Don’t mince words, the sales profession is a very stressful job and working as a sales rep can be extremely difficult.
Having to stay up late to talk to prospects in different time zones or having to schedule countless cold calls and virtual or in-person meetings.
Some sales reps even have to travel across countries to attend sales activity fairs and conferences, and sometimes they are still subjected to rejection despite all of this constant stress.
Now stress is always bad for business and stressing salespeople is even worse. Sales professionals are responsible for the turnover and how much revenue a company makes in a given time.
If you have a stressed sales team, you almost automatically lower-performing reps and that could ruin your sales performance, undermine your sales results and stop your sales teams from reaching the revenue targets.
Sales can be an intense task that can lead to some rejection. This may cause frustration and a lack of motivation to push through. There are plenty of opportunities available in sales to handle sales stress in a positive fashion.
Education and sales training also gives sales motivation through team-building activities and motivating workshop formats.
This encourages knowledge sharing and discussion in teams that could potentially keep the sales team motivated and boost sales success.
The right work-life balance in the workplace is key: self-care can improve your sales process, reduce sales pressure, boost sales success and improve the mental health of the sales managers. There are no simple methods for removing stress from a sales person’s work.
What Is Sales Pressure?
Sales pressure can be described as the physical and psychological force applied on many sales professionals to do and achieve more. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but when the pressure gets too much on the sale professional, it could easily become stress in sales.
When they do not meet their sales goals, the salesperson’s self-worth may be negatively affected and this can lead to even more unnecessary stress.
The sales director can use some of the methods described below to alleviate pressure and reduce their sales stress. Taking the time to relax and recharge or taking a few days off work to get ready and feel refreshed is a great idea for sales stress management.
Sales Stress Management 101: For Sales Professionals and Sales Managers
Sales, being a high pressure job, can make the office quickly become high-stress environment for the sales professional and can increase sales anxiety.
These steps can help make salespeople’s lives easier and help them in managing stress optimally;
1. Never be afraid to ask for help
Support is beneficial to every professional working in sales, regardless of their title or experience level.
You should speak up sooner rather than later if you are falling behind on work, are having trouble meeting a deadline, or are having trouble hitting your numbers.
This is one of the most essential communication skills needed in the workspace.
For instance, your sales manager should be notified as soon as you realize you’re not meeting the quota by the end of the month.
When you speak up when there is enough time to mitigate the issue, your manager or mentor will have time and space to work with you and find a solution with you.
It won’t only relieve your stress, but it will also give you time and space to mitigate the issue. Instead of falling behind without speaking up all month, this is a more proactive approach.
2. Take one task at a time
Despite the fact that salespeople reported that they aren’t very good multitaskers, they continue to do so throughout their day. Approximately $450 million is lost in productivity each year due to multitasking, according to Bryan College.
Most salespeople, including higher performing reps, cannot effectively manage more than one task at a time.
Increasing productivity losses could put increased pressure on sales teams to close that gap when companies are experiencing steep productivity losses.
Multitasking may negatively affect cognitive ability and intelligence on an individual basis. Task-switching over a prolonged period can cause the tasks you normally perform to feel more difficult in the future, which does nothing to mitigate overwhelm.
A single task can help improve efficiency, and quality of work, which is good for your bottom line.
3. Set Realistic Sales Goals
Working in sales means working to achieve many targets and sales goals. It’s no secret that salespeople are ambitious. Having ambitious goals can be admirable, but they can also lead to burnout if they are unrealistic.
A realistic sales goal will motivate sales representatives and managers, and clear communication of what everyone is responsible for will keep them motivated.
Ultimately, sales goals should increase your team’s success, not make it impossible for you to achieve them.
4. Devote time to leisure
Salespeople spend a whole lot of time cold calling or having meetings with prospects. This is not so great for facilitating motivation in the world’s second most stressful job.
A sales manager can handle sales pressure by devoting time to play harder. Even a quick walk around the office can help reduce stress, alleviate busy work and make all the difference to the sales job.
5. Company’s support
Hosting morale-boosting workshops can go a long way to help and ensure salespeople stay motivated. Companies can also pay employees some sales incentives as a reward for their sales hustle.
Companies should devote more resources to staff by offering well-being services and emotional management to improve optimal productivity.
Many companies do this job effectively by offering sales incentive trips to their sales reps.
