Top Reasons Your Sales Methodology Isn't Being Adopted

A sales methodology, or the framework that outlines a sales team's approach through each phase of the sales process, is a never-ending experiment that requires iteration, improvement, and continued reinforcement.

The changing landscape of procurement preferences, digitalization, and customer behavior can cause sales teams to struggle with ingraining sales methodologies into their workflows.

Aligning your sales teams with the latest methods and practices is a critical piece of the sales puzzle.

However, implementing and enforcing a new sales methodology isn't always a walk in the park. It's a difficult task for a sales leader of any experience or expertise. Studies have shown that it can take upwards of six months, if not longer, to launch a new sales process.

Sales leaders may find themselves spending thousands of dollars on materials, training programs, and new hires. Replacing salespeople with those who are willing to comply is a pricey endeavor - on average, it costs sales organizations $97,960 to replace a sales rep.

They can spend days, weeks, or months working with their sales team to understand and use the methodology - all to find that their sales reps are not adopting it.

It becomes an expensive, frustrating hamster wheel of wasted time and resources, only having to hire new reps and restart the training cycle from the beginning.

So what might sales leaders be aware of when the latest process isn't being adopted? Here we’ve listed the most common reasons sales leaders have seen sales methodologies fail.

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Business or sales leaders choose outdated methods to implement

It all depends on the process you choose for an implementation. Sales leaders need to consider the new sales landscape and the needs of sales reps in today's environment. Outdated processes, printouts on sales rep desks, or PDFs stored in another tab won't get much attention from sales reps.

It makes it difficult for sales teams to access and use the new approach during their day-to-day sales calls. Papers and PDFs can get lost, forgotten, or overlooked, and sales leaders need to focus on modern digital solutions for implementation.

Often, new sales methodologies can be too complicated for sales reps to understand with just a document. Instead, they require a learning curve that can only be supported by real hands-on experience with sales leaders guiding them through the sales process.

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The new approach is too complicated for reps, or they simply don't want to adopt

Sales methodologies have become increasingly complex as the purchasing process and requirements evolve in the B2B space. As a result, it can be difficult for sales reps who are used to a particular sales process to adopt the new sales approach.

Implementing too many guidelines, rules, steps, and sales techniques can overwhelm sales teams and encourage sales reps to grasp the new sales methodology. Instead, sales leaders need to make sure that their sales process is simple, concise, and easy to follow - making it more accessible for sales reps.

It's also possible that sales reps don't want to change their existing habits, even if they understand it's essential in today's sales market. Depending on the personality type of sales reps and their capacity to learn and adopt new sales methods, sales leaders may have to provide more incentives or rewards for sales reps who make the effort to learn and use the sales process.

The new methodology is separate from the sales process

When sales teams are supposed to adopt a sales methodology, sales leaders need to ensure the methods integrate into each step of the existing sales process. It should be so simple that sales reps can quickly grasp and use them in ongoing customer conversations.

If new methodologies don't align with the core goals of the reps, goals, and strategies, sales teams will likely not adopt them.

Sales teams need to feel enabled. It can be frustrating for sales reps to learn sales techniques but not have time, resources, or tools to practice them during sales calls.

It's not an automated sales methodology

Today's sales teams are mostly composed of millennials - also known as "digital natives." They are tech-savvy sales reps who can easily understand and use sales software, automation tools, and sales enablement technology.

The automation tools and resources available today allow sales teams to access sales methodologies quickly and easily. However, without automated sales systems in place, they can be difficult to understand and use, discouraging reps from adopting new methods.

If you choose not to automate the tedious tasks and actions that occur in B2B sales, sales reps are more likely to abandon your methodology and return to how they've been running sales for years.

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Are you implementing a new sales methodology and struggling to see results?

If you're having difficulty getting sales reps to adopt a sales methodology, you need to figure out how to make the process more accessible and straightforward for sales reps.

Check out our blog article "5 Tips for Enforcing Your Sales Methodology" to learn how sales leaders can better manage your new implementation and seamlessly get sales teams onboarded and confident in their new approach.

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Looking for a solution to align your sales teams and sales process?

Recapped's customer-collaboration platform offers one central platform to create, optimize, and manage sales processes. Our sales enablement features, such as sales methodology automation and digital workspaces, help sales teams work together more effectively with their customers to achieve their desired results. Get started with a consultation today! https://www.recapped.io/consultation