When you read articles like How to Sell Almost Anything, your reaction starts to differ the longer you work in any marketing and sales position. If you’re a first-timer, this information is actually quite valuable. But when you realize that this is actually what plenty of experienced salespeople have already been saying, you realize that maybe that’s all there is. You now know everything about lead generation.
So what now?
I’m going to use a slightly weird example. You saw that new Jurassic World trailer yet? Not only does it have a line that says something to the same effect, the same goes for people criticizing the bad science behind these movies.
There’s a lot more about dinosaurs that the scientific community knows today versus, say, when I was still that little boy always hanging out in the dinosaur section of the school library. But even so, misconceptions still abound. For people who know even just a couple factoids, it still feels like there’s a giant Brachiosaurus in the room but nobody’s looking.
Same goes with all the knowledge that supposedly creates successful marketing and sales. That can be a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. It’s good because this information is truly legit. No sensible expert will dismiss this as pure opinion. But on the other hand, it’s bad because you could still suffer lower lead production and bad sales in spite of knowing better.
Repeating the question: What now?
It only goes to show that even if you simply know a lot about something, that doesn’t mean change that’s automatic or dramatic, let alone successful. You have to check what’s keeping the knowledge from being applied:
- Theoretical – This is arguably the most commonly cited obstacle. Everything you know is considered purely theoretical. And by theoretical, you’ve never actually tested your ideas in your own market environment.
- Lack of a buy-in – Another common problem is that not many are willing to buy-in. This article on the Natural History Museum versus the Jurassic Park franchise is a real, eye-opening example. Despite the acceptance of knowledge, there’s still a lot of things in the way before museums can adapt their exhibits so that they’re more ‘accurate.’
- Lifetime of knowledge – Finally, this doesn’t usually come to mind but I think it’s proof that even knowledge has an expiration date. That date is when a new discovery is made that challenges current assumptions. Think that just applies to dinosaurs? Nope. It applies to sales too.
Knowledge is power but the power comes from acting on that knowledge or seeing it applied. There’s no power when it’s just in your head. And now that you know that, is the answer still not obvious?