Don't Try Anything New!

Don’t try anything new! 

“Think outside the box,” “Ideate new solutions,” “Color outside the lines,” “Try something different,” – we hear these and  countless other calls to change our approach to selling or modify our presentation. I say, “Don’t try anything new!” 

That's right. Well, honestly it is 50% right. Too often we seek new and entertaining ideas and techniques to add to our skill set before we spend anytime evaluating what we are doing. This quick to change attitude comes with at least three potential pitfalls. 

One risk here is that we change something that is already working. Figuratively speaking we might throw out the baby with the bath water. Before we add a new technique or element, we need to make sure we are not eliminating what we are currently doing with the time or space in our presentation. If asking three or four specific questions is getting us good results, why should we change those? Newer is not always better. 

We can also get too lengthy with our approach to our client. One small addition today doesn’t change much in terms of presentation quantity, but over time five or six additions can make your tidy presentation into a laborious discourse. More is not always better, either.

Finally, rather than asking what I should do new in an effort to improve, we might be better served to ask, “What have I stopped doing that I should be doing?” It is a common failure of sales people to inadvertently drop a key element of our skill set. Sometimes the change we need is to remember the change we already made that has proven successful.

So, if you are feeling the need for something new to spice up your game, first take some time to make sure the game you have and the game you know is being played with all of the skills you have already mastered.