In the book Switch by Chip & Dan Heath, there’s a case that really stuck with me. It’s about the Brazilian company Brasilata, a completely ordinary industrial company that manufactures steel drums.
Like so many others, they had a challenge:
👉 How do you get people to think differently in an environment where things have always been done the same way?
The management realized something important: You can’t force innovation. But you can invite it.
So they did something unexpected.
They stopped calling their employees “workers.”
Instead, they called their employees: innovators.
In addition, every employee signed an innovation contract, committing to think creatively in big ways and small.
And it wasn’t just symbolic. They built a structure where ideas, big and small, could be captured, tested, and rewarded.
The result? 💥
- Over one hundred thirty thousand ideas a year
- Thousands of improvements and innovations
- A culture where every individual saw themselves as part of the company’s innovation engine
🎯 The Lesson:
To create lasting innovation, it must become part of the identity, not just the consequence.
Give your employees a mantle to wear with pride. In Brasilata’s case, that mantle can be described with a single word: innovator.
It’s not about asking people to think outside the box, but about giving them a new box to think within.
One that says: “You are not just here to work. You are here to create.”
And this doesn’t just apply to innovation in production or product development. The same mindset is needed in sales.
Because innovation is not just about developing what we offer, but also about how we offer it.
Examples of questions that sales organizations today should be thinking new and innovatively about are:
➡️ How we meet customers who already can (and want to) find out everything themselves
➡️ How we build relationships with customers who are often skeptical of salespeople
➡️ How we use data, technology, and insights to create new paths to value
When sales teams begin to see themselves as innovation-driven problem solvers, something happens.
Sales no longer becomes a function. It becomes a creative force that drives the entire business forward.
💭 What do you think would happen if more organizations saw their salespeople as pioneering innovators?
Here you can read how you can add more value in your sales process!
