5 Ways to Beat the Stress of Sales

Selling can be very stressful and eat at your psyche. What other occupation regularly subjects you to hang ups and abrupt emails, requires you to walk uninvited into businesses, compels you to reach out to so many people and expose yourself to so much rejection?

Typically you need to make ten phone calls to make one appointment and four appointments to make one sale. That means you will hear the word “no” thirty-six times before you’ll make one sale. Many times, you would love to hear the word “no” because so many prospects just stop returning phone calls and communicating with you.

Making a sale can expose you to a whole slew of other issues. These include: botched installs, missing signatures or paperwork, mispriced products, serviceability issues, delayed or canceled orders, sales and commission disputes.

A manager once told me that sometimes you just need to go home, get some rest and come back the next day ready to go.

So, sales can get rough. Here are some ways for you to stay strong and positive:

• Get a dog. There’s nothing like coming home to your dog. A dog greets you like it won the lottery and you’re delivering the check. There’s no way you can’t feel better when your dog goes crazy each time you walk in the door. Dogs love to go for walks, which brings me to my next suggestion.

• Exercise. Exercise burns off stress, will make you feel better about yourself, keeps you in shape and energized and releases endorphins in your brain. Depression seems to be a modern phenomenon. Before the 1900’s people didn’t have time to be depressed, because they were working their asses off. So now things are easier and we’re all living like kings, so you have to move your body and get your blood pumping. At least you’re not digging graves or cleaning up after horses.

• Avoid alcohol and tobacco. When you drink and smoke, you might feel better but it’s only temporary; you’re only delaying the effects of stress. If you feel bad and drown your sorrows, you’re going to feel even worse when you sober up.

• Live a healthy lifestyle. Get your sleep and eat right. If you’re stressed and you aren’t sleeping enough and eating garbage, you’re going to be a stressed out, sleepy, fat person.

• Enjoy yourself when you’re not working. Don’t live to work, work to live. Don’t be one of those people who sit around until they have to work again, live your life. It will make you a more interesting person when you’re in front of clients.