C-level Selling: Sales Management Must Enforce Change for More Sales

We all know change is difficult for ourselves and those we manage. Even when we know it’s best for us, we struggle and most likely don’t change. Comfort with the devil we know is one reason. Fear of what will happen is another.

However, resistance to change is all about “doing”. That is, people want to continue to “do” what they are “doing”. If they change, they’ll have to stop doing and if they stop doing, they feel they may fail or lose.

This applies to changing any habit, but since I’m in sales, we’ll focus on helping sales people and managers improve by changing. The irony is that sales people and managers want to improve, but they don’t want to change – i.e. take a pill and it will be better.

Now change could help managers and sales people more than any profession. Why, because they never learned how to sell or manage. Think about it. What other profession is so poorly educated in their field – doctors, lawyers, carpenters, brick layers get all kinds of training. Even cleaning people are taught how to clean by parents or supervisors. The only education sales people are given are a marketing pep talk, a lot of collateral material, and a shove out the door.

Learning to sell, however, is not the issue. Many people read, listen to CD’s or even attend seminar. It’s stopping the present and doing something different that’s the challenge. Why, because it takes them out of their comfort zone. Most are afraid what might happen but it could be worse than what they have. It also requires effort - mental effort. So unless there is a manager enforcing change, relieving the responsibility of potential failure, and insisting people take the mental plunge, change will not happen. However, most managers are afraid of the same things and so they don’t change in a way that gets their people to change.
This is why sales training fails with many companies and why self help books don’t produce much change. There is no one holding the person back from the old doing and safely guiding and pushing them to the new doing.

Most sales people and managers are self taught and consequently not that good. Yet, in their minds they are good enough and will do nothing to change or stop doing. Some people are good – 20% and these are the ones that keep companies in business. Surprisingly, these are the people always looking for new ideas of how to get better and will actually stop or alter their doing and start doing something different. The other 80% feel they are in the top 20% and continue doing what they’ve been doing.

I was talking to my buddy Len the other day who is a profit center leader for an engineering company. I asked him what he wanted most from his people as it relates to sale (or business development as they call it in engineering companies). He told me he wants his people to be able to find out and get to those who have influence and power with his clients. He also wants his people to be able to get the inside scoop on what it will take to win the contract.

“Lenny, my friend of 40 years,” I said. “I wrote a book about that called TAKE ME TO YOUR LEADER$ and I gave you a copy.”

We exchanged some dialogue, but in the end he just wanted to keep doing what he’s doing and hoping for better results - classic insanity. It’s like the Stephen Covey analogy of the hiker who comes across a woodsman who can’t take the time to sharpen his saw, which will cut wood faster, because he has too much wood to cut.

So if you want change, focus on the doing. Get agreement (from yourself and those you want to change) that the old doing isn’t good enough if you want more sales. Relieve the fear of failure, but don’t focus on the new doing. Or, put the fear that continuing to do the old will have more consequences for you than not making quota. This will be tough, but it’s the only way to enforce change.
Think of it this way. Quota is a minimum. You want over achievers. Constantly changing to improve is the only way to stay ahead (or even) with competition and to keep your job.

And now I invite you to learn more.