered rates after 9/11, the ensuing real estate bubble made everyone in real estate look like gurus.

After the 2008 real estate meltdown—bubbles always burst—early adopters of Google AdWords, YouTube, and social media came out smelling like roses.

Now Google has removed the right-hand side bar for ads.

Years ago, Facebook went all-in on its pay-to-play model and wiped out thousands of businesses that were dependent upon free exposure from their Fan Pages.

And in the last few months, YouTube has been testing a monthly, ad-free subscription model. (And we all know where that is headed.)

Despite what the politicians in D.C. would have you believe, we have endured years of what John Mauldin calls a “muddle-through economy,” and there are more years to follow.

However, only those below the 50% mark are suffering from this economic malaise.

The top performers know how to grow their inbound sales this year and beyond.

It requires the creation of inbound sales and marketing systems and following a path of constant improvement to avoid aging like fine milk.

Included in their mastery are:

1. Knowing the human beings that comprise your market, otherwise known as building your personas.

2. Adding a heaping dash of empathy.

3. Throw in regular content with a clear Call To Action.

4. Mastering inbound sales and marketing automation systems. (If you’re not sure which CRM is best for you, take The Best CRM Quiz for free.)

5. Commit daily to getting a lot better at your entire sales and persuasion process with programs like Make Every Sale.

While the tactics and tools may change daily, at the end of the day, you must deliver a powerful message in a powerful manner while keeping in mind that there is a human being on the other end of your marketing message.

You may choose the quick and easy or the deliberate and timeless path to grow your business.

The choice is yours. Choose wisely.

Good Selling,