Excelsior Learning

Transform Discovery Through Break-It Thinking, Strategic Tools, and Movement

Discovery is the heartbeat of a successful sales campaign. Yet most sales teams lack a disciplined and repeatable method for uncovering what truly matters to a client/prospect—their real goals, priorities, interests, constraints, and unspoken challenges.

Without that structure, discovery defaults to a polite Q&A that ends with:

“Thanks, this was helpful—but we’re all set for now.”

That outcome isn’t a failure of effort. It’s a failure of thinking differently.

At Excelsior Learning, we teach that great discovery doesn’t come from asking more questions—it comes from breaking habitual thinking and perceiving patterns using intentional creative thinking tools and physical movement. We call this approach Break-It Thinking™.

Leverage Creative Problem Solving to Strengthen Discovery

High-impact discovery is not about collecting answers. It’s about acting as a catalyst for new insight—for both the seller and the client/prospect.

Break-It Thinking™ applies a deliberate Diverge → Converge process:

• Diverge to expand thinking, challenge assumptions, and generate novel perspectives.
• Converge to focus those ideas into valuable and feasible action.  Without divergence, discovery is ordinary and doesn’t generate value.  Without convergence, insight never becomes feasible and turns into action.

 

To make this capability disciplined and repeatable, we anchor the practice through a 28-day habit-building challenge that combines cognitive tools with physical movement. This creates the ideal conditions for fresh thinking—and makes compelling discovery a reliable and repeatable skill, not a lucky moment.

The Formula

This isn’t theory. It’s a disciplined, trainable, repeatable method.

The Three Phases of Break-It Thinking™

These phases are iterative and fluid, allowing sellers to navigate complex conversations with confidence and agility.

1. Define the Challenge: Fight the Right Foe

This phase is about problem finding and framing, not problem solving.

Sellers clarify goals, wishes, and priorities while deliberately challenging status-quo assumptions. The result is a sharply well-defined challenge—the one that actually deserves attention—rather than a list of surface symptoms.

2. Diverge to Generate Novel Ideas: Storm the Brains

Here’s where discovery becomes differentiated.

Using divergent thinking tools such as Excursions, Assumption Reversal, and SCAMPER, sellers move beyond obvious questions into hypothesis-driven dialogue. Discovery shifts from “Tell me more” to “What if this is also true?”

This is where clients/prospects experience the aha moments they remember—and value.

3. Converge and Implement: Ignite Your Engines

Promising insights are refined into clear, relevant value. Discovery becomes a collaborative bridge to commitment, not a hurdle to clear before pitching.

Excursions: Borrow Novel Ideas From Other Disciplines

Excursions are one of the most powerful divergent tools in Break-It Thinking™.

By intentionally stepping outside the sales context, you borrow ideas from other professions, contexts, and applications – and force-connect elements of them to your client/prospect’s challenge—unlocking insights that wouldn’t emerge through questioning alone.

Swiss engineer George de Mestral did this when he studied burrs clinging to his clothes and applied that mechanism to invent Velcro. In sales discovery, Excursions work the same way.

Excursions to Try in Discovery:

• The Diagnostic Physician: Doctors don’t treat the first symptom they see—they rule things out until they find the root cause. Look past the first problem you hear. Keep digging to uncover what’s actually driving the issue before jumping to solutions.
• The Cross-Examining Attorney: Attorneys test stories for accuracy by challenging assumptions and looking for inconsistencies. Don’t just ask questions during discovery—challenge assumptions and test your and your client/prospect’s thinking.
• The Investigative Journalist: Journalists go beyond official statements to uncover what’s really happening behind the scenes. Go beyond the initial answer to dig into the real story. Explore what’s influencing decisions internally and what truly matters.

Excursions transform discovery from information gathering into insight creation—helping clients/prospects see what they couldn’t see before. (Click HERE to learn about other Excursions to try!)

The Power of Movement: The Workout

Thinking differently requires more than sitting still.

Research consistently shows that walking/biking, light exercise, and environmental change reduce stuck thinking and perceiving patterns and increase the flow of ideas. Movement literally opens new neural pathways.

That’s why Break-It Thinking™ integrates physical movement into the learning process. We don’t just teach the tools—we activate them. 

Anchor the Habit: 28 Days to Make It Stick

When these divergent and convergent thinking tools are practiced daily for 28 days, paired with movement, they become automatic.

• Sellers stop defaulting to scripts.
• Discovery becomes sharper, faster, and more collaborative.
• Creative thinking turns into a habit—not a once-in-a-while exercise.

That’s how discovery becomes repeatable and sustainable.

What Makes Dan Coleman’s Training Different

Dan’s work is distinct because it produces effective, repeatable ways of breaking thinking and perceiving patterns to open up new possibilities. 

• Improved Thinking: Exceptional discovery is the result of better thinking—not better scripts.
• Tools That Break Routine Thinking: Break-It Thinking™ and divergent thinking tools like Excursions create a structured way to surface new insights that competitors miss.
• Insight Through Hypothesis Testing: Discovery evolves from data gathering into testing what may also be true, positioning you as a strategic partner—not “just a sales rep.”
• Physical Integration: Movement accelerates insight and helps to anchor habits, making value-based discovery stick.

Together, these elements transform surface discovery from a sales phase into a deeper, disciplined, value-creating practice that clients/prospects experience – and find valuable immediately.

Take Action: Next Steps

• Take an Excursion
  This week, borrow ideas and options from another profession, context, or application, break your thinking and perceiving patterns, and force-connect them to generate new ideas to advance your priority sales campaign.
• Connect with Dan Coleman
  Click HERE to schedule a conversation with Dan to learn how Break-It Thinking™ can revitalize your discovery process.
• Get Creativity Fit™
  Explore the Break-It Thinking™ and Value Selling programs at Excelsior Learning.

Don’t start 2026 with the same old scripts.

Kick off the year with sharper thinking, stronger discovery, and a disciplined and repeatable process that delivers superior results—sales campaign after sales campaign.

TO SCHEDULE A CALL WITH DAN: