Please, No More Dials!

Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to support individuals across various sales roles—from grinding daily to meet quotas and earn bonuses to expanding new territories and managing teams. These conversations opened my eyes to the immense complexity that sales professionals navigate daily. The key to success in this evolving sales landscape is the ability to adapt and respond with subtlety and nuance to the vast range of differences encountered. While I had worked with sales teams before, the pressures and number of moving parts in these roles have grown exponentially.

The sales environment is a complex landscape, and the key to success lies in being responsive and adaptive. Your ability to respond with subtlety and nuance to the vast range of differences encountered is what truly sets you apart as a successful sales professional and leader.

What Happened?

I want to share a story, with permission, about someone I’ve worked with—TJ. When I first met TJ, he was one of the top sales reps on his team, consistently performing at a high level. At the time, he was contemplating a move into management, and our conversations revolved around that. Shortly after, TJ decided to take some personal time off, and we lost touch for about a year.

When I reconnected with TJ, I could sense the change. He had returned to work but was struggling. Initially, he thought it would take just a couple of weeks to get back into “the zone,” but those weeks turned into a month. He wasn’t closing deals, and worse, he was having trouble even connecting with clients. TJ found himself at the bottom of the sales rankings, doubting his abilities and worrying about what might happen if he didn’t turn things around.

As TJ’s performance declined, his leader—like many others might—advised him to increase the number of dials, believing more calls would create more opportunities. Yet, instead of improving results, the increased activity only led to more rejection. This practice of increasing the number of dials is common practice in many businesses and is often accompanied by managers listening to calls. Managers' feedback typically focuses on the “what” or the “how” of perceived gaps, rarely addressing the broader conditions affecting a salesperson's interactions with clients.

Moreover, sales managers often oversee large teams and are limited in time, so their focus tends to be narrow. As Rangarajan et al. (2021) point out, individual customers often present complex, granular challenges, requiring varied approaches for each opportunity—something a numbers-based strategy overlooks.

Using HSD (Human Systems Dynamics) language, salespeople are often confronted with "sticky issues" — complex, interdependent challenges that resist easy solutions. Yet, the common response is to double down on familiar tactics, like increasing the number of dials, rather than addressing the contextual variances at play. This approach assumes that past strategies will yield the same results, ignoring the shifting dynamics and unique conditions of each sales interaction.

Our conversations were open and candid as we explored TJ's options—whether to stay in his current role or leave it behind. We also touched on the broader context of his career in sales, a path many find themselves on by circumstance rather than choice. This led to more profound questions: Is it the product that no longer resonates with him? Should he leave sales entirely? And if so, what would he pursue instead?

Yet, TJ realised he wasn’t in a suitable state of being (mind & body) to make any significant decisions about his future. This wasn’t a matter of cheering him on, pushing harder or just toughing it out. At that moment, TJ felt utterly drained. He recognised that before he could make any decision—whether to stay or leave—he needed to focus on restoring his energy levels.

So, What Happened?

TJ noticed that as his energy levels dropped, his ability to focus diminished. In response, he set simple, manageable goals like improving his eating habits and exercising more. He began walking regularly, cutting back on sugar, and prioritising sleep. Alongside these changes, TJ became aware of the times when he felt most alert and used that window for his pitches, adjusting his schedule so that lower-energy periods were reserved for less demanding tasks, like preparing for calls. His ultimate goal was to break free from the rigid “dial routine.” Salespeople who consistently hit their quotas have more flexibility, focusing on overall conversion rates rather than the number of calls they make.

Within just a few weeks, TJ gained his freedom—no more required dials—allowing him to focus more on strategy and conversion. I had always been curious about what made him a top salesperson before. Back then, TJ would just say he “felt it and did it,” and I remember frequently asking what his secret sauce was. His answer was always the same: “I just do it.”

I believe everyone has a unique magic that emerges in the proper context, and it became crucial to identify the conditions TJ needed to get his mojo back. One key realisation came when he noticed that during his performance slump, he was working in a new territory. Clients there reacted differently to his usual sales approach, which followed the company’s organisational process. Building relationships, a crucial part of his success in other regions wasn’t as effective here. The people in this new territory seemed busier or just different, and his usual tactics weren’t resonating the same way.

TJ actively sought to understand the broader patterns at play in his sales territories. We began by asking, “What’s similar and different between them?” This inquiry helped him recognise more nuances in client behaviour. However, simply identifying these differences didn’t immediately increase his conversion rates. The real challenge for TJ was learning how to respond to these nuances.

Having relied on the same sales technique for a while, he needed to adapt by shortening interactions while maintaining or even increasing effectiveness. To tackle this, he conducted several learning experiments, asking himself, What did I learn? So, What does this mean? And “Now, what do I do with that? after each experiment. This approach sparked a learning spiral, prompting him to slow down and really notice what made a difference in his interactions with clients. Through this process, he began to uncover new patterns that had previously gone unnoticed.

As a result, TJ’s confidence grew, his sales revenues increased, and he ranked among the top five on his team—a significant improvement in less than six weeks.

Now What?

TJ has reclaimed his position as the team's number-one salesperson. However, he understands that this status is temporary, as territories change periodically. He remains vigilant in identifying the similarities and differences among these territories, adapting his strategy to meet new requirements.

Through this experience, TJ has learned to be more adaptive and attuned to the conditions in which his clients operate, as well as his states of being. He no longer feels panicked about territory changes. Now, he can clearly articulate his "secret sales sauce." While it's a closely guarded secret, I can tell you that it involves a keen awareness of his client's needs and a willingness to adjust his approach as necessary.

Takeaway

The key takeaway here is that we should reconsider imposing rigid mandates around step processes, excessive dials, and drilling down into customer personas and situational taxonomies. Instead, we could shift our focus on supporting individuals in developing their “own” strategies to sense various situations and become more responsive and adaptive. Customer personas and taxonomies can change rapidly, and step processes can become a matching game. These rigid frameworks often promote repetition and a one-size-fits-all approach, and we become less curious about the world around us.

Life, in general, exists and emerges from the in-between spaces. By fostering contextual sense-making, individuals have a greater chance to be responsive and choose how to adapt. This approach enables sales professionals to feel more prepared for a changing environment, ultimately enhancing their effectiveness.

References:

Human Systems Dynamics Institute www.hsdinstitute.org

Rangarajan et al. (2021) Sales Complexity and Value Appropriation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

#HSD #Sales #Productivity #Change #Performance #Adaptability Glenda Eoyang Royce Holladay

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