When the Goal Changes, the Plan Has To Change
Discover what a cranky shoulder can reveal about a broken sales process.
The TL;DR (Executive Summary)
When something changes physically, the workout goal may need to change with it. The goal might shift from lifting heavier or pushing harder to moving better, protecting the joint, restoring function, or avoiding compensation patterns.
Sales processes work the same way. If the underlying motion is broken, adding more activity can make the problem worse instead of better.
More reps do not fix bad form… true in both the gym and for sales-related activities.
Before you add volume, speed, tools, or pressure, you need to ask a better question: What are we actually trying to improve?
LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and AI can absolutely help sales teams improve their motion. But only if they are used to create better thinking, better timing, better relevance, and better conversations. Not just more movement.
The Workout Goal Is Not Always The Goal
Right now, my right shoulder is reminding me of something I would rather not be reminded of: The workout I want to do and the one I can and should do are not always the same.
That is annoying because I like progress, effort, and especially The Burn™. I like being able to look at a workout and know I did all of the things. More weight, reps, volume, and especially intensity.
I’m the type of person who needs proof that I showed up and didn't just wander around the gym pretending to stretch.
But when something is not right physically, the goal changes, whether we like it or not. And it has to change, too.
A shoulder issue does not care what you had planned. It does not care what you lifted last month or what the person in the next lane over to you is doing. It does not care what the whiteboard says, what the app says, or (especially) what your ego says.
It just gives you feedback. Sometimes that feedback is pretty clear: this is not the day to prove how strong you are. This is the day to figure out how to move without making things worse.
A very different goal, amirite?
It does not mean stop training, stop improving, or wrapping yourself in bubble wrap and dramatically announcing your retirement from all physical activity… even though you may want to.
It means you need to know what you are actually training:
Are you building strength?
Are you restoring range of motion?
Are you protecting the joint?
Are you maintaining conditioning while something heals?
Are you avoiding compensation patterns?
Are you testing capacity?
Are you just trying to prove to yourself that you can still do what you used to do?
Those are very different mindsets. And if you confuse them, you can create a bigger problem.
The same goes for sales processes. In fact, I’m betting that you’re already seeing a lot of items from that bullet list that can be directly equated to sales processes.
Pain Is Feedback, Not A Character Flaw
This is where a lot of us get stupid… and I say “us” very intentionally.
When something hurts, there is a temptation to treat that pain like a personal insult. We think we should push through it. Ignore it; modify nothing. Keep the plan exactly the same and hope the body gets the memo.
Sometimes, quite frankly, that works. A lot of times, though, it does not. As my ortho doc always says to me, “don’t be a dumbass in the gym.” (Yes, we have a very good relationship.)
Pain can be feedback. It can be a signal that something in the movement, load, range, speed, angle, or overall plan needs to change. That does not mean every ache is a disaster. It does not mean every uncomfortable moment requires panic. And please, for the love of all things reasonable, do not take medical advice from a Substack article written by a sales guy with a continuing cranky shoulder from a bad fall on the ice.
But the broader lesson here still holds. When the feedback changes, the plan may need to change.
That’s not weakness. Look at it being intelligent. Sometimes a smart workout is more about keeping you moving forward without digging a deeper hole, or training the right thing instead of the obvious thing. Sometimes it is the one that looks unimpressive from the outside… but is exactly what the body needs.
That can be frustrating because it does not always give us the same emotional payoff. Sometimes progress is cleaner movements for less pain, better control, and more stability. You’re more aware of what you’re doing and not compensating during a movement for the sake of completing said movement.
Most importantly, smart workouts give you the ability to come back tomorrow and train again. That is still progress.
It just may not look as cool on Instagram.
Sales Teams Do This Too
This is where the sales analogy practically writes itself.
Many sales teams have a “shoulder” problem. Not literally, of course… although given how many of us spend our days hunched over laptops and phones, maybe this isn’t entirely off the table.
What I mean is this: when something in the sales motion isn't working, salespeople or management don’t change the goals or examine the motions. Instead, the team just adds more weight, calls, emails, LinkedIn messages (the wrong kind of messages, but that’s another article entirely), follow-ups (again, done incorrectly), and so on. All of this is done with the assumption that more movement will fix the problem.
