For
30 years I’ve been training B2B sales forces to sell better. I’ve noticed this – that any group of
salespeople, 20% to 30% are eager to learn and enthusiastic about trying some
of the practices I teach. Of the
remainer, some will try to apply some of the lessons, and others will fail to
adjust their behavior at all.
What is it that distinguishes the
eager learners from the rest of the pack?
They are discontented. I have
concluded that without a serious amount of discontent, there will be no
significant change in behavior.
Let’s create some context. “Change in behavior” is the reason people
hire someone like me to improve their salesforce. Learning, for adults on the job, is not
defined as acquiring more facts, as it may be in academic circles. For adults on the job, learning always
involves a change in behavior. Training
is designed to equip the trainees to do something differently and to do
something better. It is always defined by what they do, not what they
know. I often tell audiences that I
don’t care what they know. They are paid for what they do, not what they know.
Nor is learning defined by how they
feel. I often have people come up at the
end of a seminar and tell me that they feel great, that they have “learned a
lot.” While I don’t say this because it
would be rude, but I think it: “You don’t know that you have learned
anything until your warm feelings express themselves in behavior change. Check in with me two months from now and tell
me what you are doing differently. Then
I’ll believe that you have learned.” While good feelings are nice, they, by
themselves, don’t change behavior.
In sales, as in many other endeavors,
becoming better means doing something differently – behaving in better
ways. Behavior often bubbles up out of habit.
That means changing ingrained habits.
And changing habits is difficult.
Learning also requires a bit of
humility. Attempting to do something
better implies the realization that you are not perfect at it now. That alone scares some people off, as they
are too insecure to admit that they can improve.
Not only does learning require an
investment of time and often money, but the big price is emotional energy. For the most part, to change a habit means
that you must work at it, and working at something so difficult requires a huge
dose of energy and conviction. You’ve got to decide that you can improve, and
that you should improve. That’s where
most people become sidetracked. They
realize that changing a habit is going to be hard, and they just don’t want to
expend the energy to do so.
And that brings us to
discontent. Here’s a definition: Discontent is a deep desire to change one’s
circumstances by changing oneself.
Discontent arises out of wanting to
change some aspect of your circumstances and makes the connection between
personal or professional growth and improved circumstances. Discontent recognizes that by changing
yourself you impact your circumstances.
The reason why only 20% – 30% of a
training class eagerly embraces the training is that the rest don’t want to invest
the amount of emotional energy it will take to change habits. They see the resulting change in their
behavior as not worth the effort. When
it comes down to it, they are content with their circumstances. Given the
choice of investing in change or maintaining the status quo, they choose the
status quo.
Over 100 years ago, James Allen
recognized this phenomenon.
“Men are often interested in improving
their circumstance, but are unwilling to improve themselves, they therefore
remain bound.”
James Allen
While contentment may be a wonderful
goal to chase, it squashes growth before it has a chance to germinate. I’m
certainly not the first person to recognize the role of discontentment in
growth. Thomas Edison said,
“Restlessness and discontent are the
necessities of progress.”
~ Thomas Edison
And Nathanial Hawthorn observed:
“The world owes all its onward
impulses to men ill at ease. The happy
man inevitably confines himself within ancient limits.”
~ Nathanial Hawthorne
If
there is nothing you want to become, nothing you want to acquire, nothing you
want to do better – if there is nothing you want to make better in your life,
then there is no discontent. Without
discontent, there is no reason to change.
Discontent is the necessary precursor to growth. And that’s one of the 25 most important lessons I’ve learned.
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