From Sales Resistance to Confident Recommendations

I had a client come to me recently whose team was really struggling with sales.

They were not a sales culture. In fact, they bristled at the word sales. It felt uncomfortable. Forced. Pushy.

Because of that, people were not recommending the products and services their members actually needed. That created a rift between the team and their goals. It created tension between team members and their leaders. Everyone felt it.

So we walked them through the RBS system. Recommendation-Based Selling. Or as I like to call it, recommendation-based conversations.

We drilled down into what can actually be said.

• What are the right questions to ask?

• How do you uncover real needs instead of pitching a product?

• How do you stop feeling like you are throwing something out there and hoping it sticks?

That shift alone made all the difference.

We worked through this process with their entire leadership team first. They had to see the bigger picture. They had to understand the vision behind it. Why would we want to recommend these things in the first place?

I reminded them that we recommend things all day long. We recommend restaurants. Movies. Tools. Books. Places to travel. We recommend what we believe in and what we have experienced. We do it naturally when we are passionate and when we see value.

The difference is clarity.

When your team has clarity around why a product matters and how it truly helps a member, the conversation changes.

We walked through the three phases of RBS.

• How to set the stage.

• How to uncover needs.

• How to confidently recommend the right solution without pressure.

They saw a significant sales jump almost immediately.

But the part I love most was not just the numbers.

It was watching team members who were once nervous or resistant to these conversations become some of their top performers. Not because they were pushing harder. Because they were serving better.

Outside of any promotion, special, or short-term campaign, they began to see recommending products as part of their mission. Helping members became deeper than just completing transactions. It became about guidance.

That is what sustainable growth looks like.

When a team shifts from avoiding sales to embracing service through recommendation, the culture changes. The confidence changes. The results follow.

And that is what I continue to see when credit unions commit to doing the deeper work around RBS.

Lead Boldly,
~ MW