- March 16, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
People change when they are ready to change.
For example, I needed to lose weight and become healthier for several years. I had been reading the literature on healthy eating for months. I knew that this was important but until the day came when I was ready to commit to being healthy and eating healthy, nothing would change.
By default, salespeople are the same way. They know that there are more effective methods of selling, they know the importance of following your structured sales process. They have read the books, attended training, received coaching, heard the strategies and techniques, listened and participated in role-plays and been coached on proper use. But until the day comes, probably a very frustrating day where they recognize the futility of their comfortable but ineffective ways, and they are willing to commit, nothing will change.
That can be very frustrating and worse, it can mean that much of the time and money you invest in sales improvement will be wasted. Unless…
A week ago I wrote an article on the 10 Rules for Getting Salespeople to Follow Your Sales Process.
When you implement those 10 Rules, especially Rules #1, 2 and 9, you can short-circuit human nature and cause salespeople to change on your time line rather than theirs.
Rule #9, Consequences for non-compliance, becomes the crucial ingredient in this process. In my next article, I’ll discuss consequences.