Sales Team in a Rut?

How can managers encourage their salespeople to be more open to new ideas?  Professor Richard Wiseman, author of 59 Seconds: Think a Little, Change a Lot (MacMillan, 2009), says that shaking up even the smallest aspect of the daily routine can spill into other areas of life, making people more willing to embrace general change.

“Encourage them to start the day with something new,” says Wiseman. “Drive to work via a different route, listen to an unfamiliar radio station. If there is a set way the staff answers the company phone or certain language that makes it into every sales pitch, rewrite the script a little, even if it’s just saying the familiar things in an unfamiliar order.”

Or you can do something totally whimsical, such as introduce a weekly brain teaser or puzzle, so that your team is nudged to think outside of the box in a nonthreatening way. (For plenty of ideas, visit Wiseman’s blog at richardwiseman.wordpress.com.)

The important thing about implementing change is not to overwhelm your team with big, sweeping mandates. In other words, skip the three-hour meeting in which you introduce the 100-step process that will redefine your corporation. “The good thing about the 59 Seconds concept is that it instantly appeals,” says Wiseman. “You’re only asking for a minute. The quicker and more painlessly you can introduce one change, the more receptive [your team] will be to the next.”