As sales leaders, we invest in a wide variety of measures to help our salespeople perform better. Sales strategy, training, coaching, managing, incentives, process, culture, discipline, compensation: All aimed at getting salespeople to engage in the behaviors that lead to success.
But what if all that were proven to be less effective than a single, simple, often overlooked factor in the workplace?
I became interested in this question when Johan Skoglöf posted to LinkedIn about a large meta-study, Determinants of Behavior and Their Efficacy As Targets of Behavioral Change Interventions, released by a team at the University of Pennsylvania. Although the study was intended to examine best practices for influencing behavior that impacts public well-being, its conclusions have significant implications for how we manage behavior change on sales teams.
The study conducted a multidisciplinary meta-analysis of both individual and social-structural determinants of behavior. In other words, factors specific to the individual and factors imposed by the organizational or social structures around the individual. It categorized these factors by their impact on behavior change as one of the following: Negligible, small, medium, or large.
I was surprised by the result, especially in the “negligible effect” category. These factors were deemed negligible:
In other words, knowing more, having more skills, believing the “right” things, and having a good attitude won’t cause people (including your salespeople) to change their behavior in a meaningful way.
Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised, after all, considering how often sales leaders complain that their salespeople go to the training but then fail to apply what they learn. More training is not the answer to behavior change.
Also with negligible effects:
In other words, more rules and punishments won’t solve the problem, either.
The study categorized the following factors as having “small effects” on behavior change:
What stands out for me here is that changing your incentive structure may have some impact on salesperson behavior, but probably not as much as one would like to believe. Likewise, describing and modeling correct behaviors will have some impact, but it will be minimal.
So, if training, knowledge, skills, rules, and incentives have minimal impact on salesperson behavior, what does work? The study revealed the following factors to produce a “medium effect” on behavior change:
Notice there is overlap between “small” and “medium,” indicating that material incentives and descriptive norms are important, even if their impacts are small. However, habits and social support rank more highly.
In other words, doing what you can to support salespeople in developing the right daily habits will be more effective than all the training you can throw at them. Supporting them through social incentives and creating a culture of positive behavior change will be more effective than all the rules you can write.
The one factor that impacts behavior change more than anything else?
Access.
In the public sphere, this means removing obstacles to access, such as transportation, cost, and availability. It means putting infrastructure in place that makes it easy for individuals to engage in the right behaviors and avoid the wrong ones.
But what does it mean for sales?
Exactly what I’ve been saying since the founding of this company: Make it easy for salespeople to execute your sales strategy. It’s not the training, knowledge, beliefs, and rules they need most; it’s the structures and accessibility you provide.
That’s why I envisioned Membrain like I did. As a platform to provide the infrastructure your company needs to execute your sales strategy. To make it easy for salespeople to see what they need to do next, and to have everything they need at their fingertips to get it right.
I’m proud of the product we offer, and I’m excited to see this research coming out that validates what my gut told me: That what the industry needs isn’t more rules and methodologies but more structure and accessibility. What do you think? How are you improving accessibility for your salespeople?
George is the founder & CEO of Membrain, the Sales Enablement CRM that makes it easy to execute your sales strategy. A life-long entrepreneur with 20 years of experience in the software space and a passion for sales and marketing. With the life motto "Don't settle for mainstream", he is always looking for new ways to achieve improved business results using innovative software, skills, and processes. George is also the author of the book Stop Killing Deals and the host of the Stop Killing Deals webinar and podcast series.
Find out more about George Brontén on LinkedIn
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