But if the movement is bad, more movement usually only makes the problem worse. Just ask my shoulder about that.
If your message is irrelevant, sending it to more people does not make it better. If your team is connecting and pitching, doing that at a higher volume does not make it more strategic. If your follow-up feels like pressure, it is pressure, and adding three more touches will not create trust. If your reps do not know how to use LinkedIn well, telling them to just “be more active on LinkedIn” without a strategy is not a strategy.
It is just adding load to bad form. And bad form under load is where people get injured.
In sales, that injury usually looks like burned trust, damaged reputation, lower response rates, weaker conversations, more buyer resistance, and teams wondering why the activity numbers look good while the pipeline is withering.
That is the sales version of pushing through shoulder pain while bench pressing because your workout plan says to do those damn bench presses.
More Reps* Do Not Fix Bad Form
(*Not “sales reps” here… more like lifting a weight, doing a push-up, or performing a squat as part of a set of exercises.)
This is one of those truths that works almost everywhere. If your movement pattern is off, repeating it 500 more times does not make it better. It makes it more automatic. Or worse, the body compensates for the bad form by cheating during a movement, which makes that wrong pattern feel normal. (I could write a whole section on just compensation; for now, let’s just assume that compensation is bad. Very bad.)
Bad form also happens in sales.
If a salesperson is writing seller-centered messages, more messages do not solve the issue. Asking for time before earning attention? More attempts do not make that approach more respectful. And when a salesperson uses LinkedIn to pitch instead of to learn, engage, and start better conversations, more activity just spreads the problem around.
This is where sales leaders need to be careful with activity metrics. Let’s face it, activity does matter. You have to do the work. But “do more” is not always the right diagnosis. Sometimes the team does not need more activity first. Sometimes the team needs better movement:
Better targeting.
Better relevance.
Better preparation.
Better profile alignment.
Better comments.
Better follow-up.
Better understanding of buyer signals.
Better use of Sales Navigator.
Better AI prompts that help them think before they write.
More activity can help when the motion is healthy. But when the motion is broken, more activity can just exacerbate the dysfunction, which hurts sales efforts all the more.
Just like in exercise, that is not a productivity problem in sales… that is a process problem.
What Are You Actually Trying To Improve?
This is the question that matters.
In the gym, the answer might be strength, mobility, endurance, stability, recovery, power, conditioning, or pain-free movement. Each one requires a different plan that works in conjunction with the others. A workout designed to test your maximum strength is not the same as one designed to restore function after an injury, but the latter can help build toward the former.
The same thing is true in sales: What are you actually trying to improve? Are you trying to create more conversations, better conversations, or more qualified conversations? Better account intelligence? Stronger relationships with buying committee members? More referrals? Better follow-up? More relevant messaging? Better use of LinkedIn? Higher Sales Navigator adoption? More authentic use of AI?
Those are all very different goals. When sales teams treat them as the same, they create confusion.
For example, if the real goal is better conversations, then measuring only outbound volume may train the wrong behavior. If the real goal is Sales Navigator adoption, then simply giving people licenses and hoping for the best is not a plan.
If the real goal is more trust-based outreach, then using AI to generate more generic messages faster is not progress… that is just speed. And speed is only useful when you are moving in the right direction.
This is why goal clarity matters, not fluffy mission-statement clarity. I’m talking actual operating clarity.
What are we trying to fix? What behavior needs to change? What does good look like? What are we doing now that may be making the problem worse? What would healthier movement look like in the sales process?
Those questions are not always comfortable. But necessary they are (as Yoda might say).
Use Tools To Fix The Motion, Not Add More Weight
LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, and AI can absolutely help sales teams improve their sales motion. But only if they are used for the right job.
If the goal is simply “do more,” these tools can make a broken process worse, and at light speed. LinkedIn just becomes another place to pitch people, while Sales Navigator is only an expensive list-building machine. And AI becomes a way to produce more generic messages, just with better grammar (maybe).
That is not better movement… that is adding load to bad form.
