Ignite Your Reps’ Creative Spark

Regardless of the challenges that sales leaders are facing today, most would agree that having a more creative sales force would help, or at least it can’t hurt. Or can it? After all, selling does not require the creativity that writing or sculpting do, but as most sellers would say, it does require a certain amount of artistry.

In the past, we’ve published research on the topic of Manager Innovation, showing that top performing sales managers are skilled at ideating and finding creative ways to unlock stalled deals. But few, if any, sales organizations are focused on developing reps’ creative skills. Indeed, the fact that the sales are becoming more variable, requiring reps to engage a growing number of stakeholders and face longer sales cycles, suggests that as sales become more complex reps will have to engage with customers in more creative and new ways in order to break apart from the pack and move deals forward.

So how can sales managers encourage rep creativity, and help their teams develop the adaptability they need to cope with today’s sophisticated and informed buyers?

A body of research on the topic of creativity suggests that some commonly used techniques for inspiring innovative thinking can apply to sales:  

Stop punishing failure—painters who create great works of art often paint a few misses first. The creative process, experts say, involves making some mistakes along the way to generating great ideas. Sales organizations disproportionally reward individual rep success, but they should also encourage risk-taking by not punishing rep mistakes.


Don’t be so comfortable with rejection—when faced with rejection some people respond by experimenting in order to overcome their shortcomings. The self-awareness and change in posture that sometimes grows out of rejection can spark creativity. Sellers face rejection every day, but they are fairly good at coping with rejection. To motivate innovative thinking, make sure you  are making rejection feel uncomfortable for your reps.


Work hard, play hard—studies suggest that playful, enjoyable activities encourage creative thinking. When we play our brain edits itself less and allows thoughts to flow more freely. Many sales organizations do in fact have a “work hard, play hard” atmosphere. But to spark creativity, organizations should encourage more on-the-job play time, rather than after-work happy hours.

CEB Sales Members, review our Ideation Toolkit and see our Manager Innovativeness Self Assessment.

Share your thoughts with us, and let us know how you are inspiring creativity in your reps.