In order to get the organization to pay attention
to the change you are
driving, you must create cognitive dissonance. There must be a moment
when reps understand, very clearly, to “do this, not that.” If the new model
feels like a tweak on the old . . . well, why bother changing? Change, after
all, is hard work. If reps see a clear A-to-B move (versus an A v1.0-to-A
v2.0), they are far more likely to see this as different
instead of a flavor of
the week, or worse, more of the same.
Don’t water down the message. Part of the power of this research (as
confirmed by early adopters of the model itself) is the
contrast
it offers
between the old way and the new, more effective way to sell.
Aligning the
message to the old way of selling means that reps
may
adjust behavior at
the margins, but most will fail to see it for what it is and won’t do anything
differently as a result. The best gauge of the power of your message to the
organization
is how many people
disagree
with you and want to debate—
this is probably true of anything, but it’s especially true when you’re talking
about driving change in the sales organization, whose inertia around legacy
ways of doing
things can be hard to break, to put it mildly.
If you are a sales leader or a training professional, in other words, you
need to be a Challenger yourself. Teach reps to value the change you are
selling to them. Picking agreeable terms that don’t ruffle feathers might
make everybody
in the organization feel good, but rest assured, few will
remember what you said and you will be far less likely to compel change as
a result. And, as we know, the same is true for
reps presenting to customers
—it is the Challengers’ desire to create constructive tension (often with
specific language and data that reframe the customer’s view of things) that
creates a differentiated sales experience, one that ultimately builds more
loyal customers.
Dostları ilə paylaş: