Facilitating Change is a World Class Sales Competency that needs attention! This subject is so COMPLEX and CHAOTIC that it is very difficult to explain, manage or measure. As a Trainer, it is critical now for you to be able to understand how change affects your company and is reflected in your training. Let's keep this SIMPLE! Your company is most likely affected by harder economic conditions today and will be driven to improve efficiency, productivity, and service quality. The training methods and outcomes you present to your employees will be a measuring stick for these improvement changes.Change happens CONSTANTLY and you must be able to ADAPT to it.
Business Change - Sales Training
In Sales Training, be sensitive to teach your team about the size and scale of any management decision. - small to large - and how it affects operation, sector, location, history, and employee population. Change is about moving an organization from a current position to a future condition, for the purpose of marketplace strategy and employee workplace performance alignment.
Evaluating sales and marketing change strategies can be done by looking at other company case studies and ROI analysis. But, beware! "Tested" sales strategies and implementations that have been tried before by other organizations may not be the best one for your company or for your team to experience!
Also, be careful to look at the effects of bringing in other Subject Matter Experts or Consultants who have had successful outcomes using "tried and true" methodologies that have worked for them in the past. These too may not work in your particular organization. Make sure that the new change initiative is a process to be facilitated rather than a plan that can be dictated to the employees
The People vs. YOU!
Facilitating change through people is very TOUGH because people are TOUGH and generally RESISTANT to anything that is different than what they are used to - especially if they have created a habit or routine that seemingly makes their life easier. People are more reactive than proactive and changing anything in their world (personal or work environment) can be confusing to deal with! However, through honesty and being straightforward about your change strategy, you can break through any resistance that people give you. The TRUTH will always set you free, even in business where money seems to be king over the people. Nothing could be farther from the truth! You cannot run a business without the power of people. The love of people is the root of successful business in sales!
If there is a change initiative approaching where people are involved, brace yourself for the resistance. You can guarantee that too many opinions will be involved! So, like the good Boy Scout or Brownie, "Be Prepared" to brace yourself emotionally and intellectually for the upcoming change challenges presented in front of you. People present problems all the time at the top, middle or bottom of any organization - that will need to be dealt with if the company is to succeed overall.
Many organizational studies say that the best change efforts are better left to employee engagement and creative teams rather than top down leadership. Many change efforts have failed because the company demanded the change process to be handled and controlled by corporate policy and procedure with little or no creative thinking allowed.
According to Hank Garber, CEO of National Risk Managers in Long Island, NY, ([email protected]), one way to engage employees in facilitating organizational change is to "make your employees your partners in the process of change". He also states that you can gain "greater and more effective communication- internal & external- by working to create a sales orientation that permeates every part of a business, leading to increased revenue, client retention, and loyalty by customers and employees.
- Make your employees stakeholders in the outcomes of change
- Promote the concept that ideas and solutions that come from within
- Promote creativity and communication
- Redirect focus on sales drivers, customer satisfaction and loyalty, not individual tasks
- Provide a proactive response to the need for fresh ideas and solutions to increase sales
The focus of change should be for the betterment of everyone in the organization as it relates to increase business results that sustain organizational growth.