Used correctly, though, these tools can help salespeople slow down, notice more, and create better reasons to reach out. LinkedIn gives you context. It shows what people are posting, commenting on, sharing, reacting to, and paying attention to. It gives you clues about what may matter to them.
Not buy buttons, though. Actual clues that can even be used in conversations with your prospects.
Sales Navigator takes that even further by helping you pay attention to the right people and accounts. Job changes, company growth, new decision-makers, lead alerts, account updates, and buying committee movement can all help a salesperson understand when a conversation might make sense.
Not because the CRM says it is Day 7, but because something relevant happened.
AI can support this too, but only when it helps the salesperson think before writing. The best use of AI is not “write me a follow-up message.” The better use is asking what you should understand before reaching out, what might be relevant to this person, what assumptions you may be making, and how to make the message useful without making it sound like every other AI-polished note in their inbox.
All of these are shifts in thinking, just like when you shift plans and goals.
These tools should not help salespeople repeat bad habits faster. They should help salespeople prepare better, understand buyers more clearly, communicate with more relevance, and show up like they actually thought about the person on the other side of the message.
The tools support the plan, not fix the movement. If there is no clear plan, no clear goal, and no clear standard for what “good” looks like, the tool just gives the bad form more weight.
Activity Is Not The Enemy
I want to be clear about something because this is where people sometimes hear what they want to hear.
Activity is not the enemy.
Effort, consistency, prospecting, follow-up. All of these things matter. Salespeople need to do the work. Sales teams do not improve by sitting around having philosophical debates about trust while nobody actually starts conversations.
The point is not to do less. The point is to make sure the work is training the right behavior.
That is the same thing with workouts. I am not using a shoulder issue as an excuse to avoid movement. The goal is to find the right movement for the current reality. Sometimes that means modifying. Sometimes it means lowering the weight. Sometimes it means changing the range. Sometimes it means training something adjacent. Sometimes it means doing the less exciting thing because the less exciting thing is what actually moves you forward.
(Or in my case, it means avoiding doing certain types of exercises entirely while letting physical therapy mend what needs to be fixed for now, and then adding those movements back in when I’m able.)
Sales processes need that same honesty.
If the old approach is creating resistance, modify it. If the team is getting ignored, study the message. If LinkedIn activity isn't sparking conversations, look at how people are showing up. If Sales Navigator is underused, look at behavior, not just licenses. If AI output sounds generic, improve the prompt, the context, and the standard for what “good” sounds like.
Do not just add more weight. Fix the movement.
Build The Sales Motion That Actually Builds You Better
When the goal changes, the plan has to change. Sounds obvious, right? Thing is, it’s one of the hardest things to accept in practice.
We like familiar plans. We like old goals. We like doing what used to work, especially when it made us feel successful, strong, productive, or in control.
But “familiar,” “old,” and “used to” are the enemies here. Your current reality gets a vote, and it’s a huge one at that.
A shoulder issue gets a vote, as does a changing buyer, a crowded inbox, a more skeptical prospect, or a market full of AI-generated slop.
Sales teams can ignore that feedback, but they cannot avoid the consequences.
What feedback shouldn’t be ignored? Buyers are not responding. LinkedIn activity is not turning into conversations. Sales Navigator licenses are not changing internal behavior. AI is creating messages faster but not better.
Never forget: feedback is not failure… it is information.
The best salespeople and the best sales teams do not just push harder when something hurts. They pay attention, adjust, and ask what the goal really is. They stop confusing movement with progress and instead train the motion that actually needs improvement.
So yes, keep moving. Keep training. Keep prospecting. Keep following up. Keep using the tools. Make sure, though, that your plan matches your goals.
Because if you keep adding weight to a broken motion, don’t be surprised when something starts to hurt.
And… don’t be a salesy weirdo. Earn those conversations.
NOTE: The hero image for this article is AI-generated (Gemini).
Most sales reps work hard on LinkedIn. But just like those workouts, many are unknowingly sabotaging their own results. Our FREE eBook, 21 LinkedIn Mistakes That Are Costing Sales Reps Opportunities (and How to Fix Them), reveals the most common pitfalls holding you back, from weak profiles to missed engagement opportunities, and gives you simple, actionable fixes to start winning more conversations and closing more deals
