One of the 25 Most important Things I’ve Learned
Recently, one of the members of my CBIG groups suggested I make a list of the 20 most important things I’ve learned in my 30 years of experience working with B2B sales organizations.
I was hesitant at first, because I thought it was a bit too focused on me. But I realized that I have learned some really important things, and that since I have a unique perspective and an out-of-the-box way of thinking, these may not be obvious to the world at large, and would potentially be helpful to a lot of people.
So, I created a list and discovered it to be far longer than 20 items. To narrow down the long list, I applied these four criteria:
1. It had to be an important lesson – one which has the potential to dramatically impact a person, a sales team, or a business — not superficial or trivial.
2. It had to arise out of my personal experience. In other words, not something that I garnered from a book, or borrowed from someone else. Something I’ve learned in the trenches.
3. It had to have been tested in the caldron of real-world experience. No blue-sky stuff.
4. I had to unwaveringly vouch for its validity. These are concepts and lessons that I would stand behind.
Applying these four criteria, I narrowed the list down to 25, and then connected them to the group (or groups) to which that idea was most appropriate: Salespeople, sales leaders, small businesspeople, executives and businesspeople at large.
In no particular order, here’s one of the 25, most applicable to sales leaders, executives and small businesspeople: When you change the structure, you change the behavior of the people who work within that structure.
Let’s first define ‘structure.” The Oxford dictionary says it is: “the arrangement of and relations between the parts or elements of something complex.” While my most frequent application is sales systems, the concept can be applied to multiple parts of an organization, and with a little stretch, to individuals as well.
My most frequent application has to do with sales systems. I use the word ‘structure’ to refer to all the policies, procedures and tools that exist in a sales system outside of the people themselves. So, for example, some of the elements of the structure of a sales system are:
The sales compensation plan
The sales management processes
The territory description
The sales hiring process
The Automation or technology tools
The sales collateral
The training system
There are others, but this gives you an idea. When the compensation plan is changed, for example, you generally encourage and therefore realize, different behavior. As a consultant, I have made dramatic changes in the results of a B2B sales team by changing the structure and without having ever met the salespeople.
When you change the structure, you change the behavior of the people who operate within that structure. Here are a couple of examples, one from a Macro view and the other from a micro perspective.
From the macro view, you’ll remember the cold war involving the USA and the Soviet Union. They were roughly equal in terms of the distribution of natural resources, the size of the population and the amount of talent and abilities resident within those populations. But, in spite of that, one of those countries far surpassed the other in economic development, artistic achievement, and quality of life.
Why was that? The structure was different. The rules that both populations lived by were different. The populations adjusted to the structure.
On a micro scale, we have seen the same principle in operation. For years, my wife and I were foster parents. We had a hand in the care for 19 foster children of various races and sexes and physical and emotional disabilities. When a child came into our home, they were often upset and acting out due to the chaotic environment from which they had been removed.
I would watch as my wife laid down the rules on that child’s first day with us. “Here’s the bedroom,” she would say. “You will sleep in the bed, not in the closet, not on the floor, but in the bed.”
“Here’s the bathroom. This is your toothbrush and here is the soap and toothpaste. You will wash your face and hands and brush your teeth in the morning before you greet the rest of the family.”
“Here’s the dining room table. This is where you will sit. You will sit here, eat with the rest of the family, and use silverware and plates. “
Wham! The structure came down on the kids. It was a radically different structure than that which they were accustomed. They would typically test it a bit, but within a few days had adjusted to the structure, sensed that it was good for them, and began to calm down and gain emotional control.
When you change the structure, you change the behavior of the people who operate within that structure.
One of the tangential observations I have about structure is this. In most organizations the structural components came into existence, sometime in the past, typically in response to a crisis, and became codified into the organization’s structure. When asked to explain why something is the way it is, the most common response is “That’s the way we’ve always done it.”
In other words, there is no well thought out strategic role for that structural component. They are vestiges of days gone by, developed for situations in the past often by people who aren’t there anymore.
That very common situation represents a huge opportunity for executives. Examine each piece the structure, ask what this should be– looking forward not backward — and make changes.
Begin by creating a list of the structural elements. Ask what are the policies, processes and tools that we use every day? Then examine each. Well thought out, strategically focused structure components lead to more productive personnel. Because, changing the structure changes everything.
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