Changing Habits In Your Sales Organization
July 1, 2005

Habits are hard to change. If they weren't, they wouldn't be habits. Do you ever think about what causes you, personally, to change the way you do things?

Think about the last major change you made in your personal or business life. What was it?

Perhaps it was a change you made in your eating habits. Or, maybe you decided to exercise. You may have chosen to get up an hour earlier than your body clock is programmed, in order to ride a bike, do yoga, or read a publication that helps you in your work life.

Why did you do it? If you changed your eating, drinking, work, play, or other habits, it was probably because you discovered the need for a change. It wasn't because somebody told you that you should change some ingrained way you go about doing things!

So, what does this have to do with a sales-related article? Plenty. I interact with sales organizations helping them improve their focus, performance and productivity. I don't sell everybody. In fact, I don't sell anyone.

I guess I must be pretty unsuccessful, huh? Well, actually, I feel pretty successful. The fact is that my clients have invested in change-making ideas because they were able to recognize the need for a change, resulting from recognizing a problem that needed to be fixed. It wasn't because I sold them on an idea, or told them what to do.

This month's article has a simple message. If you think about why you make a change in your own life, you will come to the conclusion that you are willing to reconsider the way you do things, even if you are "successful," because you recognize a need to change. You decide to adopt a new path or solution that addresses something that you recognize is wrong. In working with your own employees or customers, realize that "getting them to change" is really like pushing a rope. Pull the rope by enabling them to discover, for themselves, a reason or reasons to do things differently.

You can help your sales organization understand a path forward that can lead to greater productivity and job satisfaction. After addressing changes your sales organization can make, your team can work with your customers to enable them to recognize a need for your products and services. How? By applying the same approach that you utilize in your own personal life and career. The most effective way to get a customer to invest in your product or service, or to get your reps to embrace a new selling approach, is to utilize techniques that enable the customer or rep to recognize a problem he has, for himself.

In working with some wonderful, established and successful organizations, I have found that by being patient and employing proven methods that lead to the client's self-discovery and revelation, an investment in a proven and applicable product or solution occurs.

Think about why you make changes in your life. Recognize that the reasons why you change are due to your own self-discovery. Yes, there are facilitators and people who influence you. However, they probably didn't get you to change your habits and behavior because they told you what to do!

Why should it be any different when you are attempting to lead your customers, sales reps, fellow employees or other stakeholders to a new way of doing things?

You can't legislate change. Nor can you wave a wand and expect your reps or customers to suddenly "get it." It takes work on your part, as a manager, to enable your rep, or through the rep, your customer, to recognize a need to change to your product or solution. That's the easy part. Then, unlike most "de jour" change or sales programs, you have to find ways to integrate the changes into you company culture, habit and way of doing business.

Visit www.grovergroupllc.com for ideas and programs that you can utilize to help you address your pain and the associated need for change. Don't make the mistake of the "quick fix," looking for the program of the month to shock your sales team, or for that matter, your customers, into action. Once you help your employee or customer explore an opportunity or need for improvement, craft your solution as carefully and methodically as you did or do when you helped your child learn how to navigate life.

You wouldn't send your child across the street without sound instruction and practice, would you? Why would you approach changes in habit any differently?