Mindful Change: Think Big, Start Small in B2B Sales and Delivery
Mindful Life, Mindful Work, Inc.
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Imagine someone comes up to you and says, "I have this amazing opportunity for you to work more productively and with more ease, but it's going to require an incredibly huge amount of change on your company's part!" Your response might be something like, "That sounds wonderful, but it sounds like too much trouble... is the result truly worth the difficulty and uncertainty, and how can my company be sure! After all, my reputation as a professional depends upon my ability to discern, assess value, and be a good gatekeeper."
The above scenario is basically what takes place in most B2B sales calls. On our end, we're excited about our services because we know them well and we know their potential to do good in the world and for companies, and thus we enter sales conversations with great enthusiasm thinking that it's always contagious in a constructive manner; yet, we are flabbergasted to discover that the other party, rather than being so excited that they can't pay us fast enough, are instead reticent and not likely to put real dollars towards something they have never heard of before this moment. Full Stop!!!
Practice empathy, and begin by putting yourself in the buyer's shoes... as a buyer of anything. What do you do as a buyer?... you do your research, and then when you do buy, you start small if possible. You're both cautious and conscious about your spending, and the same is true for companies.
And not only are companies careful about their spending - only part of which is the actual dollar amount - they are also careful to engage with change initiatives in a manner that does not overly disrupt the viability of their existing business... and rightfully so! To overly disrupt their 'lifeline' would be paramount to abandoning the lifeboat in favor of swimming across the ocean with no support. Although this sounds heroic metaphorically, it's down right foolish pragmatically. As providers of B2B services we must meet the practical demands thrust upon companies in a manner that opens up their new possibilities over time.
Think big, start small. By starting small, we show and model for companies how our work can create sustainable change over time. Think about yourself again... when you want to live a healthier lifestyle do you change your diet, sleep patterns, increase exercise, and start meditating all at once?! Not likely, and if you did it's likely a recipe for things going poorly.
Change by its very nature is disruptive, but if by providing mindful services we can "mini disrupt" skillfully and incrementally, then we can also mitigate some of the difficulty found in the process, which will ultimately lead to better integration of new changes over time. Once a company experiences the way we introduce, mini-disrupt, and integrate new learnings, then they can more fully trust us with experimenting with larger and larger change initiatives over time. Think big!
Don't companies want fast change and growth? Yes and no. Companies want to maximize earning and the value they provide to their clientele as quickly as possible, but not at the expense of jeopardizing the foundations of the business itself! A large proportion of B2B services address the functioning and productivity of the internal systems of a business, and those internal systems must change incrementally in order to ensure the business can continuously deliver its 'external' offerings of services or products to their customers in a seamless way.
In sales, our job is to give a taste of the value we can offer, but not to blast the prospect with too much all at once. When we present too much change to a prospect, we not only present them with too risky of a proposition, we also come across as pushy or as if we are in a rush to sell. And yes, we want the sale, but hopefully we want it in a mindful way that provides real value to the right client at the right time; i.e. we want actual alignment and 'rightness of fit'. Think big, but start small.
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We all have a gift for the world, something that nourishes others... companies, individuals, or both. To use a metaphor... our gift is like water, and when giving our gift to others we would do well not to spray them in the face with a firehose, but we also don't want to sell them short and offer them a thimble of water. Instead, we might consider handing them a pitcher full of water and an empty glass so that they can portion for themselves, as this will likely result in their most feeling nurtured by our gift. Make your work and services the offering of a gift, as a service that seeks to be of service.
What is your experience with starting small?
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In addition to its work in companies, Mindful Life, Mindful Work, Inc. hosts an online community for mindful professionals... the Mindful Professionals Network (MPN) is a community of professionals committed to applying mindful practices and approaches.
And... for those wanting to grow mindful(ness) cultures in organizations, consider applying for the Mindful Professionals Mastermind (MPM) group. This curated think-tank is limited to thirty (36) professionals, some of whom are internal to companies and some external, all with the common goal of growing how companies utilize and leverage mindfulness-informed thinking, practices, and services.