For many sales and account management professionals, it feels like our DNA is hard-wired to meet and work with product evaluators. It just seems to make sense that we call on "the person we're supposed to call on".

What's wrong with this? On the surface, nothing is wrong with this idea. Sometimes this strategy evens works out well for us. Yet when we look deeper, there may be some challenges. What if this person has strong allegiances to one of our competitors? We may have walked right into the trap of a gatekeeper. Are we going to be able to convert them? Even if this is possible, will it be worth the time it will take to do so?

Not only that, but if we only call on evaluators, we can easily be pegged as a vendor. Probably rightly so. When we are with these folks, we are almost forced to talk about ourselves and our products. In doing this, we talk too much and learn too little. If we spend all of our time talking about our products to people who buy products, we are certainly acting like a vendor.

What if we could change our DNA? What if we were hard-wired to think that it is our job to call on different people at different levels, learning more about them so we could better present the fit (both solution fit and business fit) to the right people in an organization? This doesn't mean we exclude the evaluators. It just means we don't limit ourselves to calling only on them.

Why not start now? Let's hire or develop people (and ourselves) who are naturally curious and like to meet different people, strengthen our networks, develop more coach relationships, and stop getting blocked by people who want our competitors to succeed. Let's not put ourselves in the vendor trap anymore, and let's create a whole new sales DNA!