Consuming Too Much Sales Advice Will Mess You Up, with Bridget Gleason [Episode 650]

Bridget Gleason is VP of Sales for Logz.io and my regular partner on Front Line Fridays.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• As a follow-up to The Dunning-Kruger Effect mentioned in last week’s episode, Andy says that sales information is so abundant that it’s hard to know what has value to you and what is a distraction. We are consuming too much.
• Explicit Monitoring is when experienced professionals become so focused on their actions that they make mistakes. This is seen when a pro golfer has changed their swing and has to think it through each time.
• Andy saw a struggling NBA player so paralyzed by the coaching advice given to him that he could hardly get a free throw to the rim, which had been automatic for him.
• This can happen to us in sales as we focus more on tips, techniques, and advice until we are distracted from focusing on the buyer.
• Another psychologist calls this the Self-Focus Vortex. You have all these bits of advice going through your mind about what you should be doing and you get distracted from what you are doing.
• Bridget talked to one of her reps recently who is great with the process but goes rigid when he gets on a call. He is so tied to thinking about the process that he does not fully focus on the client. She suggested relaxing into it.
• You can’t take everything in at once. Find a way to add changes to your process that works for you. Bridget told her rep that when he gets more comfortable and confident, this won’t be an issue for him anymore.
• Andy says we need to teach people to consider their process as a funnel. You can put a lot of improvements in at the top, but leave the bottom narrow, so you serialize what you adopt and don’t try it all concurrently.
• MIT researchers found that the best practice for integrating changes into a process is to master the changes one at a time.
• In your process, choose one new behavior, visualize how you will use the behavior and how the client will respond, role-play it at least 10 times before they try it, and try the new behavior with one buyer. Master it and use it.
• When you develop the unconscious mastery of the new behavior, add another new behavior to your process in the same way. Practice and role-play are irreplaceable. Ask your peers to work with you. You might inspire them.
• It’s essential to keep learning about sales. Carefully absorb the new learning into your process. You won’t implement 10 new things in one day. Prioritize what you will learn. Role-play one new thing at least 10 times.