I was talking to a gentleman yesterday who was looking for a job. I asked him about his background and he told me he was with his last company for over 20 years and had worked his way up from stocking the shelves in their retail stores to VP of sales. The next question I asked was what happened? He told me the company shut its doors. He went on to tell me about how the company was bought by a competitor and in the first 4 months the name of the company changed, the labels changed, the prices almost doubled, and the entire management structure was realigned. He continued to tell me that for the previous 40 years the company has always had growth, in 4 months they went broke. He said that all the change happening at once was too much for the customers and the employees.
Hearing his story I was amazed, then as I thought about it more and more I almost got sick. I have worked with sales reps for years and I have seen my share fail and for the first time I had a new insight as to why. So many sales people that I have seen fail had been trying to reinvent themselves.
I started to think about individual reps who I knew that failed and what they were doing as they slipped down hill and finally out the door. So many of them were trying to change EVERYTHING about themselves all at once, much like the company I was just told about. They changed their sales presentation, the way they worked, their daily routine, their pricing, their dress and everything else that they could change. As I thought about these reps I realized that they needed to change all these things, and some needed to change even more things about themselves, the question is did they need to do it all at once?
I think about my years as a Band Parent (no wise cracks). During my oldest daughters years in the band she had the same Band Director. He did things the same every year from the first day of summer practice to band camp (I said no wise cracks) to football games and competitions. Then in my youngest daughter’s freshman year a new Band Director came to the school and he changed everything about the Band Program. From one year to the next the band went from the number 1 band in the State of Georgia to not winning any awards at all.
All 3 of these stories have the same basic theme, fast and complete change. All 3 of these stories have the same ending, fast and complete failure. All 3 of these stories have the same moral, change is good but it doesn’t all need to happen at once.
I believe that as sales reps we need to be constantly reinventing ourselves to keep up with all the changes that are happening in the market place. How our customers buy is changing, the amount of information our customers have access to is changing, pricing, manufacturing, shipping, regulations, liability, and just about everything that is associated with selling has changed or is changing. We need to change also, but just like the company, the sales reps and the band, we don’t need to do it all at once.
Pick what you think will give you the biggest bang for the buck. Maybe you think changing your sales presentation will help you the most, then change that one thing and leave everything else alone for now. Once you have settled in on the presentation that works for you and is meeting your expectations then you can move to the next item that will give you the next biggest bang for the buck. Is it how you cut your hair, or the perfume you wear? It doesn’t matter, whatever it is you decide, make the one change and then wait until you get the results you want before you tackle the next item to change.
By making changes slow and waiting until they settle in the changes will be better accepted by you, your customers and your company. If we manage change and use change to make positive strides towards our goals we won’t be afraid to continue to change a little at a time.
It is said that the only constant is CHANGE. I don’t think that we can stop change from happening, however I do think we can control the degree and speed of the change to stop the catastrophic results that we know are possible with rapid and total change.
Lorin
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