Sales Stress
Coping Mechanisms Help Us to Deal with Stressful Situations
“I never needed anybody's help in any way
But now these days are gone, I'm not so self-assured
Now I find I've changed my mind and opened up the doors.”
from Help by the Beatles
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension. It can come from any event or thought that makes you feel frustrated, angry, or nervous. Stress is your body's reaction to that challenge or demand. It causes chemical changes in the body that can raise blood pressure, heart rate, and blood sugar levels.
There are two main types of stress:
· Acute stress. This is short-term stress that goes away quickly. You feel it when you slam on the brakes, have a fight with your partner, or ski down a steep slope. It helps you manage dangerous situations. It also occurs when you do something new or exciting. All people have acute stress at one time or another.
· Chronic stress. This is a stress that lasts for a longer period of time. You may have chronic stress if you have money problems, an unhappy marriage, or trouble at work. Any type of stress that goes on for weeks or months is chronic stress. You can become so used to chronic stress that you don't realize it is a problem, leading to serious health issues.
Working in sales can be incredibly stressful. US News lists the sales manager among the most stressful jobs one can have, and a survey by Thrive Global found 67% of reps are close to reaching burnout. In another survey by online career database PayScale, the sales account manager was ranked as the second most stressful job, with 73 percent of respondents rating the role as "highly stressful."
Stress can be both helpful and hurtful. While the right type of pressure can build competition and motivation, the wrong kind can be paralyzing and stressful. This is sometimes a very thin line.
As stress is the body’s reaction to a challenge, one person may experience a situation as stressful, while another does not. Part of that difference lies in the lifestyle: medical professionals are consistent in recommending exercise, healthy nutrition, and reducing the intake of alcohol and caffeine.
The other difference comes with the coping mechanisms - or stress management techniques - that we can apply when faced with a potentially stress-creating challenge. This assumes that we are not able to change the challenge - in sales, a deadline, a quota, a rejection, commission-based compensation, or an economic downturn are things generally beyond our influence. But we are able to change how we deal with the challenge.
Let’s cover some ways salespeople and their leaders can relieve stress and handle the pressure that comes with working in sales:
Priority Management:
Organize your daily to-dos and prioritize urgent or time-sensitive tasks. Once those are completed, put a visible or audible checkmark on the accomplishment (Personally, I like to scratch a task off my list.)
Talking:
Sharing feelings and concerns with family, friends, and work colleagues may help a person “let off steam” and reduce feelings of isolation. Other people may be able to suggest unexpected, workable solutions. Misery shared is misery halved.
Breathing and relaxation:
This may not be most intuitive in sales: Meditation, massage, and yoga can help. Breathing and relaxation techniques can slow down the heart rate and promote relaxation. Deep breathing is also a central part of mindfulness meditation.
Ask for help:
Regardless of your past experience, every working professional can benefit from receiving support. If you find yourself struggling to meet a deadline or are experiencing challenges hitting your numbers, speaking up sooner rather than later and asking your manager or colleagues for support is crucial. This is a more proactive approach than continuing to fall behind without speaking up.
Take time away from work:
Giving yourself intentional, dedicated time away from work to recharge is crucial to avoid chronic stress. That means during the time you’re working, you’re all-in and focused on work. And when you’re not working, you’re fully disconnected. Establishing a daily routine where you begin and end work at the same time.
Multitasking results in time wasted due to context switching, in tasks taking longer to complete, and becoming prone to errors due to insufficient attention; all of which causes stress. Focusing your attention on one task at a time can help improve efficiency and quality of work.
Improve your sales enablement strategy:
Sales teams who have dedicated sales enablement support are more likely to meet or exceed their revenue targets. When they have the sales enablement support they need, they're less likely to feel overwhelmed by redundant administrative tasks and can dedicate their time and energy to selling.
Talk to existing customers:
Continuous rejection can be challenging for reps working hard to make quota. While rejection is part of the job, being faced with constant rejection can become discouraging. That’s why it is important to stay in touch with your current customers to continue your working relationships with them. Your existing customers are 40% more likely to buy from you than a new prospect.
Set realistic goals:
There is really no reason ever to write a plan that sets a salesperson up for failure, and that can lead to burnout when stress is fueled by unrealistic goals. Ultimately, your sales goals should be a road map to success for you and your team, not an impossible hurdle to overcome.
Be prepared for objections:
Having a list of common objections and responses is invaluable. Continually collect new objections and share them among the team, together with the recommended (or prescribed) responses. Use role-play among your team to practice how to respond in the context of an actual conversation. It makes everyone more confident in their responses.
Despite all those coping mechanisms, a person can still be so anxious about the problem causing the stress that they do not notice the effects on their body. It is important to be mindful of any changes and seek professional help if all self-help does not do the trick.
Talk to us to find out how fractional or interim sales leaders work with their teams on stress management.
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Lestraundra Alfred – 12 Ways to Keep Sales Stress from Taking Over Your Life
Graham Charlton - Are ecommerce customer retention strategies improving?
US News - The Most Stressful Jobs in the US
Tiffani Bova - The State of Burnout in the Sales IndustryThe State of Burnout in the Sales Industry
Photo by Anne Gosewehr