They help create less pressure and brew positive energy in the office.
6. Focus on self-care
You might be tempted to scoff at Instagram’s depiction of self-care, but let me explain. The concept of self-care goes far beyond face masks and bubble baths (though those are also great).
It can be hard to be present and engaged at work if you don’t take care of yourself physically, emotionally, and socially – especially if you work remotely and the line between work and home is constantly blurred.
Consider spending a few minutes each day finding ways to feel more present and aligned (even if it is just a few minutes).
Some things that can help include:
- Meditation
- Exercise
- Staying hydrated
- Repeating affirmations
- Eating foods that help you feel more energized
- Getting enough rest
- Engaging with relevant content online
- Joining meaningful discussions
7. Don’t be scared of rejections
Every salesman should bear in mind that not every prospect is going to convert.
The sooner you expect and prepare for rejections, the better you and more effectively you can prevent sales stress in your life.
If you are a sales rep and you are predicting that all sales-qualified leads will come to your site, or respond favorably to your calls, you will be disappointed with that.
Generally speaking, sales processes are different across different companies and a lot of people know that. So while a company may fill out a request for an order the next day, others will only collect information to make a purchase later.
One sales rejection will not affect your company’s revenue.
8. Use the right tools
Automating your sales process can go a long way in helping you reduce stress.
The key factor to reducing stress is reduced pressure on people. This resource could be software that eases crowded work schedules.
Automation tools can also help reduce time wasted and increase the quality of work by making them more engaging. Sales professionals spend less time researching information when using sales intelligence tools.
9. Engage prospective and existing customers in balanced conversations
Reps who work hard to make quota may find persistent rejection challenging.
The rejection that comes with the job can be discouraging, however, if it occurs constantly. To maintain your working relationships with your current customers, it’s important to stay in touch.
It is 40% more likely that your existing customers will buy from you than a new prospect. Constantly pursuing new customers can result in you losing money and putting in too much effort, leading to burnout.
Maintaining a balance between new and returning customers is essential for reaching your goals.
10. Using Stress To Your Advantage
Stress helps motivate salespeople to do business by encouraging commissions, incentive trips, and internal competitions.
Stress management relates to emotions and is fundamentally important to any organization’s functioning.
The more a person is able to recognize, understand and control emotions, the more they control their time, energy and focus.
11. Improve your sales enablement strategy
What improvements have your organization made to its sales enablement strategy since the last time it did so? If you can’t remember, now is a good time to dial it in.
Revenue targets can be achieved or exceeded by teams that receive dedicated sales enablement support. It’s easier for reps to devote their time and energy to selling when they are supported by sales enablement.
You can ease the workload of your reps by investing in a suite of powerful sales enablement tools, even if you do not have the resources to support dedicated sales enablement staff.
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Conclusion
In an unprecedented situation, everything goes wrong in sales. Everyone is now working hard to make up for the lost time.
Increasing numbers of sales managers are reportedly experiencing stress.
There is nothing more straining than sales stress because the sales world doesn’t offer the same relaxation opportunities as other departments.
Sales is not just an ordinary job role. Your customer wants all the innovation in products, better service, more affordable prices and much more and it is the duty of a salesperson to learn about these wants and ensure they are met.
78% claim the salespeople they work with lack ‘additional experience’ in their industry, despite having an excellent reputation.
Stress management primarily consists of emotion management. If you can recognize and handle emotions better, you can control time, energy, and improve your concentration.
Once you focus on the right things, your stress level will decrease.
The sales process can be hectic. Your daily activities include finding leads, meetings, making a proposal, and sending a follow-on email. You just have to do everything and work all the time.
In fact, one in two salespeople said friends and family told them they were ‘working too much’ compared to two-thirds of those who worked at other departments within the same company.
Frequently Asked Questions About Sales Stress Management
Is sales a stressful job?
The job of a salesman is very difficult. Thrive Global, a research agency found that sales reps were almost 60% at risk of burnout.
Why is sales so exhausting?
Sales have high and low. Has your work life been a struggle for you? Sales are among the most stressful jobs you can get.
Extra work hours, rejects and quotas are hard at work for those with limited motivation to work.
Can sales make you depressed?
Many salespeople suffer from depression. However, discussing this issue can be seen as a weakness, especially when the salesperson isn’t a high-performing one.