"For the times, they are a-changin’!” So sang Bob Dylan years ago. Did you think he had Daylight Saving Time in mind when he penned his song? Unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii, the time is going to change on Sunday, when the rest of us spring forward. And why are we springing forward? It is to give us one more hour of daylight in the evening, which means one more hour of darkness in the morning. What does this mean? Come Monday, people will come to work in the dark and be grumpy because they had to get up an hour earlier!

Change is inevitable, but most people don’t like it. Why is that? In a Harvard Business Review a few years ago, Rosabeth Moss Kanter explained the ten reasons people resist change.

1. Loss of control

2. Excess uncertainty

3. They don’t like surprises

4. Too many differences can be distracting

5. If you were invested in the old system, you just lost credibility

6. Concerns about the competence to do the new thing well

7. Change means more work

8. Changes cause ripples that impact customers, vendors, industries, etc.

9. Past resentments from other changes that did not work well

10. Sometimes it causes real pain

Marketing can help you in a time of change. If you are going to get people to buy into change, your marketing needs to get out in front of it. First, announce what is happening, but do more than just tell them that change is coming. Explain the benefits of it. What are the FABs (Features, Advantages and Benefits)? Do your best to anticipate the objections and answer them. What is in it for them? Emphasize it. Second, make a big deal out of the change. Celebrate it! Build some excitement around the new thing as if it were the best thing. Enthusiasm sells well. Next, get some early adopters on your bandwagon. Incentivize them to bring some friends along to embrace the change. Finally, find out what people like and dislike about the change after they have tried it. Do your post-sales research. If you want people to fully take hold of the new thing, you have to be brave enough to ask what they think of it. Here’s a little marketing secret: no one likes it when their opinion is ignored. Even if you don’t agree with them, listen to them. It goes a long way to helping them buy in if they are heard.

Times, they are a-changin’, whether we like it or not. Let your marketing work for you to get people on board with the change – whether it is getting up an hour earlier on Monday or something bigger, marketing can help make the transition much smoother.

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Ten Reasons People Resist Change, by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Harvard Business Review, September 25, 2012