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An MIT SMR initiative exploring how technology is reshaping the practice of management.
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Dean Rohrer/theispot.com
When selling radical innovations, salespeople often worry that they’ll appear incompetent, which undermines their confidence and stalls sales pipelines. New products’ complexity can get in the way of knowledge transfer via traditional training approaches. Companies should instead reframe the salesperson’s role from expert to orchestrator, provide consultation support through expert tandems and fast-response channels, and foster a culture that values curiosity and collaboration over perfection.
Listen to “Why Salespeople Fear Pitching Radical Innovation” (12:30)
Across industries, companies are investing heavily in radical innovations, such as new software layers for traditional hardware, AI-powered industrial tools, and smart services that promise to transform how customers create value. Yet, when these offerings reach the market, sales pipelines often stall. Salesforce, for example, struggled with the early commercialization of a radical innovation launched in 2016: Einstein, an AI add-on to the Salesforce CRM system.
Managers often assume that the problem stems from customers’ risk aversion or the product’s limited technical maturity. Our research points to a human factor on the supplier side: sales professionals’ fear of losing face when discussing something radically new.
This is not the usual fear of rejection in sales. It is a subtle, self-conscious feeling that undermines confidence and performance just when the company requires them most.
How the Fear of Losing Face Holds Salespeople Back
In the research article “Selling Radical Innovations,” coauthored with Julian Schmalstieg and Andreas Eggert and published in Industrial Marketing Management last October, we examine highly innovative products that lagged behind expectations. To that end, we interviewed 69 sales executives, salespeople, and customers from three global manufacturers and surveyed 400 managers from a diverse sample of industrial manufacturers.
We found that when products are radically new, salespeople experience a distinct fear of appearing incompetent to customers. This stems from their anticipation of consultation failures, such as giving incorrect information, being unable to answer questions, or making promises the company cannot yet keep.
These worries lead to hesitation, resulting in salespeople avoiding deep conversations, retreating from new opportunities, and relying on established offerings they can confidently explain.
Success in sales has traditionally relied on a salesperson’s expertise.
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