How To Make Sales People Change Their Bad Habits

The hardest part of a sales manager's job is perhaps getting salespeople to change for the better.

In my Dec 2007 issue*, I mentioned that one of the root causes of poor price negotiation is salespeople are poor, or lazy, in prospecting. Hence, they would rather give in to price pressures, than to prospect for more qualified customers.



Poor prospecting is just one of the many bad habits that salespeople have, and the list may include:-

1. Complaining too much and doing too little;

2. Talking too much and asking too little;

3. Not understanding customers' hidden needs;

4. Spending too much time on unimportant things;

5. Arguing with customers and badmouthing competitors;

6. Investing the entire relationship with the customers' organization with just only 1 contact person; etc.

The challenge of sales managers isn't so much of identifying what bad sales habits that their salespeople have. It's not even about coming up with solutions on how to break those bad habits. It's about getting their salespeople to change those bad habits.

Why Sales People Don't Change Their Bad Habits?

Salespeople stick to their bad habits for a variety of reasons. It's not purely because they are stubborn or resistant to change. It's more than that. Some of these reasons are:

1. They don't see a clear connection between changing those bad habits and better sales performances;

2. They are not given due recognition even when they change those habits (sales managers simply give recognition to the end result - sales, but seldom for improvements in the sales process);

3. They don't have anything to lose even if they don't make any changes (if it's NOT measured, then it's NOT done!)

First and foremost, sales managers would have to let their salespeople understand why they will have to do something uncomfortable like making more phone calls to higher-level people, or to ask customers some sensitive questions or building more contacts within the client organization.

To some people, especially those who are accustomed to some entrenched behaviors, making such changes can be a real pain. As such, sales managers can help by making them see the "brightness of the future", i.e. how making such changes will have some immediate impact on the closure or the profitability of the deal.

Giving Due Recognition:

Traditionally, salespeople are rewarded only when they close sales. However, the amount of sales closed is the result of the selling process of the salesperson who had put it into place before that.

Hence, if managers are convinced that by getting rid of certain bad sales habits, they will get better results from salespeople, then managers will have to take a more active role in reinforcing the elimination of bad habits and the adoption of good ones.

One way of doing so effectively is to give due recognition for any improvements made by salespeople who have eliminated or reduce some of the bad sales habits. One thing to note is that giving recognition is NOT the same as giving someone general praise. The recognition has to be specifically addressing the positive change made by the salesperson. An example will be:

"Sue, I have realized that you are having more appointments with key decision-makers recently. I believe that if you continue this good work, and can find out what their real needs are, you are going to close some great deals!"

In this particular instance, the manager states specifically what the recognition is for, and also tells the salesperson what else she needs to improve on, and what she can get if she makes those improvements.

Unfortunately, most managers tend to focus just on the negative aspects of what their salespeople are doing wrong and forgot about reinforcing what they are already doing right. This is not to say that managers should be "soft" on salespeople; rather it's just to give recognition where it's due, and let the salesperson know that someone is really watching over them.

What Gets Measured Gets Done:

Ultimately, salespeople are shrewd people, and will at times do something only if they know what punishment befalls onto them if it's not done.

Usually, salespeople who complain too much and did nothing to help themselves tend to fall under these categories. Their complains include:

* "Our price is just too high";

* "If only we had more advertising";

* "Those key people would not want to see me";

* "You didn't teach us the 'perfect pitch' that will make any customer say yes";

* "I don't have the resources to provide that additional information in my proposal";

* "I don't have time to fill in customers' data into our database";

* "That's not my job"; and so on

Sometimes, some people complain just to vent frustrations. Others just find excuses for doing the things that need to be done.

If the latter happens frequently, it's usually a sign that the sales manager hasn't been putting in place certain measurements to measure sales people's behavior (and not just sales revenue). If salespeople would have to find out needs and justify value over price, then that behavior would either be recognized more doing or penalized for not doing. Leaving the desired behavior to chance is not going to motivate any salesperson to do what it takes to change for the better.

As such, there are times when the reason why salespeople could not change their bad habits could be this simple - because the sales manager allows them to. Sales managers will have to be diligent and keep a good eye on what good sales habits they want from their team, and take appropriate action.