Driving Lasting Behavioral Change in Your Sales Team: A Primer for Scale-Ups
Scaling a B2B sales organisation is rarely just a matter of adding more reps, implementing a new sales methodology, or rolling out fresh playbooks. More often than not, it requires real behavioral change at both individual and team levels—an undertaking even seasoned sales leaders find daunting.
This challenge isn’t about training or technology alone; it’s rooted in human behavior, mindsets, and organisational culture. To navigate these complexities, insights from true experts in the field of sales transformation are invaluable. That’s why this primer not only explores the behavioral barriers sales teams face, but also features insights from Dr. Grant Van Ulbrich, the world’s first Doctor of Sales Transformation, a Certified Sales Transformation Coach, TEDx speaker, and author. Dr. Grant’s extensive background in leading sales transformation within the travel and hospitality industry, coupled with his groundbreaking work on Personal Change Management (PCM), brings a unique, research-backed perspective to the conversation.
For us to understand why not only sellers, but sales leaders and leaders in general, typically do not see lasting change or transformation, we need to go back to the fundamentals of change that are being taught. For nearly a century, the focus of change management has been solely on Organisational Change Management (OCM). This focus has been how to drive change through an organisation. In essence, how to impose change management ON people. But the question remains, where is the model FOR people to learn for themselves? We have not yet been taught how we should or could manage change for ourselves, let alone others. This has a direct impact on our actions and behaviours witnessed. That lack of understanding uncovers a gap in the change management teachings that is called ‘Personal Change’.
Below, we’ll outline some of the key behavioral barriers that often stifle genuine transformation. We’ll also provide a framework for how to address them, so you’re not left wondering why your change initiatives aren’t sticking.
We’ll also look to answer that question of how we can introduce Personal Change Management (PCM) into our practice.
Consider these insights a starting point, a primer on the complexity of sales transformation that sets the stage for deeper conversation.
Why Is It So Hard to Change How Sellers Behave?
1. Reactivity Over Proactivity
Many sellers spend their days responding to inbound requests, managing urgent client issues, and juggling internal demands. This reactive posture leaves little space for strategic thinking or proactive outreach. Without a deliberate shift in daily habits, sellers remain stuck reacting to their environment rather than shaping it.
2. Transactional Mindset
When reps focus solely on closing this quarter’s deals, long-term relationship-building can suffer. Complex B2B sales often demand sustained engagement, multi-threading across stakeholders, and long-term thinking. Shifting from a “get it done now” mentality to a consultative, buyer-centric approach is challenging—especially if the current reward system leans heavily on quick wins.
3. Lack of Curiosity
In-depth discovery, thoughtful questioning, and understanding the buyer’s context are foundational to consultative selling. Yet, curiosity is often underemphasised. Without it, sellers rely on canned pitches, miss critical buyer signals, and struggle to differentiate themselves. Encouraging genuine inquiry, asking “why?” more often than “how much?” requires a cultural and individual mindset shift.
4. Minimal Strategic Thinking
Mapping the decision-making landscape, identifying true power centers in the buyer’s organisation, and strategically planning account engagement takes time and skill. Many sellers stick to known contacts and familiar tactics instead of stepping back to broaden their perspective. Changing this pattern involves both skill development and an environment that rewards foresight over frantic activity.
5. Resistance to Change
Reps often cling to what they know, if they’ve hit quota before doing it their way, why try something new? This resistance can be subtle and isn’t always voiced openly. It appears in hesitance to adopt new tools, lukewarm responses to training, or quietly reverting to old habits once the initial pressure fades.
6. Time Constraints
In scale-up environments, sellers often wear multiple hats, constantly juggling client needs, internal meetings, and administrative tasks. With so much on their plate, who has the bandwidth to deeply internalise new skills, reflect on buyer feedback, or rethink account strategies? A lack of “white space” means learning and adaptation are often pushed to the margins.
7. Focus on Activity Over Impact
When the culture praises busyness and completing tasks, depth and thoughtfulness can get sidelined. Hitting activity KPIs—like calls made or emails sent—may feel like progress, but without assessing the impact of those activities, improvement stalls. Aligning metrics and rewards with meaningful outcomes, rather than surface-level tasks, is key.
8. Managerial Pressure & Cultural Factors
Top-down directives that emphasise short-term KPIs may inadvertently discourage experimentation and learning. If managers push for quick results without acknowledging the complexity of change, reps may revert to old patterns just to “hit their numbers.” Transforming behavior requires leadership support for ongoing learning, not just end-of-quarter results.
The Core Issue: Behavioral Change as the Missing Piece
What these points share is that a single training session or an off-the-shelf sales methodology won’t solve them. These issues are deep-rooted, tied to beliefs, incentives, and the organisation’s broader culture.
This is why many sales transformations struggle: they introduce new tools and processes but rarely address the underlying human factors. Without a focus on mindset, motivation, and the real reasons behind current behaviors, even the best playbook or sales tech will fail to deliver lasting results.
At this point, we can introduce specialised insights from experts who understand the behavioral side of sales transformation. Some practitioners—including those with doctoral-level specialisation in sales transformation—have developed frameworks that guide leaders through these complexities. They offer strategies that go beyond quick fixes, addressing root causes of behavioral inertia.
