Top performers are revered in many sales organizations. They should be.
In some cases, these top performing reps are seasoned veterans who have spent years with both the company and their customers.
Sometimes, they have become circumstantial top producers, producing at high levels due to circumstantial factors. This might include inheriting top-producing orphaned accounts due to turnover, having a handful of large, long-term clients that produce most of their quota, capitalizing on longevity and deep client relationships, or other such good fortune.
In other cases, these seasoned veterans have the right Sales DNA (think: “astronaut right stuff”), an extraordinarily strong skill set (sales mastery), and deep industry and product knowledge that is respected by their clients. They are true top performers who are responsible for their success and could replicate it again, in another set of circumstances.
Regardless of how they achieved their status, these top producers and top performers deliver results for your company. So, when they speak up about sales training, you should listen, right?
Of course, you should.
When Veterans Speak Out Against Sales Training
How should you handle it when your seasoned sales reps speak out against your sales training efforts, especially the implementation of a new sales methodology?
I will share our model for resolving concerns from Modern Sales Foundations, which is a helpful process. I’ll also share some rationale and additional approaches to consider, as you position to resolve (preferably) or side-step (temporarily) their concerns.
Let’s start with the model itself.
ACCRC: The Model for Resolving Concerns
ACKNOWLEDGE
Make an empathy statement acknowledging their viewpoint. You don’t need to agree to acknowledge them and their perspective. You just need to ensure they feel heard and understood. “You statements” (about them) are better than “I statements” (about you).
CLARIFY
Ask questions to truly understand their concerns, complaints, point-of-view, and perspectives.
Important Note: In this model for resolving concerns, the Confirm step of ACC (Acknowledge, Clarify, and Confirm) occurs at the end, to verify that you have:
- Resolved their concern
- Addressed it well enough that they will move forward without a complete resolution
- Or, got their agreement to 1) consider your perspective as you have considered theirs, and 2) suspend judgment until they “see how it goes.”
CATEGORIZE
This is where you identify and categorize the type of concern being expressed. You do this to select the best-possible approach to resolve the concern. (See below in Respond for the rationale.)
They don’t believe something. They’re skeptical, disbelieving, and/or cynical.
They misunderstand the facts or have incorrect information.
They want something you don’t offer or don’t like something in your solution that is not changeable. Disadvantages are real and not directly resolvable.
This is more relevant for a sales situation than resolving a veteran rep’s concerns about taking sales training. (When selling, it means you missed a qualification element, such as the inability to procure funding, missing a critical decision maker who is now derailing the deal, or they need something in place sooner than you could possibly implement your solution.)
RESPOND
To effectively resolve concerns, you should adapt your approach based on the root cause of the concern, rather than having “stock answers.”
Provide proof or evidence that reduces or eliminates skepticism, or at least temporarily suspends it.
Reposition the complaint/concern/misunderstanding positively as something they want. Then provide additional information to correct the misunderstanding. Since this isn’t what they were expecting based on the original distortion, expect that they may express disbelief next, and be prepared to provide proof/evidence, as needed.
Weigh the disadvantage against all the positive factors and ask authentically if the one disadvantage is a deal killer, or whether they can move forward despite it.
When selling (versus resolving a top rep’s concern), this requires “going back to the drawing board” or taking a step back to see if you can reassemble the opportunity, knowing what you now know. For example, can you engage the decision maker who was not initially involved and later vetoed the purchase, or readdress the possibility of obtaining funding based on the business case?
CONFIRM
This is a check to see whether your response is understood, accepted, and has resolved the concern.
Formulating Reponses for Your Veteran Training Detractors
RESPOND
As mentioned above, you should adapt your approach based on the root cause of the concern. This time, we’ll leave off Disqualifier since that doesn’t fit the context for internal influence with your top performers.
Provide proof or evidence that reduces or eliminates skepticism.
This will vary based on what they are skeptical about. You adapt accordingly, providing whatever proof is relevant to decrease skepticism and increase belief and trust.
