“Good Times create Bad Habits” – a quote recently told to me by my consulting friend Chad Johnson.

We were discussing the challenges that sales leaders have in getting their teams to change, primarily when it comes to working harder or differently. When things are good – when marketing is producing leads at a profitable level, when competition isn’t really impacting your sales conversations, when the economic forces are in your favor, when the government regulation isn’t requiring you to do anything different – then the deals and money flows.

Personal Experience: The Mortgage Boom

I remember when I first started in the mortgage business – Seattle, Wa 2002. The first few months were learning the business and process, then in 2003 it was game on. Historically low-interest rates, rising property values – crazy real estate and lending market. This was pre-mortgage crisis, so there were tons of wild loan options.

The joke in 2003 was that you could show up to work, answer your phone most of the time, rarely call people back, and you will make six figures. Just taking orders. Internet banking and lending wasn’t really a thing…only objection that would come up is that BankRate.com shows the 30-year fixed rate was 5.5%, so people expected that (without actually reading the really small print about what it takes to get a prime mortgage like that). It was easy. Not always fun and stress-free, but money was flowing.

The Creation of Bad Habits

Challenge comes when good times create bad habits. When things are going well, two things occur.

First, our ego takes over. We think we are amazing, maybe even deity-level sales professionals. We think we have arrived, we are smarter and more skilled than others, we are making more money than we ever have before and/or more money than anyone else we know. There is no lucky timing factor. To us, it’s purely skill, talent, and ability.

Second, we build habits around what is working and don’t have the muscle memory or strength, discipline, willpower to do what it might take during different times. When the deals are basically closing themselves, we don’t need to update a CRM. There is no need to be accountable to management for activity and pipeline – “If they want to know how well I am doing, have them look at my commission reports.” When times are good and the game is easy to play and win, we get complacent, lazy, and spoiled.

By the way, if those last two paragraphs (especially that last sentence) triggered you to be upset – that’s okay. I am not wrong because it’s basic human behavior.

A Game Analogy

Think of it this way…have you ever played a skill-based game against someone who isn’t even close to your level? Maybe you are good at chess, and you are playing against a kid who has no idea what they are doing. Or it could be tennis, versus someone who can barely hit back over the net. Or basketball, or ping pong, or poker – you choose.

What happens after a while? You will get bored, just mailing it in because when you are playing at 10-20% capacity you can still win. Have you then, in a relatively short period of time, played that same game against someone at your level or higher up? You probably got crushed. Your mind was still in cruise mode. Good times create bad habits. When the game is easy, any habit will do. They don’t have to be good ones.

The problem then comes when times get less good. And what you did is no longer enough to succeed. Something has to change. When you try to change your habits it gets really hard.

“The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.” (Samuel Johnson) That’s why it takes a lot of effort to change a habit through willpower and discipline.

Preparing for Market Changes

Back to our sales processes and operations, if you are currently experiencing the good times then be aware of what’s coming. At some point, things will change in the market and you will need to change your processes, your conversations, your scripts, your cadences. What you did during the up cycle won’t work during the down season.

To succeed at putting in effective new sales operations processes, it takes three parts.

The change must come from the top and flow down through all levels of leadership. Many times, the leaders at the top aren’t ready to admit that things must change.

Then you must align the team to be married to the company vision, and realize they should be dating the strategies.

Assessment and Adjustment

Then you can assess which sales operations processes are effective and which ones need to be changed or put into place.

Conclusion

As a leader, your job is to ensure that the company succeeds, no matter the market, external and internal forces. That will mean putting systems, processes, structure, and accountability in place at a level the team might not be happy or comfortable with. Remember, they aren’t in charge – you are. If they want to keep on winning, they have to be able to adjust their habits.