Taking Action: Steps for Meaningful and Lasting Change
If you’re about to launch a sales transformation initiative, consider these steps as part of your roadmap. They’ll help ensure you’re not just layering new approaches over old habits, but actually shifting behavior in a sustainable way.
1. Acknowledge the Human Element from the Start:
Before rolling out new tools or training, openly discuss why change is necessary. Acknowledge that learning new behaviors is difficult and that the organisation will support the team through the transition.
2. Involve Your Team in the Process:
People are more likely to embrace change they’ve helped shape. Gather input, encourage dialogue, and allow reps to voice concerns. By co-creating the transformation journey, you build trust and reduce resistance.
3. Redefine Success Metrics:
Move beyond activity-based KPIs. Integrate measures that track the quality of buyer conversations, depth of stakeholder engagement, and progression of strategic account plans. This encourages reps to prioritise meaningful actions over busywork.
4. Carve Out Time for Reflection and Practice:
Don’t expect instant adoption. Create space for reps to test new approaches, reflect on outcomes, and fine-tune their methods. Consider brief weekly debriefs where reps share learnings and support each other’s growth.
5. Provide Coaching and Continuous Support:
Behavioral change isn’t a one-and-done event. Equip frontline managers with the skills to coach reps through the transition. This might mean regular one-on-ones focused on skill application, not just pipeline updates.
6. Recognise and Celebrate Progress:
When someone successfully adopts a new behavior—even a small one—acknowledge it publicly. Celebrating incremental progress reinforces that the new way of working is valued and appreciated.
7. Seek Specialised Guidance Where Needed:
If you’re tackling large-scale transformation or facing entrenched resistance, consider working with specialists who understand the interplay of psychology, culture, and sales performance. Leveraging their expertise can help address deep-seated barriers more effectively.
Moving Forward
Transforming sales behaviors isn’t easy, but that’s what makes it so impactful. When you shift how your team thinks, learns, and acts, you unlock higher levels of performance and resilience. Instead of relying on short-lived boosts from training events or new software, you create a culture that continually adapts, improves, and thrives in changing markets.
This primer is just a starting point. Real change happens in the details, over weeks and months of deliberate practice—guided by insights from those who’ve dedicated their careers to understanding how to drive genuine behavioral change.
As we uncovered earlier, at the core of how we can influence behavioural outcomes is Personal Change Management (PCM). This is a new topic area that is being highlighted by Dr. Grant Van Ulbrich, Founder of Scared So What ltd, Author, Sales Transformation Coach and TEDx speaker. His research is set in sales transformation and emphasises how to facilitate the transformations within sales performance and in all business and organizational practices. In essence, his research and outcomes affect us all.
“Dr Grant says that the missing element within organizational change is the focus on the people. There has never been a bespoke model to guide people in how they can manage personal change for themselves. Without this guidance or knowledge, we are left only to assume the meanings and outcomes from change.”
To bridge this gap between OCM and PCM for sales and business leaders, he recommends using the SCARED SO WHAT model for personal change management as well as leadership coaching and support to make change inclusive for all members involved. The model is reflected as:
SURPRISED: Am I surprised by this change?
CONFLICT or CHAMPION: How do I feel about it? Do I like it or not?
ACTIONS: What can I do about this or to generate information?
RECEPTIVE or REJECTIVE: How am I feeling now after reflection?
EXPLORE: What other options or opportunities are there?
DECISION: What decision can I make? Favourable? Unfavourable? Or I cannot decide.
Once a conscious, well reflected, analysis has taken place on the overall feelings and concerns, then a decision can be made one way or the other. People do not have to accept every change but they do need to know what they can or should do about it.
The next step is to reflect on what actions the individual can put into place to ensure the change happens in the way they want. This is building their own plan.
STRATEGY: What is my plan or my strategy? What does it look like?
OPPORTUNITIES: What opportunities should I or could I include?
WAY FORWARD: Do I have a way forward? Yes? No? Unsure?
HOPE/HOW: Do I have hope that my plan will work? If yes, Do I know HOW I will do it? If no, then reconsider. If yes, move forward.
ACTIONS: What actions can I take to ensure my plan is effective?
TAKE OWNERSHIP: What do I need to do to ensure my plan works and is actioned in the way I want?
This is the first Personal Change Management (PCM) comprehensive evidence based psychological coaching model that helps individuals to learn how they can manage personal change for themselves. Change is the foundation of understanding that must be learned for behavioural outcomes to take place. Change management in itself must evolve and change for transformation to occur. To achieve this, we must begin to blend OCM with PCM to generate successful transformations.
If you would like to learn more about Scared So What, the model, certification, the app technology, simply visit www.scaredsowhat.com.
Awarded top 8 finalist in Sales & Marketing by the UK Business Book Awards, Dr. Grant’s book titled “Transforming Sales Management: Lead sales teams through change” is available here: www.scaredsowhat.com/books
This work has been featured in Forbes, Evening Standard, MSN, Business Insider, Entrepreneur UK and many more. To read for yourselves, visit www.scaredsowhat.com/media