- If it’s about effectiveness, which is common, and you are working with a commercial training provider, ask them for cases or examples of what their training has helped others accomplish.
- If it’s about whether they will learn anything because they are so experienced, share some content of the program with them to get their opinion. Everyone does some things better than others, so you can try to pick something that might help them or surprise them. You can also use any comments from your other internal reviewers.
Reposition their complaint/concern/misunderstanding positively as something they want. Then provide additional information to correct the facts and clarify their new understanding. (Notice that I didn’t say, “correct them.”)
Perhaps they think it will take a lot more time away from selling than it will. Or they think no one will want to do it (when your internal review team, which included other reps, was very positive about your selection and excited to get started). Perhaps they think it is another “flavor of the month” initiative. If so, you can share the implementation approach, and top-down leadership support for this being “the way we want to do things around here” go forward – and perhaps more importantly – why it is important for the company right now and why everyone is behind it.
Weigh the disadvantage against all the positive factors and ask authentically if the one disadvantage is a deal killer, or whether they can move forward despite it.
Like the “set-aside” technique often used when negotiating (which can also work here), this is an honest weighing of whatever they feel is a disadvantage (example: they were trained previously in another sales methodology and like it better than the one you selected), against the other things that they, the sales force, your company, and even your customers might benefit from, with your selection. Rather than persuade or influence them to change their mind, it’s about reaching a compromise to move forward anyway.
Some Other Approaches to Consider
To avoid or resolve the concerns that may arise with your top performers, here are some other approaches to consider.
I’ve often tried to engage these reps early, to foster buy-in. Often, if they see themselves in the content (“Okay, I’ve been doing that for years, it really does work”) they will support it, even if they don’t think they’ll learn something new.
In 37 years, I honestly cannot think of a time when a seasoned reps didn’t eventually come back to me and say something like, “I have to admit, I was skeptical at first and thought this would be a waste of my time, but that [XYZ content] was spot on and helpful.”
Position them as experts and mentors, rather than “learners.” Engage them to lead or co-lead reinforcement sessions with their sales manager. Tell them they need to absorb the language and content to be able to talk to others, but you need their help to share examples, stories, and advice to those who are learning the content for the first time.
I’ve often tried to engage these reps early, to foster buy-in, but if you can’t do that, you can also position them as mentors, and ask for their help in supporting the program and maybe even mentoring or coaching others.
Often a 1-5% increase in production from a top producer outpaces a 10 to15 percent increase from an average rep. If you can help these top reps improve even one percent, what does it mean for them? Position it to them from a WIIFM (what’s in it for me) perspective, even if it’s from a “What If” angle.
Unless they are vocal (or covert) detractors who are throwing banana peels in front of progress and coloring others’ perceptions, or completely refusing to participate (issues with which do need to address), ignore them for a while (meaning, their negative point of view or position, not ignore them as people, employees, or recognized top producers).
Give positive attention to those who buy-in or are at least willing to support your efforts and see if you can’t nurture your dissenting performers to your point of view as they experience the program.
At some point, depending on the level of pushback (as mentioned in “Ignore Them for Now”), you may have to ask yourself, “Who is running the show here?” Using force or “the stick” is old school and generally not recommended, but sometimes you do need to appropriately establish a management-led sales force and set clear expectations. Used by itself, this may produce covert dissenters or even open detractors.
So, use this approach cautiously, in combination with other approaches. Sometimes, however, you do need to ask people to get on the bus and be part of the solution, not the problem. If you need to do this, do it authentically, with empathy yet firmly, and with positive expectations. Also, as we’ve discussed throughout, always try to address the root cause of the issue and seek consensus or compromise.
Turn Your Detractors into Advocates
Sometimes, how you handle these concerns is as much about you as it is about them. If you project confidence in your decision, display empathy, are sincerely curious, interact authentically and transparently, and seek first to understand before being understood, it will go a long way to working through concerns from your top reps. Combine that with the above model and perspectives, and you’ll have the best chance of creating long-term advocates from initial detractors.
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