Change is to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc, of something, different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.  For example, you might change your name or change your opinion about something.  Change is going on around us all the time.  The weather changes on a regular basis (at least it does where I live!); the seasons change; fashion changes. 

There are various synonyms for Change, including, transmute, transform, vary, mutate, amend, modify, replace, swap, trade, convert, alternate and replacement

Why is it important in sales?

When we go to a customer and say please buy my product, we are actually asking them to make a change.  By starting to use our product, they will need to change some of their business processes.  If they do not, then there was no reason to buy your product.

However, if we start our conversation with our customer talking about our product, our customer will realise that adopting it will require them to change.  If they do not understand why they should change, or are very risk averse, then they will be reluctant to buy the product because they are reluctant to change.  They will generally see the potential failure rather than the potential benefits.   

Studies show that up to 60% of opportunities are lost to “no decision” rather than competitors.  This means that a sales rep has identified a customer that has a need for their product but could not close the deal.  The customer chose not to change.  They did not see the need to change and decide to use a different product, they chose not to change.

Without a compelling case for change, customers will tend to do nothing.  They need to understand that change is actually critical to their business.  Without a clear understanding of the risk of doing nothing or a compelling vision of “what better looks like,” customers will tend to do nothing.  So, before we ever talk about our product, we need to persuade our customer to change.

If we consider the customer buying cycle, most customers, approximately 50% are in the Status Quo position.  This means that they are perfectly happy with no need to buy anything.  As a result, your chances of selling to them are not very good, about 1%.

Over time, they start to see that all is not well.  They are not very happy with what they are doing – they are in the Window of Dissatisfaction.  About 40% of your customers will be here; a bit unhappy but not so unhappy that they do anything about it.  However, if you come along and show them that your product can solve their problem, then you stand a great chance of selling it to them.  Indeed, if you are the first person to try to help them, then you have a 75% chance of being successful.

If no one shows up to help the customer, over time that dissatisfaction grows till they are compelled to take action.  They start searching for ways to solve their problem, find a variety of possible solutions and choose one of them.  If you are one of the alternatives, you have about a 17% chance of successfully selling to them because you are now competing with others.  Only 10% of your customers are in this stage of the cycle so if you only rely on these customers, you are going to need a lot of them in order to be successful.

However, imagine you told your customer something that they did not know and explained the potential impact of that information on their business.  If they were in the Status Quo position, this new information is likely to push them into the Window of Dissatisfaction and the customer realises that they will need to change.  Immediately you can explain how your product can solve their problem and are in a great position to make sale.  Your customer is in the Window of Dissatisfaction, you are the first person to connect with them and so  are in pole position to make the sale. 

The best part of this is that it doesn’t matter that it was you who pushed them into the Window of Dissatisfaction.  It just matters that you can help them.  What is critical is that you tell them something that they do not know that makes them want to change. 

To make a successful change, you need to move through the five stages of the Transtheoretical Model. 

1. Pre-contemplation.  Before you can make a change, you need to learn something new.  This forces you to think differently about your situation and is the stimulus to start to change.

2. Contemplation.  You now need to understand how this information impacts you.  What happens if you do nothing?  What can you do to change and improve your situation?

3. Preparation.  What is your plan?  What are you going to do?

4. Action.  Start to implement the changes that you have planned.

5. Maintenance.  The changes have become part of your normal life.

For example, imagine that you visited the doctor for a blood test and were told that you had pre-diabetes.  In itself, this is not a problem.  However, if you fail to change your diet, this is likely to lead to diabetes and potentially reduce the length of your life.  This is the pre-contemplation stage.  You now need to research what this means for you, both what the impact will be if you do not change your diet and how you need to change your diet to ensure that you do not progress beyond this stage.  This is stage 2.

You now need to prepare to take action.  Define a new diet, find new recipes to use, buy substitutes for food stuffs that are compatible with your new diet.  Finally, you are ready to implement the diet, eating differently and making different choices when out.  Over time, this will just become your normal diet and you reach stage 5, maintenance.