Virtual Sales 3.0 Conference March 20th - 21st 

 

Focuses on aligning people, process & technology through  sales transformation!

 

Selling Power Blog

News & Insights for B2B Sales Leaders

Subscribe
February 25, 2021

How Neuroscience Can Improve Sales Performance in Weeks, Not Years

By Evan Sanchez, Sales Excellence Practice Lead, Think-X

The changes to our working environment as a result of COVID-19 have been dramatic, to say the least. To find success in 2021, smart leaders are turning to neuroscience to identify performance gaps, make better hiring decisions, improve team performance, and reduce stress in a matter of weeks, not years.

Using neuroscience allows us to uncover thinking patterns that contribute to a high-performance mindset with a fast and scalable process. At first, you may think this is another assessment, but neuroscience diagnostics such as the Think-X Discover dive into the subconscious to find drivers of success as well as the barriers. Performance thinking barriers often sabotage underperformers and make hiring for performance-based roles very difficult. These tested findings and clinically validated activities are proven to create thought shifts that lead to better performance and less stress.

Why is this important to sales?

  • In sales, A-players produce 5 times what a B-player produces and 10 times what a C-player produces.
  • A-players typically produce 60-80% of all revenue, and they do it faster.
  • You can invest in more sales training and more technology, but the ROI will not be maximized if barrier thinking is present.
  • If you trade up barrier thinking you can recapture lost ROI from past training and technology implementations that failed to produce expected results.
  • You can hire more efficiently and effectively.
  • You can develop talent by improving the performance thinking.
  • You can lower stress and anxiety that negatively impacts performance (perhaps needed more today than ever before).
  • High levels of stress due to change can cause A-players to underperform and burn out.

How do you know you need this?

If your team has all had the same training on sales, product, or service, and you have followed your company’s hiring process, but you still have a wide gap between A-, B-, and C-players, you have to focus on improving the team’s mindset and performance thinking capability. The key performance drivers include:

  • Ambition
  • Confidence
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Empathy
  • Systems thinking

Typically, the core performers (B- and C-players) have some of the key performance drivers listed above. However, barrier thinking patterns contribute to a negative or conflicting internal dialogue promoting a fixed mindset—the belief that things will never change or there is no need to change. In times of uncertainty and stress, this thinking can override learned behaviors as the stress triggers the flight, fight, or freeze reactive behaviors that lower performance. Most newly adopted training, agility, and capability to change goes out the window at this point.

This is caused by the presence of that barrier thinking and is often a blind spot. These blind spots – or what we call breaks – include:

  • High self-defeat
  • High need for reassurance
  • High controlling
  • High skepticism
  • High self-consciousness

What if we could identify the barriers holding one back from thinking and performing like the top 10%?

That’s right: better thinking and better performance!

How do you start using performance thinking neuroscience strategies?

Each employee starts with a personal benchmark of score ranges in each of these performance drivers. By analyzing the profiles of the top 10% in each role, the data will point to conclusions about what these individuals have in common that makes them successful in the organization.  For an example, you can go here to see our most recent study and top performer templates.

Through a combination of individual and team data, managers can benchmark and measure performance drivers needed in the new remote environment, identify leaders, and provide employees with fast, accurate, and personalized feedback that can immediately impact their day-to-day activities. A much larger part of the core will become A-players. If you are a sales professional looking to improve your performance in 2021, please sign up for a diagnostic here.

If you are a sales consulting or training company, I suggest you reach out and explore our revenue generating strategies and partnering opportunities by contacting me to learn more by emailing me at evan.sanchez@think-x.com.

Headshot of Evan Sanchez

Today's blog post is by Evan Sanchez. He is Sales Excellence Practice Lead of Think-X.