The best-known reflex is the least applied
This month's field note: why the whole team makes the same mistake in meetings, for two opposite reasons depending on experience.
Every sales manager and director knows it: you have to uncover the real problem and reframe it before you pitch. Yet the Marvin data and the coaching our b-flower consultants run show the opposite pattern. In real conditions, the rep pitches the solution before getting the problem validated.
And a pattern emerges, one our consultants see in the field and in Marvin sessions alike: the whole team fails at the same point, but for two opposite reasons depending on experience.
A. Among experienced reps: the curse of expertise
Once a move is mastered, the brain automates it and handles it outside conscious awareness. The better a rep knows the offer, the faster the solution comes on its own, and the more effort it takes to rebuild the customer's problem. Expertise produces the opposite of the right move. It's no accident that the largest study ever run on selling, 35,000 meetings, ranks pitching the solution too soon among the most common mistakes.
B. Among more junior reps: the illusion of progress
Pitching feels reassuring and gives a sense of moving forward. Reframing, questioning, leaving a silence feel like wasting time and losing control. Under pressure, the brain picks what reassures the rep, not what converts the customer.
You don't fix this with theory
Direct consequence: you don't fix this reflex by re-explaining the theory, they already know it. You fix it through repetition, until the right move becomes the automatic one. And the lever differs by profile: de-automate for seniors, reassure for juniors.
To go further on what this uncorrected reflex costs, read The hidden cost of a team that doesn't practice. And to understand why standard analytics tools miss these field signals, the piece on field conversation analytics fills in the picture.
The tip
Before every pitch, set the team one rule. Restate the customer's problem in a single sentence and get an explicit yes, before saying the word "solution". One criterion, measurable in every conversation, and trainable through practice.
Frequently asked questions
Why do experienced reps pitch their solution too soon?
It's the curse of expertise: the better a rep knows the offer, the more automatically the solution comes, with no conscious effort. The reflex takes over from the right move, even for those who know the rule perfectly.
Why do junior reps make the same mistake, but for a different reason?
For them, pitching reassures and gives a sense of progress. Reframing and questioning feel like wasting time and losing control. Under pressure, the brain picks what reassures the rep, not what converts the customer.
How do you correct this reflex without repeating the theory?
Through repetition, until the right move becomes the automatic one. For seniors: de-automate. For juniors: reassure. In both cases, set one rule before every pitch: restate the customer's problem in a single sentence and get an explicit yes before saying the word solution.
How do you measure whether a rep reframes correctly in a meeting?
That's exactly what Marvin analyzes: the quality of discovery, the talk-to-listen ratio, the moments where the rep flips into pitch mode without validating the problem. These signals stay invisible without analysis of the real meeting.
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