Burnout is something that many people just shrug off. They feel the exhaustion, but they keep pushing through even when they know they need to stop. And what happens then? Their bodies make them take a break. 

Learn more about the cost of burnout from Speaker & Self Care Expert, Jeanette Bronée, here!

Carole Mahoney:
I see this play out a lot in sales teams, with sales development reps, SDRs, who are new in their careers, sometimes just coming right out of college, there's a lot of pressure on them to succeed and perform. It's their first entry into the sales role.

What I see sometimes happen is that they will "grind it out" as they call it, where they'll just be on the phone one right after the other and they do these blitzes. Which is great because it gets the muscle memories working and things like that. But what sometimes happens is then it becomes how they do it all the time and not realizing that it's like, you're like a wheel spinning in the mud and you just need to take that small break to reset your mind. And maybe you don't have to make twice as many calls if you're having better calls because you've taken that moment, that break. And then it plays out into the rest of their sales career where you're not taking those small mental breaks to recalibrate, readjust, and refocus. And all of that then goes into that conversation.

So if there is a sales leader who's listening to this and they see this dynamic happening, what's the cost of burnout? What's the cost of this lack of productivity and efficiency? Because this really isn't a fluffy intrinsic trickle down kind of an effect. This actually does affect bottom lines! How do they figure that into it?

Jeanette Bronée:
Well there's a lot of ways it affects the bottom line. The immediate productivity is really hard to measure, but I think if we look at it from even just the place of logic. If we are not able to focus and solve a problem with an innovative mindset, it's because we're under survival mode, which means our cortisol is high, our adrenaline is running and we're just like, "Okay, I just got to get to the finish. I just got to get to the finish." We might actually miss what the one question would have been or the shift that was in the conversation that we didn't even hear, because we were just focused on getting through.

And one of the things that often happens when we're running on survival mode is that we don't, I call it power pausing. We don't take this power pause, this small pause and just goes, "Okay, let me just take a breath and check in right now. And like, what would be the best way to solve this problem right now?" Or the question could be, "Hey, what do I need right now so I can pay full attention?"

Or if it's a sales call, for example, I bet you have seen it many times. You have the rep down, you know what to say, you're actually not listening. And you're trying to sell the person rather than having a conversation with the person. And you might actually just missed the clue. And the person says, "You know what, thank you. Not for me." Because it wasn't a conversation. It was just a rant.

Carole Mahoney:
And this is the number one complaint that buyers have of sellers is that they don't listen. It's interesting because you would think that this was something that we would do innately, but it actually does take an effort. And then the other thing that we look at when we're working with sales leaders, to your point, they miss the questions that they should be asking. They know what to do. Why can't they seem to do it in that particular moment?

This is one of those big reasons why. And when we work with sales teams, we call it emotional involvement. Not being able to be present in the moment, because I've got to get to that finish line. I've got to get through this sales process. I've got to get to that decision maker and not being able to be clued in what their tone of voice is like, the pauses and letting them speak out. It all floats right over their heads.

And then when their managers are listening to their calls, they're like, why aren't you? Why aren't you? Why aren't you? And it's funny because this is the reason why.

To get them to slow down, actually helps them to speed up. We say that to sellers and they're like, "What are you talking about? That makes no sense." But now it makes complete sense!

Have you ever felt like you were burnt out?
Feel free to share your stories below. When you're ready to learn more, check out the full half hour session with Jeanette that is available on demand on BrightTalk or stay tuned to our blog for the next installment of the What Sales Can Learn About Self Care series!