One of the maxims always heard in business school is “change is good.” Change is often good, but only if change is really necessary. To paraphrase Ron White, why do you need change if the machine takes bills? In other words if things are working just fine the way they are, then change is only necessary if it can bring a known, guaranteed improvement. Otherwise, “don’t fix what ain’t broke.”
Quite often, especially in sales, managers and teams propose and implement changes purely in order to be seen as “proactive.” The change will be implemented just to appease management who is asking “what’s new?” This is a dangerous mentality.
Humans, for the most part, do not deal well or accept change easily. Most prefer to find a relatively comfortable spot and then stick with it. Sales teams are no different. If what they’re doing is working well, they will resist any change to it. This is why habits are often so hard to break – the salesman who is “always closing” has a very hard time adjusting to a more hands-off, coaxing style in a less intensive environment and may find him or herself looking for a new position as the stress of changing old habits takes its toll.
Before proposing or implementing any marked change to your sales teams or model, you should have four things in line and guaranteed first.
#1 – A Clear Goal. Whatever you’re planning to change, the outcome of the change should be clearly stated in such a way that everyone can understand it without doubts. What is your vision and the ultimate goal of this change? Most of the time, change for the sake of change will have no clear-set goal.
#2 – Motivation. Just as you should have a clear goal set, you should also have clear motivation for needing to meet that goal. If the goal is to change the sales team’s motivational factor to increase revenues through higher performance, you should have a good motivation for that – what motivated you to believe that these changes would actually cause that goal to come about?
#3 – Facts and Figures. Once you have goals and motivation, you need to back up your proposed changes with numbers that prove that the change will actually make a difference. “Soft numbers” like how much more revenue will be had should the goal be met are not proof, they are merely justification for the motivation. Proof comes in numbers and data that show that making the change itself will actually bring about those improvements. These figures should include all of your current and proposed sales channels and organizational differences and how they will be affected during and after the changes have taken place.
#4 – Get Experts. There are experts in every field available to give an objective view of things, don’t be hesitant to find the right one to help your evaluation and even implementation of proposed changes. Often, it takes the expert saying “This is a bad idea” to finally get the in-over-his-head manager to realize that he is, in fact, floundering rather than helping.
Change is good if it has a clear goal and reason for being undertaken. Otherwise, change can be detrimental. If your plans for change can’t pass muster with these four points, you should reconsider the proposals.