Under Pressure

Imagine you're standing in the middle of the woods with your competitors. A digital seller from Google, a television rep and another radio rep from across the street. You're all complaining about the economy, the advertising competition and clients who are resistant to change and cutting back on the one thing that will help their businesses grow. Suddenly, you hear and see a big grizzly bear approaching. Everyone freezes and panics. You bend down and tighten your shoelaces. One of your competitors says, "You can't outrun the bear." You calmly reply, "I don't have to outrun the bear. I only have to outrun you."

We are all under pressure:

The constant pressure to meet goals

Dealing with rejection

The unpredictability of income (commission sales)

Client demands

Lack of control

Reductions in workforce and increased responsibilities

All these things and more can offset the joy of creating strategies to help local businesses grow, freedom and unlimited income potential. In our Leadership MasterClass, a new trend has emerged this year: Identifying soft skills to help employees deal with the mental and emotional stress of the job. The good news is that more and more leaders are becoming sensitive to stress and finding ways to help employees deal with it.

A recent article by Cognism identifies ten habits to help you deal with stress. We'll share our five favorites here, and you can go to the article for more if you'd like:

Focus on Healthy Habits - Managing sales stress involves prioritizing your physical and mental well-being — diet, exercise, etc.

Take Regular Breaks - B2B sales is a profession where it's easy to feel like you need to be "on" all the time. Constant working without breaks can backfire, leading to fatigue and decreased productivity.

Stay Organized - Disorganization is a significant source of stress in sales. You easily feel overwhelmed when your tasks, leads and to-dos are scattered.

Automate Tasks - Manually sending follow-up emails, scheduling meetings and inputting data into your CRM can quickly eat into your day. Automating as many repetitive tasks as possible will free up your time and reduce stress. Simply search for sales automation tools, and you'll find plenty, from AI to apps.

Break Large Projects into Manageable Tasks - Breaking your workload into smaller, manageable chunks can make it less intimidating and help you focus on one thing at a time. Multi-tasking is not productivity; it's a distraction. A career in sales can be high-pressure, but it doesn't have to be overwhelming. Implementing the strategies above can help you control your sales stress, improve your performance and ultimately enjoy your work more.

Sales can also be fun. As Ferris Bueller reminds us: "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Have fun this week!

Think Big! Make Big Things Happen!

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development. You can reach him at Jeff.Schmidt@rab.com. You can all so connect with him on X and LinkedIn.