12 Ways to Keep Sales Stress from Taking Over Your Life
Salespeople are notoriously stressed out. And it‘s no wonder why. Reps face constant pressure to hit ever-increasing quotas, deliver unpredictable commission-based incomes, and deal with unrelenting rejection day in and day out. It‘s enough to make anyone crack.
In fact, sales is consistently ranked as one of the top 5 most stressful jobs according to CareerCast‘s annual survey. And a 2022 HubSpot study found that only 17% of salespeople rate their job stress as low, while 44% say it‘s high or extremely high.
All this stress takes a massive toll. Deloitte research shows that 38% of workers feel their job is stressful because of unrealistic expectations and deadlines. And according to the American Institute of Stress, 83% of US workers experience stress on the job, with 25% citing their job as the number one stressor in their lives.
Left unchecked, chronic stress can lead to debilitating burnout that decimates rep performance and morale, while costing companies billions in turnover expenses. But it doesn‘t have to be this way. With the right strategies and support, it‘s possible to not just manage sales stress but channel it into positive motivation and results.
As an online sales & marketing expert who‘s helped thousands of salespeople and sales orgs become more productive and resilient, I‘m excited to share my top tips for keeping sales stress in check. While you may not be able to eliminate stressors altogether, you can absolutely take steps to protect your well-being and performance. Let‘s dive in!
Tips for Reps: How to Manage Your Own Sales Stress
1. Ask for help early and often
When you feel overwhelmed or behind on your numbers, it‘s tempting to put your head down and power through alone. But that‘s a surefire recipe for spiraling into anxiety and burnout. Instead, make a habit of proactively communicating your challenges and partnering with your manager to brainstorm solutions before things hit a crisis point.
Don‘t be afraid to utilize any employee assistance programs or mental health benefits your company offers as well. Many organizations now provide free counseling sessions, stress-relief apps, and other wellness perks you can tap into confidentially.
2. Take intentional time to fully disconnect
To avoid burnout, you need to fiercely protect your personal time. That means establishing a consistent end-of-day routine and sticking to it. Create a short checklist of tasks (logging sales activities, updating forecasts, etc.) you always complete before signing off for the evening.
The same goes for vacation. Craft a thorough out-of-office plan that details who will cover important tasks and relationships while you‘re away. Then set up an OOO reply reinforcing your boundaries and unplug completely. Remember: taking real breaks isn‘t slacking off, it‘s critical for staying sharp and productive over the long-term.
3. Practice mindfulness throughout the day
Mindfulness and stress are like oil and water – they don‘t mix. By taking just a few minutes periodically throughout the day to breathe deeply and center yourself, you can short-circuit the physiological stress response and approach your work with greater clarity and resilience.
Not sure how to get started? Try using a guided meditation app like Calm or Headspace which offer short exercises designed for the workplace. Block off 15 minutes on your calendar every morning and afternoon to make mindfulness a consistent habit. Over time, it will become an invaluable part of your destressing toolkit.
4. Focus on one high-priority task at a time
Multitasking is the enemy of productivity, especially for burned out sellers. To minimize context switching and stress, choose one high-priority sales task and give it your full focus for a dedicated block of time.
Turn off desktop notifications for email and instant messaging and put your cell phone on do not disturb while tackling activities that require deep work, like crafting proposals or developing account plans. Many reps find success with the Pomodoro Technique, working in focused 25 minute sprints broken up by 5 minute breaks.
5. Balance prospecting with nurturing existing accounts
When you‘re strapped for quota, it‘s easy to fall into the trap of neglecting your existing customers in favor of chasing new logos. But considering it costs 5X more to attract a new customer than retain an existing one, that‘s a costly mistake.
Make a point to dedicate at least a couple days each week solely to serving and expanding your current accounts – you‘ll be surprised how much low-hanging fruit you can find. For your most valuable customers, consider implementing quarterly success check-ins or even inviting them to join a customer advisory board to strengthen the relationship.
6. Get intimate with your sales data
Instead of just anxiously fixating on quota achievement, take the time to dig into all of your performance data and KPIs. Regularly review key metrics like lead response times, opportunity conversion rates, sales cycle length, and average deal size. See if you can spot any positive or negative patterns to replicate or course-correct.
With so much data to process, investing in an AI-powered sales analytics tool like People.ai or Gong can be a game changer for easily identifying actionable insights that move the needle. Work with your manager to translate data into 1-3 specific behavior changes you can practice each week to incrementally improve.
7. Set realistic goals and celebrate incremental wins
Staring down a massive annual quota is incredibly daunting and demotivating. Break down big targets into bite-sized goals you can realistically achieve and measure daily or weekly. Sit down with your manager to translate your quota into a monthly, weekly, and daily quota so you always know if you‘re on track.
Focus on setting activity goals within your direct control, not just revenue targets. For example, aim to make X number of calls or have Y meetings with target accounts each week. Celebrate these incremental process wins to keep yourself encouraged and motivated to continue.
8. Make self-care a non-negotiable priority
You can‘t fill up your customers‘ cups if your own is bone dry. Prioritize fundamental wellbeing practices like getting 7-9 hours of sleep per night, eating nutritious meals, exercising regularly, and maintaining social connections.
