MRL #032- An Open Letter To Struggling Producers

Fellow Producer,

If you’re not hitting your numbers then this letter is for you.

There are a number of reasons why you’re probably not producing, and I have a few suggestions that might help.

But first, I wanna tell you about a former teammate of mine.

We’ll call him Bruce.

Bruce was a tool.

He was also shockingly untalented.

Honestly, I have no idea how he ever made it into professional baseball to begin with.

He was short, overweight, and a turd of a teammate.

He had an unorthodox left-handed delivery, an average curveball, and fastball that couldn’t break a window pane.

But, what Bruce lacked in talent, he made up for in confidence and self belief.

When he looked in the mirror, he didn’t see what I saw… a guy who looked like he just walked out of Dungeons and Dragons convention.

No, he saw a professional pitcher destined for the Big Leagues.

For 7 years Bruce gritted it out in the minors. Guys with more talent, came and went. Some got released, some got injured, and others just quit.

But not Bruce. He stayed the course, outlasted his peers, and eventually found himself in an Oakland A’s uniform with a 7-figure contract.

He didn’t last long up there, but that’s besides the point. He made it, when so many others (with more talent) did not.

Bruce was average, unimpressive, and unlikeable…

But he was determined.

And it paid off.

Which brings me to my point.

When I look around the Producer world, I see the same pattern.

Lots of guys and gals with boatloads of talent, outlasted by guys and gals with half as much.

This is a cruel and brutal business, and the spoils go to the Producers who can stay in the game.

If you can just hang on long enough, keep putting in the reps, and work your ass off… you can be one of the lucky ones.

There are thousands of “Bruce’s” in our industry, and if they made it… why can’t you?

So, if you’re reading this letter and you find yourself in a tough spot, don’t panic.

There’s still 6 months left on the calendar.

You CAN hit your yearly target in that amount of time if you’ll do two things.

First, drastically increase your prospecting efforts.

You may not wanna hear this, but, your revenue today is a lagging indicator of your prospecting efforts 6-12 months ago.

If you’re not on pace to hit your numbers, you’re not prospecting enough.

If you normally make 20 calls a week, make 100.

If you normally make 100, make 200.

It’s not gonna be fun, but volume cures all sales deficiencies.

Second, ruthlessly cut waste out of your day.

Anything that’s not revenue-generating activity has to go.

Bullshitting with Frank at the water cooler, scrolling LinkedIn, your daily Wordle…

Cut it all.

For the next 6 months you’re in monk mode.

No distractions, no busy work, no nonsense.

You can do this.

And I’m rooting for you.

Ok, That's It For This Week

If you wanna hear Micah and I riff on this, catch tomorrow’s podcast.

There’s still plenty of time on the clock to turn your year (or career) around.

Give it hell.

See you next Sunday.

Kick ass take names,

Maximus F. Revenue IV

P.S. It’s official. The Producer Playbook is done. Launch date set for next Monday, June 19th.

Super stoked to show it to you.

Talk soon.