9 Difficulties: Salespeople Changing To More Effective Ways

The cheese is always moving.  Just watch the newspapers!  Even what happens in Greece can bring new challenges to America.   Families change.   Competitors change.  Our bodies change.  And, after a tornado leaves, even the landscape changes.  We can walk outside our doors and not recognize the community we live in – just ask the folks in Joplin, Missouri.  Not only does the cheese move, it sometimes appears impossible to find again.

So, what’s difficult about adapting to new situations?

“What’s difficult about changing to more effective ways of doing things?” 

A couple of weeks ago I asked this question in front of a group of 100 bright salespeople.  Here are the 9 difficulties they found keeping them from changing to a better method.

1. Change itself … Some people just do not want to put in the extra effort.  They just say no to new ideas.
2. Comfort level … It’s uncomfortable doing new things.  It may hurt for awhile – not feel good.
3. Creation of new habits .. It’s one thing to change. It’s another to turn it into a new routine.
4. Mindset … Our minds have lots of neurons attached to old ways.  it’s tough to re-channel them.
5. Fear … The new scares people.  We might not look good, or do it well, or we might fail.
6. Execution of doing the new ideas … It might require self-discipline, a new and continuing focus, or hard work.
7. Knowing what’s effective …  A salesperson doesn’t know what will work better than what’s being done now.
8. Admitting you’re deficient even wrong … We have personal ownership in old skills.  Pride keeps us from changing.
9. Motivation level … Salespeople do not want the end result bad enough to go through 1-8.

Do you see other difficulties for salespeople or sales leaders when they face the need to change a sales plan, adopt new strategies, or increase activity?  Please comment if you do.

All of these roadblocks to change are related to these three … FEAR, DESIRE, KNOWLEDGE.

What are the coaching solutions?  How do you move forward?  Are there coaching methods for salespeople that affect all 9 of these performance killers.  YES!  Stay tuned.  Lance.