Put your self-care routines on your calendar like any other important meeting. Keep healthy snacks and a large water bottle at your desk to stay properly fueled throughout the day. By taking care of yourself like a high-performance machine, you‘ll be better equipped to bounce back from challenges and bring your A-game to customers.
9. Prepare to handle common objections with ease
Nothing deflates a seller‘s confidence and motivation like getting repeatedly stonewalled by the same customer objections. To build your resilience for rejection, keep a running list of the tough objections you encounter most often.
Devote focused time to crafting compelling responses, then practice delivering them until they feel natural. Role play with your peers or manager, or check out AI-powered sales coaching tools like Saleswhale that allow you to simulate sales conversations and get instant feedback. Consider recording yourself to identify filler words or other verbal tics to eliminate as well.
10. Lean into your peak productivity style
We all have different chronotypes that determine when we‘re most energetic and mentally sharp. For some that‘s bright and early, for others it‘s burning the midnight oil. Pay attention to when you‘re most productive and creative (and conversely, most prone to stress and distraction).
As much as possible, align your schedule and environment to leverage your natural motivational patterns. Tackle your most challenging, high-value activities during energy peaks and batch lower-effort tasks for lulls. Don‘t be afraid to advocate for flexible scheduling that empowers you to build your workday around your most effective style (whether that‘s knocking out prospecting first thing or blocking off Friday as a no-meeting day).
How Sales Leaders Can Reduce Stress Across the Organization
For sales leaders, preventing pervasive burnout requires taking a systematic approach to redesigning how you equip and support reps. Consider implementing these strategies to foster a low-stress, high-performance culture:
1. Upgrade your sales enablement stack
Today‘s sellers face a dizzying explosion of information and digital tools. Cut through the noise by investing in a robust sales enablement stack that does the heavy lifting of collecting insights and recommending next steps for reps.
For example, AI-powered tools can take on time-consuming tasks like matching leads to the right accounts, surfacing customer needs and competitor intel, and guiding sellers through each stage of the deal. Conversation intelligence can scale best practice sharing and targeted micro-coaching in the moment. Also consider building out a formalized mentorship program to pair experienced sellers with novice team members so they have a go-to support system.
2. Relentlessly optimize your sales process
When your sales process is clunky or full of holes, it makes your reps‘ lives much harder than they need to be. Audit your process from lead to renewal to uncover areas ripe for improvement. Which stages see the most customer attrition or stalled deals? What complaints do customers frequently raise? What low-value tasks bog reps down?
Advanced tools can help automate data entry and provide early warning signals for deals in danger of going off track. By monitoring real-time buyer sentiment and engagement data, AI can predict which opportunities are at risk and prescribe actions to get them back on the path to closed-won.
3. Encourage and enable true unplugging
If you‘re sending emails at all hours and working straight through your vacations, you‘re implicitly promoting an always-on culture that breeds burnout. As a leader, it‘s critical to model healthy boundaries and detachment from work (yes, even in our "always be closing" world!).
Some best practices to consider: implement email and Slack-free hours or days, prohibit contacting reps on their days off unless it‘s an emergency, provide a minimum number of mental health days separate from PTO, and offer reimbursement for stress-management activities like gym memberships or meditation app subscriptions. By making it clear that rest is not just allowed but encouraged, you give reps explicit permission to prioritize their own well-being.
4. Train managers to spot and support stressed reps
Your frontline sales managers are in the best position to identify sellers who may be struggling and intervene before things reach a breaking point. Equip managers with training on how to spot early warning signs of excess stress and have supportive check-in conversations.
For example, managers should know how to gently broach the subject if they notice a typically upbeat rep becoming withdrawn in meetings, missing deadlines, or delivering uncharacteristically poor results. Provide them with resources like mental health referrals and resilience-building exercises they can offer. Also consider mandating training on unconscious bias and inclusive management to ensure all reps feel psychologically safe asking for help.
5. Reevaluate your compensation strategy
Money is unsurprisingly one of the top stressors for salespeople whose paycheck depends on closing deals, often with lofty quotas attached. Take a hard look at how you currently compensate reps. Are your OTE and commission structures motivating or demoralizing? Do they match market rates? Are quotas realistically attainable?
To relieve financial pressure and incentivize long-term customer success, consider restructuring comp plans to include a higher base salary or backloading commission rates. You may also experiment with rolling quotas quarterly vs. annually or adding a team component so reps‘ entire livelihood isn‘t riding on their individual number.
Empowering Resilient, Fully-Charged Sellers
Make no mistake – sales is a demanding, fast-paced career not for the faint of heart. Stress will always be part of the job to some degree, but suffering doesn‘t have to be. With burnout levels reaching record highs and competition for talent fiercer than ever, sales organizations simply can‘t afford to ignore the mental and emotional well-being of their sellers anymore.
Taking a proactive, multi-pronged approach to stress management is quickly becoming table stakes for attracting, retaining and unleashing the full potential of your sales team. By giving reps proven practices to boost their own resilience and redesigning your processes to eliminate unnecessary friction, you can transform debilitating stress into energizing eustress.
Not only will you see metrics like productivity, win rates and quota attainment climb as a result – you‘ll be known as the kind of sales org people are inspired to join and grow with for the long-haul. In a world where sellers have infinite options, that‘s how you become an employer of choice.
