If only there were a way for the salespeople to stay on top of their game and not feel the pressure that inevitably leads to sales burnout.
Sales is a fulfilling job. You live for the hype of bagging targets and landing deals without a shield from burnout. The demanding nature of the job, the workload, and the drive to hustle 24/7 make for a perfect burnout scenario. With little room to unwind, around 67% of salespeople are always on the verge.
It’s time to check your stress levels. We are here to help you combat burn.
Understanding Sales Burnout
It’s healthy to feel a bearable amount of stress. But too much of it can lead to burnout. When the fine line between them gets blurred, you can feel it. The burst of energy turns off, and you start feeling empty. Your drive, desire to hustle, and motivation to show up at work are all gone.
The indicators of burnout are strong. Stressed people are more reactive and energized, whereas burned-out people are disengaged, lack motivation, and have lethargy.
Burnout is not just born out of a professional environment; it can be personal too. While sales is a demanding job in itself and people exhaust themselves with long work hours and workloads, multiple other factors can lead to it. Some of the common causes for sales burnout include the following:
- No management support
- Toxic work culture
- No access to tools
- Lack of appreciation
- No clarity of expectations
The Five Signs: How to Spot Sales Burnout
It is okay if you are confused about how you feel. It is also normal to mistake burnout for daily exhaustion. What’s not okay is to turn a blind eye to the symptoms of burnout. Spot burnout crawling inside of you before it wins you over!
Metrics hitting a rough patch as a sales burnout indicator
When KPIs take a huge dip, it is not always a performance-related issue. It could be burnout. You’ll see the first indicators of burnout in the decay of metrics like closed deals, leads sourced, emails sent, meetings scheduled, LinkedIn activity, and more.
If you feel your numbers are slipping faster than normal, you need to analyze your stress levels. Because sales are all about numbers, it is easy for you to take a quick look. Fetch out all the numbers and run a quick analysis to know if you should be worried.
No desire for professional development
If you are no longer excited about those quarterly development programs and brainstorming sessions, there’s a high chance you are burned out. The burnout feeling of emptiness also turns into resistance to feedback or coaching and withdrawal from team activities.
The desire to upskill, get better at the game, and stay updated on sales trends & technology slowly starts to fade. You experience the extreme urge to separate yourself from the team and skip any development efforts.
Loss of hopes for improvement
Sales folks are super proactive, and they are all in it for experimentation and innovation. But burnout makes you feel otherwise. You might not be open to trying a new tool, feature, process, product, or suggestion. You may feel overwhelmed by even a slight shift in your daily schedule.
If taking initiative is no longer your thing or you want to avoid the daily tasks you handle, you may be burned out. Also, you know your performance is declining, but you no longer care or want to get better. This feeling is not stress, it’s burnout.
Lack of energy, focus, and engagement
Stepping into the office becomes downright dreadful. The energy and drive with which you would work every day may disappear. You cannot concentrate on your work and find yourself distracted and disengaged all the time. It might even feel better to stare at your PC blank for hours and still not want to do anything.
The impact of burnout is real and even affects your sleep patterns. Having difficulty falling asleep or feeling sleepy during work hours are other side effects. Too much sleep disruption may also make you turn toward substance consumption. Though it is the worst-case scenario, vow to prioritize your well-being the moment you get the urge to rely on substances, even if it’s just upping your coffee or energy drink intake.
Sales burnout causes shifts in your attitude toward work
Happiness, contentment, and all the good feelings are attached to positivity and hope. With bad feelings like resentment, positivity dies. There’s a massive shift in a person’s attitude because negativity starts overpowering them.
Facing a hard time dealing with clients or staying composed? You are probably burned out.
Why You Need to Immediately Deal with Sales Burnout
Personal and professional lives are not separate. As an employee, you bring your personal stress to work, and vice versa. Similarly, if you are burned out, it affects both your personal and professional lives.
How sales burnout affects your team and company
Not only will your performance take a hit, but your team and company will suffer from your sales burnout. Here’s the impact it can have on your mates and employers:
Your slipping metrics and numbers ultimately lead to reduced revenue.
- The possibility of attrition rises. If you choose to resign, your coworkers will feel the blow.
- Vibes travel across the team, and your negativity may take a toll on them. The team spirit will suffer.
- If you cannot manage customer relationships like before, customer satisfaction will decrease.
Impact on a personal level
Your sales burnout affects you on an individual level and your loved ones. Even if you leave your toxic sales job, the burnout’s effect remains, which is why you need to address and fix it.
- Burnout is not just mental; it has a physical impact too. You may experience chronic fatigue, insomnia, frequent illness, headaches, etc.
- You may experience anxiety, detachment, mood swings, and other similar mental and emotional issues.
- Job satisfaction becomes obvious, and you live for just the paycheck with no passion.
- Burnout causes energy loss; you won’t have the energy to maintain personal or professional relationships.
- You may also fall prey to substance abuse.
Fix Sales Burnout With These Strategies
Fight burnout with a mix of technology and effort-oriented approaches. A week off work will not improve things if you come back to the same drill. Check out these strategies to fall in love with your profession all over again:
Automate the sales process
Delegate your to-do list of mundane tasks to automation and double down on your sales with revenue-generating activities. For example, you can automate the entire process of feeding customer data from emails and calendars to Salesforce.
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Face your failures
Panic sets in when sales reps miss their targets. It gets worse with recurring misses. The only solution is to face it and work it out, rather than sit on your failures. If you hit a block, find out the problem, own it, and take measures to fix it.
If you chart a course of action, there’s little room for stress. You might not win over stress, but you will not max out and burn out.
Take time off to recharge
This doesn’t necessarily mean a vacation. Take time off daily to get enough sleep, work on your health, and spend time with your loved ones.
Find your definition of work-life balance where you get a taste of everything, not just sales success.
Routinely, take a week out to unwind and do what you love. Go on that vacation, hiking, parties, get-togethers, or just stay at home reading your favorite book or cooking. Just plug out of work entirely. Recharge in a way that best suits you, and show up at work all energized.
Practice open communication
Book a 1:1 with your manager and communicate if anything is too much for you. Unrealistic sales target? Toxic work environment? Dissatisfaction at work? Troubles with colleagues? Talk about just about any issue you face at work.
Even if you do not understand something, like what’s expected of you or the bigger picture, ask for help. Also, align your personal goals with the organization’s goals and communicate the gaps. Do everything it takes to stay hungry and passionate about work.
Pro tip – prioritize your well-being over your work. Learn to say no to anything that harms your health.
Get. Set. Implement.
Now that you know how grave burnout can be for you, implement these strategies if you feel the burnout. Do not let the sales stress get the best of you! Prioritizing your well-being ultimately results in a better personal and professional life.
Preserve and safeguard your health to do justice to yourself, your organization, and your loved ones.
