In June of 2021, I retired from Microchip Technology Inc. Having worked in the semiconductor industry for more than 50 years and at Microchip for 32+ years, it was a delight to turn over the leadership of that wonderful team of Client Engagement professionals to a great group of friends and colleagues. Microchip has set the benchmark of excellence in the world of serving others, serving more than 125,000 clients in hundreds of different countries all around the globe. It was a thing of beauty and a well-proven and highly successful (~$40B market cap) model that very few others could emulate. We will dig into WHY, and how that stands today.
In the beginning… the concept of a blog was not common. Consistent, regular, communication with a global team was critical and it became even more critical as the complex years unfolded. For as long as recollection unfolds there was a weekly email sent out, penned by me, to our global team. That number grew from a few hundred people early on to nearly 2000 toward the latter years. The topics were varied, and most generally aimed squarely at how to help those we serve achieve their very specific objectives. Servant “selling, although not labeled” was alive and being deployed to do good things. And we did, and our metrics of revenue, retention, growth, and profitability could not be matched.
Over hundreds of blogs written and published (still up at mitchlittle.com) the approach taken was positive and directly aimed at how to DO the right things that would MAKE A DIFFERENCE to those around you. I chose to not talk about what NOT to do. That was then, this is now, and the world needs to be grabbed by the scruff of its neck and shaken until it gets its act together…. A lot of shaking is needed for this one!
So the premise of this blog is different from what I would have written a couple of years ago, because I am about to grab hold and shake the living daylights out of you, to be best of my virtual ability!
The title of this piece of work is…..
STOP BEING STUPID!!!
Frankly, at this point in my life, I could care less who might be offended by writing what will be written here! What you will hear from me is the truth, you will know it is true, and yet still you will act in another way that does not match your knowledge. Shame on you… It is understandable why this happens, and it’s a compensation discussion, so while you will be forgiven the slip, the ask will be made one last time for you to act into goodness, not into playing a part in the death of the “salesman”. Right now, as salespeople, you are aiming at total obsolescence and obscurity. Don’t believe me, ask CHATGPT… that should scare the pants off of you.
STOP BEING STUPID... There is no implication here that you ARE stupid, quite the opposite, you are obviously quite bright to survive the roles that you have in a time like now. What IS being said is that you ARE ACTING STUPID, you are BEING stupid… get your head out of the dark place that is it buried in and pay attention.
STOP BEING STUPID!
Let’s look at DATA that will tell the story. If you have been along with me in my journey, or listened carefully to Dave Brock as he echoed the same data points, this will not seem new to you. Otherwise pay attention as the data below is absolutely correct and is verifiable in a dozen different ways… check my published blogs from 2021 to see even more than what I show below.
- “buyers” do not want or need your assistance or even participation in their journey. The last data was more than 80% of all “customers” want ZERO participation by you in their process. Why? Because you bring absolutely ZERO insight, information, or assistance that they value because you are REDUNDANT to your website as well as all of the competitor’s websites. And you have a bias, in so much as YOU want things from them for your own benefit, not theirs. You are not there to HELP, you are there to suck their money away from them.
STOP BEING STUPID!!! They will listen to you if you GIVE THEM something of value that matters to them. Learn how to Make A Difference in ways that matter to them. If you ask well enough they will actually tell you how…..
The start of customer journey actually has to start with the creation/delivery/and absorption of valuable thinking on your part. With today’s mass email activity being done with the supposed belief that eventually someone will open one up and will respond to the total b.s. dribble that your campaign machines are spitting out.
STOP BEING STUPID!!!! Today’s data shows that it takes 1200-1300 outbound email attempts to get ONE opened. That number is morphing quickly and will soon reach 3-4000 attempts… to get ONE “opening”. The numbers go further bad from here as it again takes an untold number of “opens” to get ONE response… YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT WORKING AS YOU DO NOT OPEN THIS JUNK YOURSELF!!!!
STOP BEING STUPID!!!
You CAN change what you do here and get very focused on doing the research needed to understand a specific client company and the individuals involved and actually create communications that will work. IT NEEDS MASSIVE SPECIFICITY!! But sadly the systems and leaders around us are bought into the paradigm of endless useless bombardment of the masses of people with junk that would not motivate anyone to do anything other than DELETE DELETE!
STOP BEING STUPID!!!! You know what to do. Understand your target client, all of its business, and its people… get specific in your actions. Don’t push the stupid send button one more time.
We know that this “new way” of mass outreach is useless, but the powers around us are locked into the data mining, and AI creation of content, and are quickly making a point that the people involved in serving the client are of NO VALUE! Why, because that is how you are acting as the sheep are led to slaughter. It’s not even really intentional. It is just a dynamic of the lack of caring mode that the world is working within. Empathy is for the most part dead and marketing and sales leadership are marching you down the trail, missing quotas (60% of salespeople are missing their “quota”) which is a sucky concept even at its best.
STOP BEING STUPID and being led over the cliff!
Turnover rates of the sales team have skyrocketed. More than 75% of all salespeople on a team will be gone within 12 months. The entire sales team, leadership, and all will be gone in 18 months.
And the leadership in B2B companies all know this! They count on it to keep the team “fresh”. RIGHT!
STOP BEING STUPID….you are being played.
Some teams out there in the world get this… a bit. I have to believe. But the leadership in corporations simply don’t have empathy for their teams NOR the people that they serve.
AND doing the right thing absolutely starts with CARING and EMPATHY.
You CAN STOP BEING STUPID!!!!
It takes guts to stand up for those you serve and do the right things for the right reason. It might put you in the 60% out-the-door group… but oh well, in all likelihood, you will be there if you DON’T stand up and take a solid position for serving others because you CARE and that is how you would like to be treated as well.
So here again I close with….
CARE greatly,
UNDERSTAND deeply,
SERVE endlessly, with
PURPOSE
Need a primer on that last piece… go to mitchlittle@com
OK… as my Dad would have said. “LETS ROLL”!
Mitch
