When Experience Gets in the Way

“I’ve been doing this for 25 years.” Usually, we say that with pride, and we should. Twenty-five years means you’ve survived recessions, experienced changing competitors, new technologies, difficult customers, changing consumer behavior and probably more than a few “game-changing” ideas that disappeared six months later.

Experience matters. But there’s another question worth asking:

Do you have 25 years of experience—or one year of experience repeated 25 times?

Because sometimes the very experience that makes us good at what we do can make it harder to see something new. Researchers have a name for this. It’s called the Einstellung effect. Researchers Merim Bilalic, Peter McLeod and Fernand Gobet demonstrated it in a fascinating experiment involving expert chess players. The players were given chess problems with a familiar solution. But hidden in the same problem was another solution—a better one. You’d think experts would find it. Many didn’t.

Once they recognized the familiar solution, their expertise actually made it more difficult to see the better alternative. Think about that. They weren’t being held back by what they didn’t know. They were being held back by what they already knew.

That’s an important distinction for those of us in sales. Experience gives us patterns.

• We’ve heard this objection before.
• We’ve dealt with this type of customer before.
• We’ve sold this product before.
• We’ve seen this market before.
• We’ve made this presentation before.

And those patterns are incredibly valuable because they allow us to recognize situations and respond quickly. Until the pattern changes. Then the question becomes: Will we notice?

Researcher Erik Dane calls another version of this phenomenon cognitive entrenchment. As we develop expertise, the mental frameworks that help us become successful can become so deeply established that they reduce our flexibility in problem-solving, adaptation and generating new ideas. In other words, experience can become a filter. We don’t necessarily see what’s possible. Sometimes, we see what we’ve seen before. That’s particularly dangerous right now. Our customers are changing. Their customers are changing. Technology is changing. Media consumption is changing.

Artificial intelligence is changing how people discover businesses, research products, compare alternatives and make decisions. Yet, it’s incredibly tempting to look at all this change and filter it through what we already know.

“We’ve seen this before.” Maybe. But what if we haven’t? That’s where curiosity becomes the perfect partner to experience. Experience says: “I’ve seen this before.” Curiosity asks: “What’s different this time?” Experience says: “I know what works.” Curiosity asks: “Is it still working?” Experience says: “I know my customers.” Curiosity asks: “How have my customers changed?”

The goal isn’t to become less experienced. It’s to become experienced enough to question your experience. Here’s your "Think Different" challenge this week.

Find something in your sales process that you believe you already know.

• How to prospect.
• How to get appointments.
• What questions to ask.
• What advertisers want.
• How customers buy.
• What makes a good proposal.

Then ask yourself this: What if I’m wrong? Not because everything you’ve learned is wrong. Quite the opposite. Your experience is one of your greatest competitive advantages. Just don’t let everything you’ve learned become the reason you stop learning.

Because sometimes the biggest obstacle to seeing the better solution isn’t what you don’t know. It’s the solution you’ve already found.

Think Big. Make Big Things Happen.

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@RAB.com. You can also connect with him on X, YouTube, and LinkedIn.