In this motivational business talk, the speaker warns companies about the hidden danger of occupying a 'middle' position in the market—being average, getting some customers, and receiving modest recognition, yet lacking true differentiation. Using a personal anecdote about being an average athlete and employee, he illustrates how the middle can feel comfortable but ultimately leads to stagnation and loss of relevance. He poses probing questions that help listeners self‑diagnose whether they are truly in the middle, such as whether they can predict customer renewals or feel irreplaceable. The core advice is to shift focus from generic retention tactics to becoming irreplaceable to the most important customers, which starts with defining the kind of organization one wants to become. He challenges the audience to develop strategies that make them the first choice, not a fallback, and offers his assistance to those ready to move out of the middle.
Chapters
Every company should hate being in the middle. In high school, I tried out for almost every single sport I could, thinking that one of them would stick and I'd be great at it. Unfortunately, that day didn't come, but I got average, yeah, success, average results in most categories that I had. You know, I was making offers, I was getting better in particular areas, but I wasn't getting picked first, but I was still getting picked in other areas. Same thing happened in my early, my career. You know, I was getting picked in that middle group of achievers. We still got our badge, we still got paid. And we still got some success, but we weren't first. We weren't the first choice in all things, but, you know, we got second choice and we got paid and we got a pat on the back. And in most cases, we felt good about being in the middle. But the day has come today where being in the middle is a dangerous place. Being in the middle doesn't get you noticed, although we think it might because we're getting paid, customers are turning up at our door, and we're getting pats on the back. But being in the middle is dangerous. It's dangerous because eventually the middle becomes the end, and the end becomes lost in a sea of undistinguished, undifferentiated companies lost on Google and Amazon, lost in the notifications of LinkedIn. Lost without any real understanding of what kind of value you actually produce for your customers. So the question is, are you still in the middle? Are you still patting yourself on the back because a few customers said yes? And they've said yes for a few years in a row, and perhaps you're thinking that they may want to continue with you a few years from now because of the agreements you have in place. The question is this: Do you get to the end of the year and wonder whether or not a customer will renew with you or not? Do you ever get to the end of the year and wonder, "Hey, are we going to do the same level of business we will with a particular customer?" Do you ever get to the end of the year and think, "Hey, has our relationship actually got better?" And the answer has been, "I'm not too sure." If you answered any of those questions and you don't you don't really know the answers to it, or perhaps the answer is no, then you're probably sitting in the middle. And the middle is a dangerous place for most customers and most companies like you. So what do we do if we know we're sitting in the middle? It's a great place to be if you know you're in the middle, not a great place if you don't. But because you're listening to this, I know that you're listening to the sound of my voice, You're taking some very careful action to never be in the middle, and I want to help you get chosen first in every category with every customer most important to you. So let me give you one strategy, one particular principle that will be helpful to you right now to move out of the middle. Here's, here's the biggest question here: what kind of organization are you trying to become? That's a really important question. So I'll give you another question, perhaps. If I were to ask you what kind of strategies you have for retaining your customers, you might give me one or two, right? I imagine you probably have some. But if I were to ask you the question, what strategies do you have to become irreplaceable to your most important customers? Do you have a strategy for that? Now I'm going to go out on a limb without any disrespect and probably say you don't have any strategies for the latter, for knowing how to become irreplaceable to your most important customers. And if that's the case, even with the best intentions and the best retention strategies that you have, you're probably likely to stay in the middle. So if you want to move out of the middle, The question to ask is, what kind of customers, what kind of company do we want to become, and what kind of strategies do we need to have in place to become irreplaceable? Now, if you want the answers to that or help in finding those answers, I'd love to help. But never stay in the middle.
