One of the things that keeps me young (younger? young-ish? not old? not too old?) is the amount of effort I put into intentionally trying new processes, procedures, software, routines, etc. 

I change my browser every 4 months. Not just for an hour – but for 4 months. Even when I’m happy with it. This year I’ve used Chrome, Mozilla and now I’m on the new MS Edge. I might try Opera next. Though Edge has some nice features.

I use google mail AND outlook mail. And MS Exchange for work. I’ve also used Alto. Truth be told… I was rooting for Alto – very innovative user interface.

I also try various to-do list apps, drive different routes to familiar places, watch different shows on TV, try new music.

I don’t like everything I try.

But I do like something in everything I try.

It’s About the New

In other words, the constant change keeps me excited and interested. And it provides new information I can use as building block for other things. Without the constant and intentional change I’d miss out on a lot of cool ideas. 

And your channel audience and sales people are the same. 

Create incentives to do something they aren’t used to doing but you know might help. It might be how they prospect. It might be how they close. It might be the way the do their demos on line. In other words provide some incentive in your platform that is focused on getting them comfortable with change and how to learn from it. 

I’m betting that if you had spent some time last year designing an incentive program around using video calling apps instead of a meeting you’d be in much better position today!

Pretty Little Experiments

The problem is we aren’t ever sure what that thing is we should experiment with. Which simply means you need to do a lot of experiments. You need to run lots of little promotions on change that your people or your channel can practice with and see what might work better than the status quo. 

Try it. Get people to do something different. It’s a different way of looking at how you can use your incentive and promotion platform that might pay huge dividends. (See what I did there?)

And trust me – Alto was cool.