The Psychology of Assumptions and How They Impact Sales

Assumptions are an essential part of human nature. We all make them, whether it’s assuming that your political candidate means what they say or that your car will start in the morning, we may not all make the same assumptions, but we all make assumptions.

Like all aspects of human nature, we didn’t develop this assumption-making habit out of nowhere. Assumptions are necessary and adaptive. You assume your security measures will keep out burglars. If you didn’t, you’d be up all night in anxiety. You assume your body will use the food you eat as fuel. If you didn’t, you might not eat at all. You assume your chair will hold your weight. If you didn’t, you’d never sit in it.

We make millions of assumptions daily, and they’re usually dependable. Assumptions enable us to function with a reasonable level of efficiency.

Assumptions aren’t, by their very nature, wrong or bad. But our ignorance of them can lead us astray. That’s the essence of this excellent article by Sol Sotherland, who breaks down two big case studies where bad assumptions ruined formerly “too big to fail” companies (Nokia and Blockbuster–the article is worth the read).

Assumptions aren’t, by their very nature, wrong or bad. But our ignorance of them can lead us astray.

Several months ago, on a lazy Saturday afternoon, I witnessed bad assumptions destroying effectiveness among boat sales reps. Every day at work, I witness how they can destroy effectiveness among B2B sales professionals.

That’s the bad news. The good news is, as Sotherland points out in his article, we can bend the power of assumptions to our benefit.

Two Big, Bad Assumptions We Make in Sales and The Trouble They Can Cause

Sales organizations and salespeople, on the whole, make so many bad assumptions it would be impossible to count them all here. But the worst assumptions are what Sotherland calls “meta assumptions.” Meta assumptions are assumptions about assumptions.

For instance:

• I always make all of my decisions logically
• I am not prey to cognitive bias
• My point of view is the correct point of view

Meta assumptions get us into trouble because they fog reality and prevent us from recognizing that we are all as subject to assumptions (good and bad) as anyone else. The way to improve your ability to avoid bad assumptions is, ironically, to recognize that you make them.
With that in mind, here are two big, bad meta assumptions almost all sales leaders make that you can begin to avoid today.

1. Good Salespeople Will Always Rise to the Top
   Naturally, we think that if someone is successful, it’s because they’re just that good. But this assumption can go astray when we believe that the most successful salespeople got there due to inborn talent and not because of training, support, process, practice, coaching, mentorship, culture, the right environment, and all the other things that combine to support real growth in the sales profession.
   
   This is a meta-assumption because it assumes we already know who the good salespeople are and don’t have to examine our bias (in this case, survivorship bias comes to mind).
   
   The good news is that when we examine this assumption and realize that great salespeople are made, not born, we gain much more control over the success of our sales organization. We can create strategies, processes, training, coaching, and supportive technology that drive continuous improvement on our sales team and turn every salesperson into the best salesperson they can be.
2. If a Salesperson Wanted To, They Would
   Sales leaders often grow frustrated when their sales team members don’t do what they tell them or what they know will be beneficial to them. Very often, they assume that if the salesperson wanted to succeed, they would simply do what they need to do.
   
   But this assumption ignores an enormous body of evidence that indicates that wanting to do something is not enough for a person to be motivated to do it. Habits, mindsets, and, importantly, support structures are much more effective in getting someone to take action than simply wanting to.
   You can see this in other parts of life, where a person may want to lose weight but not take the actions necessary. If that same person willingly enters a solid program with a good coach, effective enablement technology like a FitBit, easy access to the right kinds of food, ready access to fitness opportunities, training, and a supportive environment, the weight will come off almost like magic.
   
   The good news is, when we recognize that wanting to is not enough, we can provide our sales teams with the “almost like magic” support that will actually help them to succeed: Good strategy and process, good coaching, enablement technology like Membrain, easy access to the tools and resources they need, training on demand for the things they need to learn, and a supportive environment.

Even better news, because most sales organizations are still stuck in their bad meta assumptions, the sales leaders who deconstruct and reconstruct in this way will automatically, “almost like magic,” rise to the top.

Have you examined your own meta-assumptions? What are you doing to bend them to your will?