5 Most Effective Ways to
Sell Change
I solve the leadership
identity crisis to enable opportunities.
Change can scare a lot of
people, but in today’s workplace – managing change is what keeps people
relevant. Being held accountable for managing change and
making things better in your work is the new normal.
Knowing how to innovate and manage change will soon become
a requirement in
one’s job description and performance review.
Being responsible to
generate results is one thing; knowing how to make the results more
sustainable, profitable and multifaceted is another. The new
workplace requires everyone to lead and/or coordinate change in some shape or
form – but very few have been formally trained to assure that it is effectively
implemented. This is the opportunity that everyone must learn to
embrace!
In his
blog titled, Change
Management vs. Change Leadership -- What's the Difference?, Forbes
contributing writer John Kotter defines
change management as “a set of basic tools or structures intended to keep any
change effort under control.” In this same blog, Kotter defines change
leadership as “the engine on the whole change process, and making it go faster,
smarter, more efficiently.” While I concur with how Mr. Kotter has defined the
differences – and that in theory they represent two mutually exclusive roles –
they both are dependent upon one common denominator: the ability to
effectively sell change.
For most, they would rather
hide from change, rather than embrace it. They view change as
something that will impair them rather than enable unseen opportunities.
What most people fail to realize is that change
is one of the most powerful professional development tools available to them.
I learned about how to sell, manage and lead change early on in
my career.
Whether it was a merger,
acquisition, reengineering and/or leading the formation of strategic alliances
or new ventures – change was a common practice. Selling change impacts
the entire organization, its people, brands, the entire supply chain, processes
and procedures. If your organization is undergoing any type of change
management or business transformation process – embrace it. Learn
from the journey. Take copious notes and write your own note on the
experience. Change makes you stronger and any adversity that
goes with it makes you wiser.
Without strategy, change is
merely substitution not evolution
Effectively
selling change demands a strategy embracing the following five essential
components that serve as the foundation for successful change management and
change leadership.
1) Awareness
You must be aware enough of
the business landscape to recognize that a need for change exists.
This requires you to anticipate the
unexpected and take proactive steps to provide solutions for a changing
terrain, magnifying your vision from being traditionally “linear” to what I
call “circular vision.” For example, Estee Lauder had circular
vision and created a family dynasty in the cosmetics industry. She
anticipated the unexpected and took action to address the changing needs of
women who were demanding to sample cosmetic products before buying them.
As a result, she pioneered two marketing techniques that are still popular
today: the free gift and the gift with purchase.
Apple a
company that had originally been known for its computer products) also had a
keen sense of awareness in selling change. Remember the Sony Walkman?
Apple made it virtually extinct when they introduced the iPod.
2) Timing
Selling change requires
impeccable timing. This means having the ability to seamlessly sell
change while minimizing disruption. It requires you to not only be
aware of when to make your pitch – but more importantly how to sell change
knowing that regardless of what type of opportunity or innovative idea you are
selling – it will create a counter-effect of resistance .
Timing is
the single most important component to gaining initial “buy-in” to the change
that you are selling. The right timing can build the required momentum to get
your colleagues, senior management and the boardroom excited about your
idea(s). You must possess extreme patience with the right amount of
knowledge to determine your timing. This is difficult because you
are so passionate about selling change that you believe would benefit the
organization that you serve. Be equally mindful that if your timing
is wrong (though well intentioned), the momentum you may have built in your
career may instantly be lost. Take your path towards determining the
right timing seriously.
I know
this first hand, having launched several new ventures in my corporate and entrepreneurial
career. For example, during
one of my first ventures, my organization was one of the first to successfully
implement a “control brand” strategy with liquidation and dollar store
retailers. During a time when these retail outlets were building momentum
by selling branded products at deep discounted prices, my concept allowed them
to increase margins by shifting their procurement focus – then 100% dependent
upon distressed merchandise – to now support non-distressed goods in support of
their own control branded programs.
3) Competency
and Know-how
Once you
have become aware of the need for change and your timing was on-point, your
ability to sell change now requires you to showcase your competencies and
capabilities to most effectively generate the outcomes you are projecting.
Don’t sell an unattainable forecast – sell an ability to sustain long-term
bottom line impact that comes from the change you are selling.
Don’t
ever attempt to sell change if you can’t deliver upon it. Remember that
even if you are not successful in delivering the outcomes, the manner in which
you are selling change is being critically evaluated. Regardless of
the change you are selling, manage the opportunity as if it were your last.
Your competency and
know-how will be evaluated as if you were selling a new venture to a group of
investors. As such, you must be able to manage the outcomes you are selling
by being politically savvy (regardless of
hierarchy or rank) and you must be able to easily articulate (in a manner that
everyone can understand) how you will be able to connect the dots of
opportunity that were previously unseen or unrecognizable.
Showcase strong competency levels by assembling a diverse team that can help
you execute and that can help you sell the change all the way through to the
end.
4) Desire
Having
the required tenacity, endurance and passion to sell change all the way through
to the end is never easy and could be the ultimate breaking point to your
successful change management and change leadership efforts.
Selling change requires a level of desire that makes it mandatory for you to
get your hands dirty throughout the selling cycle. This means that
you need to be ready to face uncertainty head-on and welcome the fiercest
battles from the doubters who want you to fail.
Desire is
not just being willing and able to tackle any tension points through the
journey of selling change – but more so an ability to accept the fact that you
must continue to touch the process of selling the new opportunity as much as
you lead it. Touching the process requires you to stay
involved, even in menial tasks that you would rather delegate. This also
requires having the desire to “play the game like you are winning it” – even
when it feels like you are losing.
Selling change is difficult
and it takes a special level of desire in order to translate something that may
be difficult for others to see into something that is concrete enough for
people to believe in and begin to hold onto. When others observe your genuine desire to breakthrough
what seemed impossible, they will begin to support you as a sign of respect and
gratitude. This also helps in building
momentum.
5) Mental
toughness
To withstand the obstacles
and resistance by those affected by the change you are selling demands mental
toughness. In many respects, mental
toughness is a first-cousin to
desire. They feed off of each other during the “change selling
cycle.” For example, you may have the will and desire to sell
change – but you may not be mentally tough enough to finish each task at hand.
Mental
toughness is imperative when selling change because you are almost always
dealing with some form of crisis along the way. Mental
toughness allows you to “separate issues” and compartmentalize them in a
strategic fashion that strengthens your desire (rather than weakens your spirits).
In other words, it allows you to become more mindful of how to best manage the
consequences of the change that you are selling.
Adversity makes or breaks
you, but it primarily reveals you.
This is
exactly what you experience when you sell change. It helps
strengthen you and builds your character. Embrace change and it
will make you a more credible, reliable and enduring leader.
Glenn Llopis
https://www.forbes.com/sites/glennllopis/2012/11/05/5-most-effective-ways-to-sell-change/#38b3e1627d3c
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