Getting Sellers On Board With Change
As an enabler with 15+ years experience of sales, enablement, and teaching (yes, you read correctly!), I’ve had my fair share of change management situations over the years.
Whether that’s convincing a class of 16 year olds that learning about Deutsch & Gerard’s social influence motivation is relevant to them and their lives, helping a CIO understand how a research product can uplevel their teams’ output, or assure sellers that tweaking their outreach behaviours will help them prospect more efficiently, I’ve learnt all too well that change is a part of life - and even more so for sales or enablement roles.
The one drawback of all of this is that humans are physically hardwired to resist change - even when it’s in their benefit. The psychologists amongst us will know this, but the part of the brain that helps us process emotions and motivations - the amygdala - interprets any sniff of change as a threat, and releases adrenaline and cortisol as a result - conveniently known as our stress hormones 🤯. And the worst bit about all of this? This can flare up at even the SMALLEST change - even when it’s a good change!
Now, I’m no Ms Frankenstein, and I’m not going to profess that I have the insight to completely reshape human genetics (can you imagine?), but I have learnt some tips over the years that helps diffuse the immediate “I don’t like change” reaction with reps - especially when it comes to enablement programs and initiatives…
🐝 You attract more bees with honey than vinegar
Any leaders worth their salt will know this, but kicking off any type of initiative by painting a negative picture and playing the blame game will immediately put your sellers’ backs up. As a rep, I’ve been on the receiving end of a “you haven’t been doing this well and it shows” message - and I understand why that might have been a good tactic to spur some of my peers on to do better… but for me as a recipient? It was horrendous. I thought I was doing well, I was working incredibly hard playing SDR, AE, and AM roles all in one, and I was getting deals in play and closing them. Hearing that I was, in fact, executing poorly, was incredibly demotivating. By painting change as a negative, you are doubling those natural stress hormones in your sellers’ brains - and as a result, likely switching them off before you’ve even launched it. Be positive, position the change as a benefit for them, and throw out that vinegar! 🍯
⭐ Stress what’s in it for them
During my time training and enabling reps at Gartner, I learnt a communication framework that I still use to this day. 4MAT is a really effective way of communicating any change to audiences - namely focusing on what the change is, why it’s happened, how we’ll move forward, and what’s in it for the audience. Now, all of these points are important to touch on when communicating any change - but it’s the last point I want to hone in on, as an ex-salesperson who works with salespeople every day.
What’s in it for sellers to change what they’re doing?
What will this change enable them to do that they don’t already do?
How can this change help them bring more deals/customers/leads/stakeholders to the table?
Let’s be honest, most sellers are motivated by money or recognition - what will this change help them achieve in either/both areas?
Using that messaging, showing your reps you know them, and helping them learn that you’re there to help them succeed can both reassure and motivate them that this change - as scary as it might seem - is a good thing for them and their goals.
💬 Include your reps in the process
Something I barely ever see enablers do is weave pilot groups of reps into their decision-making or planning processes - and it can be SO rewarding when executed effectively! By putting pilot groups together before you launch an initiative, you not only gain crucial insight into how it’ll likely land, but you get feedback and guidance on how to make it more impactful to reps before it’s even launched. Plus, by involving reps in the early stages of planning an initiative, they tend to feel more of a sense of ownership over it - crucial to get that peer stamp of approval!
🤝 Work with your leaders to reinforce and coach their reps to this change
We all know the importance of leader reinforcement in enablement - and this is doubly important when rolling out a new initiative or program that’ll require behaviour change. I’d love to think my reps enjoy working with me and see value in what I bring to the table, but their leaders work with them every day, know them and how they operate, and should be helping to reinforce any change being initiated, especially on a long-term basis. Trust in and support your managers to help deliver change - it’s not all on enablement’s shoulders, and neither should it be!
Just a few handy tips and tricks that have served me well over the past 5+ years of enabling, but I’d love to hear from my enable-peers - what’s worked well for you when implementing change for your reps? 🤔
