What approach does your management use for top performing sellers who continue to be successful despite NOT adopting your new sales methodology that your company had invested heavily in? We are inclined to let top sellers continue to thrive with their old behavior so long as they deliver results, but we are concerned about the contradiction this may create, which could affect our ability to scale sales methodology adoption.
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Director of Sales in Healthcare and Biotecha month ago
People adapt to a change when they are clear on why the change benefits them, their customers, and their longer-term objectives. It is useful to consider, if their old sales strategy continues to produce the results that are important, why would they change? What is in it for them? Get curious about what is holding them back from trying the new approach by spending time with them. Identify approaches like those Andrea mentions below to address what is getting in the way of adoption once they are clear about the upside and why this method will help them be even better.
1. Create a balanced scorecard approach to performance management of sellers AND tie it to how they are compensated. When reps see that behaviors and results impact their compensation and how they are reviewed, it will help. That being said, some will still stick to their own ways (and some companies just can't shift their compensation plan that dramatically) so I would also suggest #2 and #3.
2. If you haven't already, invest in Conversational Intelligence and begin tracking the how your reps are showing up in front of customers. Demonstrate how reps who are following the methodology are getting better results in both leading and lagging indicators. If you invested in the right methodology and believe it will work, then the leading indicators should start to change. Show your tenured reps who aren't using the methodology the data that while they may be ok now, it will catch up to them.
3. Consider investing in technology that links selling behaviors to outcomes - behavioral analytics. That way, as changes occur over time, you can demonstrate to them (and the entire sales org/leadership) that the methodology is working and driving real results.
4. Continue highlighting successful use of the behaviors - promote those success stories often. When you are sick of talking about it, remember that people will just have starting listening so stick with it!
Investing in a new methodology is a short and long term play. You get some immediate benefits for sure - but then if you don't have the data architecture set up to track and prove effectiveness and you aren't using that to prove it to sellers, people will atrophy and return to old habits.