Sales Stalled? It's Time for a Generalist

  

In this episode I explain what you should be doing now based on this information.

Click on the video above to watch. Or skim through the transcription below.

Episode Transcript

Rick (00:00):I was talking to a business owner the other day and they were telling me how their business has reached a plateau in growth, and it's been stuck there for over a year. And he told me the story of how he's tried different things. First, he spoke to a web design agency and they had relayed to him that, "Okay, your messaging was off. You need a refresh of the website." So he did that. They went through that whole refresh process. They got new messaging, and then he found that there was still no more growth, but that was supposed to fix it. He thought that would fix it.


Rick (00:33):And then he spoke to another agency and said, "Well, I think you should be doing content marketing." And they were specialized in content marketing. And so he started writing blogs with them and doing all that. And he still didn't see any growth in his sales. And last he met with someone that was specialized in building funnels and Facebook ads. And so they did that. They built a Facebook funnel and ad system and still they saw nothing there.


Rick (01:01):And so what do you do when this happens? And I think that the question is, is it time for moving away from specialists and talking to a generalist? And this is what I said to him. I said, "Well, you've been talking to specialists and to a specialist, it's like, if you're a hammer, every problem looks like a nail to you." And this is called Maslow's hammer. And in effect, you talk to an agency that does web redesigns and they're going to pretty much see that, well, you can solve some of your problems by redesigning your web and changing your messaging. You talk to someone that does content marketing, and they're going to see all of your problems as being solved by doing content marketing and generating traffic. And if you talk to someone that does Facebook ads, well, hey, we can solve your problems with Facebook ads.


Rick (01:52):So this thing about, do you talk to generalists or you talk to specialists? Well, there's times for both, and when you're stuck and you don't know what to do next, I think it's time to bring in a generalist. Somebody that has been exposed to all of these different disciplines in marketing and someone that's worn many hats and not just a marketing hat. Maybe they ran several different companies, growing companies, selling companies in different industries. By bringing in a generalist, they can quickly look at what's going on in your business and give you one or two things to do immediately that will get you off of that plateau and get you unstuck and start growing again. And they could also tell you what to stop doing.


Rick (02:35):And so I'm not saying specialists are bad or that they have bad intents. They certainly do not. A generalist can see the big picture. They don't have an ax to grind and it doesn't matter what the solution is. They don't have to fit it into what they do. They can tell you what you actually need to do to get unstuck, because they've been there before. They've seen what works, and then you can decide what specialist to get. They can help you bring in a specialist to execute on that.


Rick (03:09):My point to the story here is if you feel like you're stuck and you're not seeing growth, and you've tried all these different things working with specialists, it may be time for you to contact a generalist to come in and take a look at what's going on. I hope this helps you.

Let's get sales flowing again

Business Growth Slowing? Time for a Generalist?

I was speaking with a business owner the other day and he told me how their business had reached a plateau in growth and it's been stuck there for over a year.

A web design agency convinced him that, if he redesigned the website and messaging that it would help. So he did. But it did not make an impact.

A content marketing agency convinced him to start blogging. So he started writing blogs with them and he still didn't see any growth in his sales.

A Facebook ad specialist got a hold of him, and so they did that. And still they saw no growth.

What do you do when this happens?