I recently spoke with a business owner eager to boost her company’s commercial performance. When I asked about her plan, she said something that caught my attention:
“I have old salespeople. I need to change their methods.”
Curious, I asked what those methods were. She didn’t know. I asked what they were good at. Again, she wasn’t sure.
To her credit, she openly admitted she had a financial background and little direct sales experience. That honesty opened the door to a different kind of conversation.
Here’s what I shared:
If they’re “old” salespeople, chances are they’ve been doing something right to stay in the game. Before trying to change them, why not understand them? Learn how they work, what drives them, what slows them down, and where they shine.
Change doesn’t start with new methods. It starts with curiosity.
So I asked her:
How much time have you spent with them?
Do you know how they spend their days?
Are they targeting the right customer segments?
She paused. Then smiled. “I need to spend time with them,” she said. “I need to understand their world before I try to improve it.”
Exactly.
People don’t resist change. They resist being changed.
The real opportunity isn’t to change your salespeople — it’s to work with them to co-create a better way forward. Make them the actors of the transformation, not the subjects of it.
That’s not just smarter leadership. That’s how lasting change happens.
Learning for Performance 