My Pittsburgh Steelers suffered a brutal playoff loss recently to our archrival Baltimore Ravens. What’s worse than suffering yet another early playoff exit is that this is the 6th time in a row this has happened. Worse yet is that the Steelers haven’t won a playoff game in 8 years. And still worse than that is that our recent playoff loss was a part of a 5-game losing streak to end the season.
It’s time for Mike Tomlin (the Steelers’ Super Bowl-winning head coach of 18 years—and by far the longest tenured head coach in the league) to get fired. Only problem is, despite how loud the screams from the fan base will be, the Steelers ain’t firing Tomlin.
That’s just not the way they do business. In fact, they’ve only had 3 coaches the past 55 years.
(For comparison, the Cleveland Browns, another rival team that was relocated to Baltimore in 1996 and then resumed operations as the Browns in Cleveland in 1999, have had 12 coaches since 1999.)
And in many ways, there’s a lot to learn about business from the Steelers and their approach which defiles the industry’s norms, as Ben Settle would say.
Sticking by their coaches has resulted in the franchise having the most amount of Super Bowl victories (unless you count Tom Brady). Talking heads in the media love the fact that Tomlin has never had a losing season in his 18-year tenure—in fact, my 17 year old cousin has never seen a losing season. And Tomlin is a defensive guy, which again, flies in the face of “best practices” for today’s NFL.
More:
Tomlin, since he accepted the job in 2007, also isn’t an analytical guy. Back in 2007, “advanced analytics” weren’t really used nor even defined in the NFL. And Tomlin has since become stubborn about the idea of relying on analytics.
But this stubbornness to analytics, refusal to design cater to the new NFL (where offense is several notches more important than defense), and the lack of accountability from the owner is why most people in Pittsburgh (both fans and local media) are calling for Tomlin’s job despite never having a losing season, winning a Super Bowl, and being a consistent playoff contender.
Which brings me to the long-winded point of this email:
While what I’m about to say is even more true in the highly competitive NFL, it’s true for all industries, all roles in said industries, and all people in said roles.
The question you must always answer in your career is: What have you done for me lately?
None of Tomlin’s achievements, many of which are impressive and borderline record-setting, matter because he’s lost 6 straight playoff games and hasn’t won a playoff game since 2017.
And so it is with your business, career, clients, what have you.
A 6-figure launch or 5-figure promo that blows the water out of your other launches and promos doesn’t matter if you haven’t done it recently.
A new offer that becomes your #1 bestseller doesn’t matter if it’s been years since you’ve added anything new.
An ad that generated an absurd ROAS doesn’t matter if it ain’t converting no mo’.
Sometimes this forces you to course correct - maybe some analytics you ignored are more important than you thought. And other times, it forces you to find a new client, career, or business.
Anyway:
One way to stack the odds in your favor and capitalize off this recency bias thang I’m referring to is by crafting—and implementing—an email strategy that makes your best customers eager to spend more with ya.
And would ya look at that - you’re reading an email from a guy who does just that!
Incredible, really.
So, hit reply if you wanna chat about your email strategy, and we’ll find a time that works for us.
John
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