5 Reasons Why Change Is Good for Your Sales Team

You stand in front of your sales team and announce a shift in workplace policies, or privately mention that a client wants to go in another direction with their account. Immediately, your salespeople cringe. People that work in sales reflexively shy away from change, even if it is positive. No one wants to "rock the boat" when it comes to their daily routine, and switching things up makes people feel unsure about how to proceed. But teaching your sales team to embrace change helps improve their selling techniques and encourages professional growth. Here are five reasons why change is actually a good thing for your sales team. 1. Creates a More Flexible "Roll with the Punches" Team It takes more effort to repel change than to embrace it. Resisting change creates stress and makes selling harder for your team. Fighting change is like fighting the tide. Shifts in policy and practices are inevitable in the sales industry, yet pushing back just makes the work much more difficult for the team. Everyone recognizes those coworkers who dislike change. They spend more time trying to work around even simple changes instead of accepting new ideas and improving their work. By acknowledging that adjustments are inevitable, your team learns to adapt and become better salespeople. Taking change in stride also teaches your team how to sell to every type of person. Change makes you adapt easily to new environments, situations, and people. Your salespeople get used to regular changes, making your team more adaptable and able to sell to any type of client. 2. Puts Your Team Ahead of the Professional Curve Most salespeople resist change because they fear the unknown. They would rather remain safe and confident in their limited knowledge. But change helps you become smarter than these salespeople. It allows you to grow, and growing is learning. Constant change allows your team to learn new skillsets that can take their selling game to the next level. Remember this when you see an opportunity to tweak your selling tactics, and you will start viewing change as a chance to get ahead of the sales curve. 3. Prevents the Sales Team from Stagnating Sticking with traditional selling tactics in a changing sales environment can lead to failure. Your sales team gets comfortable and begins to work mechanically, going through the motions without considering that each client is different. Keep implementing adjustments to your sales team to maintain a fresh outlook. Refresh and reinforce your sales team with continuous reinforcement training to prevent their sales systems from stagnating and causing a sales slump. Change provides a different viewpoint of the sales industry as a whole, shifting the perspective on selling and allowing your team to consider different approaches. Give them the supplemental tools they need to grow as sales professionals and improve their selling process. 4. Gets the Team Outside of Their Comfort Zone Change encourages personal growth. It helps the sales team discover new insights about their abilities and what they are capable of achieving. If your team is open to change, they can learn how to master different aspects of the sales industry that challenges them to step up their sales game. Change is not always positive. But failing can actually strengthen your sales team. Overcoming poor sales experiences helps your team learn from failures and improve in the future. Constant changes in the sales climate require adaptation to continue thrive. The only other option is gradual and inevitable failure. 5. Brings Improvement Without change, there would be no improvement in the sales process. Change triggers progress and guides salespeople towards new and more effective techniques. Your sales team needs to embrace adjustments and recognize that they bring an opportunity to become more successful as a team and as individuals. Often, these opportunities bring about unexpected benefits. For example, if new management is put in place for one of your customers, your sales team may have the chance to come in and present new products or services. The new manager may be more receptive than the previous point-of-contact at the company. Teach your team to look forward to change as a way to improve their sales methods. If they work on commission, take the time to explain how significant changes can lead to more profits. Letting your employees know how change affects them for the better prevents resistance and promotes a positive attitude on your sales team. Perpetual change discourages a stagnant work environment, fosters constant learning, and helps your team discover better ways of communicating with clients and each other. Continuously tweak your sales process through regular training and development opportunities to see why change is a good thing for your sales team.