Everyone on the planet is asking this question today: “Is it (the pandemic) over?"
In more than one conversation with sales leaders and CEOs, I’m hearing that the mental stress of this situation is affecting their team’s ability to remain focused and motivated in order to execute actions and results.
Today’s business environment can feel like an endless game of whack-a-mole. Once a sales challenge is solved, another unexpected problem pops up. (How many parents thought their kids were going to be at school rather than at their kitchen table this fall?)
So, what’s a sales manager to do?
Tip #1: Teach your sellers to take one day at a time. During times of stress, it’s easy to get overwhelmed trying to hit monthly goals, quarterly goals, manage the new normal, and new skills required to achieve monthly and quarterly goals.
Overwhelm creates stress and under sustained stress, the body releases cortisol, creating anxiety, loss of sleep and fatigue.
A tired seller is not an effective seller.
Encourage your sellers to take one day at a time. Quit worrying about the future. Stop thinking about the past.
Do. Your. Very. Best. Today.
Tip #2: Add new Key Performance Indicators that improve a person’s emotional and psychological state. New sales strategies and tactics are needed to win the future. But keep in mind that people are charged with executing those strategies. And if your people are stressed, working at half-speed, they execute at half-speed.
Establish a new KPI for the sales activity plan. Each day, ask each member of the sales team to reach out to another member of the human race and offer encouragement or thanks. This outreach can be to your internal team, such as operations, IT, finance or warehouse. Or perhaps it’s a colleague, referral partner, family member or friend. Research shows that expressions of gratitude release the feel-good hormones of dopamine and oxytocin. Salespeople that feel good do good.
Keep discussing innovative and smart tactics and strategies to win the future. But remember, human beings are charged with execution. Make sure they have the mindset and energy to do so.
Good Selling!
