There are some simple truth in sales:
1.) All sales are about change. Whether you are aiming to replace an existing product / service with yours, or you are introducing something new to the organisation, it always means change.
2.) Change is painful and emotional. We as humans are programmed to resist change. Always.
3.) Customers do like change when they feel it's worth the cost.
So it is part of your job to understand the unique costs of change for your customer and the decision stakeholder involved in order to:
Evaluate them
Reduce them where possible
Ensure that impact of your product exceeds the cost of change
Ensure that your customer is aware, both of the costs and the impact
Most common costs of change to look out for
One of the most commonly referred to list of reasons to resist change is by Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter from her Havard Business Review article in 2012: "Ten Reasons People Resist Change".
Loss of control
"Change interferes with autonomy and can make people feel that they’ve lost control over their territory."
Sales of new IT systems or new technical equipment often fail because of this. Companies decide not to buy a new system or equipment because they feel resistance from core user inside the company and the expected discontent creates too high a cost of change for the buyer. This often happens when your product makes existing competences or inside knowledge obsolete, reducing the importance of people.
Excess uncertainty.
"If change feels like walking off a cliff blindfolded, then people will reject it."
This issue can be caused both by internal as well as external factors. A common internal issue is when you introduce a radically new product or service. External uncertainty can become an issue when either the overall economic situation is charged with uncertainty or your target customer is facing internal economic uncertainty. Internal customer uncertainty for instance occurs often with new management.
Surprise, surprise!
"Decisions imposed on people suddenly, with no time to get used to the idea or prepare for the consequences, are generally resisted."
That applies for instance to an effort to introduce and close a deal just before end of quarter to make your quota. Another major issue often occurring are unforeseen hurdles or gaps with a customer's expectation.
Everything seems different.
"Change is meant to bring something different, but how different? [..] Too many differences can be distracting or confusing."
This issues usually comes up in two entirely different cases. The first one is internal to your product or service, in that your product / service is not only different in its impact but radically different in its handling. The second one is external, when the change to your product / service coincides with or is part of significant change in your customer's organisation.
Loss of face.
"people associated with the last version — the one that didn’t work, or the one that’s being superseded — are likely to be defensive about it"
This is especially important when you are selling a product or service where the buyer / decision stakeholder needs deep subject knowledge for the purchasing decision. Or in areas where image and brand recognition plays a large role.
Concerns about competence.
"Can I do it? Change is resisted when it makes people feel stupid."
These costs of change usually appear around two issues: a.) administrative or organisational complexity of transitioning to or integrating your product / service, b.) complexity of utilising your product or service. The former is actually very common when dealing with smaller companies, where people in administrative functions are often less specialised or experienced.
More work.
"Here is a universal challenge. Change is indeed more work."
What a surprise. Unfortunately it sometimes really seems to come as a surprise to sales people or organisations, that changing to their product / service means additional work or how they believe that this is their customer's problem instead of solving it for their customers.
Ripple effects.
"The ripples disrupt other departments, important customers, people well outside the venture or neighborhood, and they start to push back, rebelling against changes they had nothing to do with that interfere with their own activities."
Ripple effect issues are more common than most sales people expect. They are everywhere. Everything is integrated, therefore changes can have entirely unexpected effects. It could be something seemingly irrelevant like the fact that your packaging has different dimensions than your competitors and this will affect the shipping routines.
Past resentments.
"Old wounds reopen, historic resentments are remembered — sometimes going back many generations."
This is again an issue, which appears more often than one would think, but can sometimes be much harder to anticipate. One area where it often occurs is easy to anticipate - when your business or the country of origin of your business has a bad reputation. For example Chinese tech companies are struggling with this. Often more difficult to know, is when your successor has screwed up the relationship with a client. That is often hard to find out.
Sometimes the threat is real (aka real danger)
"When new technologies displace old ones, jobs can be lost; prices can be cut; investments can be wiped out." Or your product is applied in a dangerous process.
This one I am only including for completeness sake. Of course it is frequent concern in sales. But let's face it, if you are not aware of the potential real dangers of your product and have not taken adequate measures to mitigate them, then you should rather close shop.
From my experience one major factor for change resistance is missing and that is:
Emotional attachment / connection
Never underestimate the impact of existing relations between a buyer / core decision stakeholders and your competition. Emotional connections provide comfort and a feeling of security, even in business deals.
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