Change is never easy.
With being an owner or CEO, a graphic designer, customer service rep or any other team member, it can be hard to face change.
A change in the way you market your business, even for the better, might be met with resistance from your team.
There’s a number of reasons why your team might not be quick to get on board.
First, they feel ownership of your brand. This is a great thing. Your team is passionate about your business and invested in its success. So a change makes it understandably difficult for them to see your organization depart from their current marketing approach.
Second, they feel like it’s been working. As a team, you’ve grown the business to this point, and worked together to build something successful. They might not have the access to the analytics and data about your business that you do which feeds their resistance to change.
Lastly, they’re scared. Like with all change, personal or professional, change in your marketing efforts can be scary. Your team might be worried about how the changes will affect their role or make their job more difficult. They might protective of the customer experience and be concerned about how that might change in light of new marketing efforts.
No matter what the reason, you might feel some tension when the idea of a new approach to marketing is broached with your current team.
The question is, how you get them on board with these changes?
There are five crucial steps to getting your team to buy into marketing change:
Be transparent - Your team can’t get behind what they don’t understand. It’s time to pull back the curtain and show them the need for this change. Make it clear that this will benefit the entire business and that you’re planning for the future, or solving a current problem.
Hear them out - Take the time to make them feel heard and understood. Don’t blow off their concerns, understand them and work to address them.
Get them invested and involved - Talk to them throughout the process, get their input and their feedback. Having your team being part of the marketing change will help them feel ownership and pride over it, transforming it from a scary unknown to an exciting next step for the company they love.
Keep them updated - Don’t leave them in the dark, it will just compound the fear. Instead, keep them informed and up-to-date on the progress of this updated approach to your company’s marketing. Give them plenty of notice before big changes happen, especially ones that will affect their roles in any way.
Highlight the wins - This last step is one of the most important, make sure you communicate the wins. If your brand is getting more exposure, your website is seeing more traffic or better conversions, your sales are soaring, share all of this with the team. Let them see how positive this change is your company and for them.
We’ve worked with business owners and leaders who have experienced this push and pull between their existing team and the new marketing resources. They’ve battled resistance to change and naysayers who don’t see the greater good. It can be a primary concern when you’re looking to bring a change to your marketing. Why rock the boat with employees that have been good to you this far?
If you understand their hesitations and are sure to follow the five steps above, you’ll be able to transform your team from doubtful to hopeful and eventually, excited.
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