Why Salespeople Fear Pitching Radical Innovation

When selling radical innovations, salespeople often worry that they’ll appear incompetent, which undermines their confidence and stalls sales pipelines. New products’ complexity can get in the way of knowledge transfer via traditional training approaches. Companies should instead reframe the salesperson’s role from expert to orchestrator, provide consultation support through expert tandems and fast-response channels, and foster a culture that values curiosity and collaboration over perfection.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
MIT Sloan Management Review
Published
2026-02-12
DOI
https://doi.org/10.63383/gcvo5996
Primary Topic
Business Strategies and Innovation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Why Salespeople Fear Pitching Radical Innovation

Johannes Habel, Bianca Schmitz, Olaf Plötner
MIT Sloan Management Review
Business Strategies and Innovation
article

Why Salespeople Fear Pitching Radical Innovation

Johannes Habel, Bianca Schmitz, Olaf Plötner
article en

Abstract

When selling radical innovations, salespeople often worry that they’ll appear incompetent, which undermines their confidence and stalls sales pipelines. New products’ complexity can get in the way of knowledge transfer via traditional training approaches. Companies should instead reframe the salesperson’s role from expert to orchestrator, provide consultation support through expert tandems and fast-response channels, and foster a culture that values curiosity and collaboration over perfection.

MIT Sloan Management Review
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 60%
Business Strategies and Innovation
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Why Salespeople Fear Pitching Radical Innovation — Johannes Habel, Bianca Schmitz, et al. · MIT Sloan Management Review (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS