T.G. Wall Management Consulting, LLC
6 Emerson Lane, Washington Township, NJ 08080 856-218-7200 · terry@tgwall.com
<< Back To Leadership Unlimited Archive
June 2006 Leadership, Sales, and the Stealth Change Agent Quick. Answer this question with the first thought that pops into your head: What business are you in? If you’re a leader, you’re in the sales business, and the products you’re selling are usually ideas. Another way to look at this is from the aspect of change. As leaders we’re always trying to promote change of one sort or another. This involves selling people on the idea of change. This is true whether you’re the CEO and trying to change the organization, or gain buy-in from the Board. It’s true if you’re managing a department or division. It’s true if you’re trying to bring about change in your boss. Many times, especially if you’re not the official boss, you’re what I call a Stealth Change Agent. This occurs when you’re trying to bring about change without necessarily doing it in an overt way. Nothing brings out resistance quite like telling people or organizations that you’re trying to change them. Telling people that you’re trying to change them is almost as bad as telling them you’re trying to sell them something. People just have a built-in resistance mechanism toward change, toward sales. That’s why we have to be more subtle. But, there’s no getting around the fact that as leaders we’re change agents, and we bring about change by selling people on ideas. The primary goal of a Stealth Change Agent, of a leader trying to effect change, of a salesperson, is to change people’s behavior. And the key to changing behavior is to change that person’s thoughts and ideas. If we don’t sell the other person on the idea, that person’s behavior will not change. It’s as simple as that. The first task in effecting change is understanding yourself. You need a framework for looking at yourself. I believe very strongly in learning instruments—self scoring assessments that provide tremendous insight into how you relate to others. The assessment I use is DiSC Indra. This instrument combines the traditional DiSC theory with Interpersonal Psychology, and assesses how you approach interpersonal relationships. I strongly urge you to use some sort of learning instrument to gain insight into yourself. The second key to bringing about change is understanding other people. DiSC Indra also helps in this regard due to its interpersonal aspect. Add to this some basic sales theory, and you have what you need to present ideas in a way that gets others to buy into them. One aspect of sales theory is that people buy from people they like. Think of the last time you made a big purchase. Did you like the sales person? Probably. We just don’t tend to buy from people who are obnoxious, disagreeable, and annoying. (Like in-laws!) Another sales principle is that people buy from people like them. Skillful sales people know this intuitively, but the rest of us have to work at this. The key is flexing towards someone else’s style. If the person is a fast-paced, just-the-facts type person, we’re more successful if we present ideas in a fast-paced, just-the-facts type style. If the person has a more deliberative, cautious style, we’ll try to be more like that. This isn’t being dishonest. It’s being smart, it’s showing understanding of other people. A final sales principle is that people buy based on emotion, and then use logic to justify their purchase. This means we have to determine what excites the other person, and appeal to that emotion in presenting our ideas. OK, you understand yourself and others. Now you need to understand the environment, the organization’s culture. If we don’t understand this, we’re rarely successful in selling ideas that go against the organization’s way of doing things. Also, part of the culture is the organization’s purpose, its vision, its values. If you can connect your ideas to those aspects of the environment, you’ll be more like to succeed in selling your ideas, and bringing about needed change. What are you doing to bring about change? What are you doing to build a solid framework for understanding yourself, others, and your organization’s culture? Do you see your leadership as being intricately involved in sales? Are you an effective Stealth Change Agent? Until next edition, keep leading the way! |