Bill Canady says commercial teams should write and rehearse a pushback script before announcing a new policy. Pushback from customers or salespeople isn't failure, it's proof the policy landed. Role-play an angry customer to make the rehearsal stick.
Move 3, write the pushback script and rehearse it before you need it. You are gonna get pushback. Know what you're gonna say before you have to say it. This is the move no one does, and it's why programs die. Customers are gonna push back. Distributors will push back. Your own salespeople will push back on behalf of customers who have not pushed back yet. Let them. Pushback is not evidence you've made a mistake. Pushback is evidence the policy has reached somebody, which is the entire point of having a policy. So write the script on a page and sit down with your commercial team and rehearse it with them out loud together with somebody playing the angry customer. That's right. Make it real. It feels ridiculous. I know, but do it anyway. You'll be surprised the impact.
