Think like a Scientist

I spent the weekend reading 'Think Again' by Adam Grant. Organizational psychology has always fascinated me, and I always find books that analyze social behaviours probably more intriguing than I should - both from a perspective of reviewing the way I approach situations personally, and how I can use any learnings in a professional capacity. A few key themes stood out from this:

One line that resonated with me was “being wrong is the only way I feel sure I’ve learned anything”. There’s real value in admitting to being wrong. Whether that’s finding Product Market Fit in a startup, learning that the problem you’re solving is not the original problem you were seeking to solve (and adapting extremely quickly), or in a personal context where disagreements can either strengthen a relationship or damage it depending on the approach taken by both parties.

Jeff Bezos said “People who are right a lot listen a lot, and they change their mind a lot - if you don’t change your mind frequently, you’re going to be wrong a lot”. This is a very challenging concept, as in the professional world we all have a layer of imposter syndrome and ego. Admitting to being wrong feels like it comes with a risk of exposure to the fragility that lies beneath the ego. In the context of sales and finding PMF, the difference between going out of business and achieving that tipping point of scale is listening to customers’ demands, changing your mind where appropriate, and admitting to being wrong based on ever-changing hypotheses. In fact, any professional leadership role has a variety of decision-making crossroads which require questioning options, making judgment calls, reviewing the judgment calls, and hoping for learnings and greater wisdom over time to make more effective judgment calls. It’s non-linear, and there will never be a point where listening and being open to changing your mind based on information at hand isn’t necessary.

Reading this book reminded me of the value of “thinking like a scientist” in all contexts of everyday life. The value of being humble in the face of new information and when reviewing progress, and always looking at what can be improved. Listen, admit you might be wrong and see if adaptation is needed. In the art of B2B sales, and in building a startup - Truly listen to the real problems that prospects have, and refine the proposition and approach accordingly.

Think like a scientist.

AI in Sales: The Balancing Act

I have been thinking about how AI and specifically ChatGPT can help me and our team in our day to day sales roles. I’m currently cautious in my view and am aware of The Law of Instrument bias- the idea that “if you only have a hammer, you see everything as a nail”. There will be temptations to over-use GPT for every part of the role and lose sight of the subtleties that translate into sales teams succeeding.A new outbounding campaign? GPT. Difficult negotiation? GPT. Objection handling? GPT. 

My view is likely to change, but I'm currently of the view that we should only use AI for up to 20% of the "art" of sales. I'm a massive advocate of sales being authentic and human in a world where everyone is bombarded with 1000s of automated sequences that read like poorly edited marketing templates. GPT puts sales teams at the risk of going deeper down this path- if we don’t use GPT with finesse, if we use it as “a hammer”- we will see sales teams with higher automation and higher volume; which on the surface level can be attractive, but at the risk of foregoing quality interactions and conversion. To keep the tool analogy going, we need to use ChatGPT as a screwdriver- showing precision and care rather than brute force. Keep the subtleties of the human approach of B2B sales; reading between the lines; relevant touch points at relevant moments; letting the empty spaces between contact points do the work. Nuance.

ChatGPT can, however, be the ultimate sales advisor, coach, and refiner. One exciting use case is that of an “onboarding companion”- we can ask GPT to take the form of a prospect, by giving it the prospect website so that it has context of the company, giving it the sales deck so it can ask relevant questions, and using prompts that guide it in the right direction on the type of questions that are appropriate. We can then use it for role play meetings ahead of meeting prospects in real life. I played with this today and am extremely impressed, and feel that for self-training, it can be an invaluable tool.

Zooming out from day to day sales, I see significant value in GPT regarding sales operations. Sales activity trend analysis- summarizing and analyzing bulk notes taken by the sales team. This will help sharpen ICP, getting a better understanding of stakeholders involved in the decision, who's budget it's coming out of, what problems are being solved, other solutions considered etc. This can save considerable time in helping find product market fit, and help refine the value proposition. In addition to this, giving GPT info from CRMs to do deal funnel analysis and helping provide insight into challenges around the corner could be invaluable to sales leaders.

This is not my definitive view, and everything I've said might be out of date in 2 weeks time anyway. It’s up to us to keep experimenting, and allow ourselves to be open to change our current approach while not losing sight of what leads to successful sales teams in the first place.