I received an email from a guy I knew years ago. I hadn’t seen him about five years. But since I recognized his name, I thought I’d see what he was up to.

In his email, he stated he had started up a new business and was making contact with all his old lists to get the word out. Would I like to join some of his groups?Are You Still Selling The Old School Way

Okay. So I clicked and started following some of the paths. And sure enough, it was just as I suspected.

40+ year olds have a problem. They are old school. They grew up in a time of old school marketing where you sell, sell, sell everything you do. And many haven’t learned the lessons of that type of selling in today’s world.

If you sell all the time, you’ll alienate yourself very, very quickly.

People don’t “sell” in the old way anymore. In fact, if you do, you’ll discover pretty quickly that you’ll hit a wall and won’t quite understand why.

Think about how most people live in a 24 hour period of time.

They get up and check email and Facebook. They get ready, send the kids to school, and grab their tablets for a few minutes of work. Check social accounts. Check email. Then it’s off to a meeting at the local coffee house.

You’re there a little early, so you settle down and create a blog post. Send it off. Pin it to Pinterest. Send it through your Google+ status update. Then answer a text or two. Connect with a few friends and acquaintances, and recommend a few new resources you’ve found to your followers. And conduct your meeting.

Call into the office, surf to find new information, and handle some client work. Attend a networking meeting, then it’s off to a soccer game with the kids.

Cook dinner, and check email in between. Watch your favorite reality show, finish up with a little business, login to Facebook one last time, and it’s off to bed.

See? Nowhere in there did I mention “sit through a sales presentation”.

In some cases you will still meet with people and discuss sales. But for the most part, you find everything you need by following people and hearing their recommendations. When you need something, you reach out to your social community and ask. They will lead you down the path to your best choice.

Yet I se 40+-somethings make that mistake all the time. They automatically think sales instead of relationships. They instantly assume they have to sell you instead of build a relationship with you. Even when you know them from your past.

In today’s world, a sale is created in three ways.

1. Building trust.

2. Establishing a relationship

3. Proving your expertise

And more and more, you do that with content. Content is what drives the business world of the future. And if you don’t get that, you’ll get lost in the “old world”.

It’s coming quicker than you think. Are you ready for the new world?