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This Is Killing You and Your Sales

Posted by Carole Mahoney on 5/12/21 3:32 PM

So, what is the one biggest hidden thing that is impacting your sales and possibly killing you?

It's stress.

And this time of year is the perfect time of year to get more stress between the holidays, the news, the election, the pandemic, year-end of your numbers.

Now, I don't know about you but that's enough to make me want to go running into the woods. The fact is that emotional, stress is a major contributor to the 6th leading causes of death in the United States, including cancer heart disease, breathing problems, liver problems, accidents, and suicide.

And if that weren't bad enough, emotional stress also causes what we call in sales, “emotional involvement”. And nearly 63% of sellers worldwide suffer from emotional involvement in sales, according to data collected, from over two million sales professionals worldwide.

Now, as sellers, when we get emotionally involved in sales, it causes us to start losing our objectivity and it prevents us from actively listening. This happens because we get inside our own heads, we start thinking about the next question to ask or strategizing or getting creative.

When we lose Objectivity, we're not present in the moment.

Our buyers sense that and it makes it hard for them to open up and trust us because we're making it all about us and not all about them. Now, as managers when we get emotionally involved in sales, it makes it really difficult for us to coach our teams because like our sellers, we tend to get happy ears around unrealistic deals.

And when reps are facing objections, instead of coaching them through it, we tend to tell them what to do. Not only that, but this is also where the default to discounting tends to happen.

Because we, as managers, find that in an easy way to try and get past some of these obstacles. Oh, and not only that, when we suffer from emotional involvement, our team is ten percent more likely to also struggle with the same things. As goes the manager so goes, the team.

When we set unrealistic expectations, we don't provide the training, coaching, systems, and support to help our sellers and managers to reach those goals. We're creating more stress.

And when that happens, we're creating the very thing that's going to hinder our team from doing the thing that we want them to do. Forecasts will be off, and your margins are going to get smaller and smaller and smaller.

Stressed out yet? Well, stress less…

Because here are three ways backed by Behavioral Science that you can do as an entrepreneur, a seller, a manager, and a leader to reduce the impact of emotional stress in your sales conversations. Okay?


First, we have to stop saying yes to everything.

Because if we say yes to everyone, we're not going to be able to help anyone --including ourselves. We only have so many hours in the day to accomplish the things that are going to move us towards our goals and help those that we can actually help. So instead, we have to start learning how to say “when”. This makes it easier for you to do that is to start prioritizing your time.

It might be as simple as making a list of everything that you think you need to do this week and then going through and seeing “where can I delegate?”. And “what is the priority that's going to get me to my goals?”. Then once you've identified those priorities, block the time in your calendar to make sure that those things get done.

Done. And it doesn't get scheduled over or taken up with other times. Then when someone asks you for something or asks you to do something. Not only can you then determine, “does this align with the goals that I need to accomplish this week or long-term?”. But also, “do I even have the time to be able to commit to it?”. This makes it easier for you to know if you need to say “yes” or if can you say “no”.

Second stop, grinding, it out…

Trying to force yourself at your desk is more likely to overwhelm you and burn you out. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you're hitting a wall, take a step back, take a 10-minute walk outside, and get some fresh perspective.

And finally…

My last advice to you is to stop looking at what everybody else is doing on social media. You see, we start getting into these comparison games in our heads, very easily “I should be this”, “I should have been doing that”, “That should have been me”.

Your journey towards your goals is unique. And remember, no one ever won a race by looking sideways or apparently walked in a straight line either.

Another thing that I find that is really helpful is to find ways to laugh it off. And if you're having a hard time laughing it off or even laughing at yourself, then grab a snippet of a stand-up comedian or something that's going to make you at least smile.

So, what are some of your healthy ways to blow off steam until next time?


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Topics: sales performance, sales mindsets, overwhelm, stress