8 Ways to Deal With Sales Job Stress

There’s no doubt that salespeople deal with a lot of sales job stress. Let’s start with the pressure to hit quota, demanding customers, and changing expectations from management. Then add to that the stress of having a pipeline that needs to be constantly replenished with fresh prospects, and competition that would gladly kick you down a flight of stairs if it meant they could steal your business.

Too many salespeople let the stress affect their performance, or worse, their health. If you want a long and successful career in sales, then you need to learn how to manage stress effectively. Along with using Spiro to organize your pipeline more effectively, there are some ways you can better deal with the stress of a sales job. Here they are:

1. Get enough sleep

It can be tough to sleep when every deal you’re working on is running through your mind. But, you absolutely have to get enough sleep if you want to deal with stress effectively. Sleep deprivation is an American epidemic, and it isn’t just exclusive to sales. Set aside time every night to unwind before bed and make sure you’re getting 6 hours of sleep at a bare minimum. And please stop looking at emails on your phone in bed.

2. Exercise to combat sales job stress

Being stressed can cause weight gain, but regular rigorous exercise can reduce stress and help you lose those few pounds. It can obviously be difficult to find time to get to the gym when you have a full schedule, especially when you’re physically and emotionally exhausted from a tough day. But as counter-intuitive as it sounds, exerting yourself physically can reverse that exhaustion, help your mood, and increase your overall quality of life (and maybe even deal size).

3. Find the right employer

Workplace culture has a major effect on employee’s levels of stress. Finding a company that treats you well could mean the difference between stressing out and feeling comfortable. Studies have shown that leaders who make employees feel safe are the best types of leaders, and this couldn’t be more true for salespeople. Sales staff need to feel supported and to understand that their job isn’t constantly hanging by a thread, as some sales managers tend to enjoy reminding salespeople of.

4. Don’t take it personally

Salespeople usually have a high emotional intelligence, and this can be both a blessing and a curse. We want to succeed but we also want to be liked. But in a profession like sales, where rejection is the name of the game, it can be difficult to not take rejection and rudeness personally. However, the best salespeople know how to separate their emotions from business. They are able to find ways to get over being rejected, ignored or mistreated. This can take some practice, so don’t get discouraged if you find yourself feeling unpleasant emotions when dealing with rejection, but teach yourself to get over it quickly and move on.

5. Listen to music

Music is one of those things that we know makes us feel better, but we don’t immediately think about it as a solution when we’re stressed out. Get in the habit of considering it the next time you’re feeling overwhelmed. Of course, you don’t want to pull out your headphones and start blasting Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” in the middle of a sales presentation that’s going down the drain.  But do try to pick music instead of talk radio. Music can not only help destress you, but music can also make you a more successful salesperson!

6. Clean up your diet

Lots of salespeople subsist on a diet of energy drinks, chips, and steak and cheese. Eating like this feels good in the moment, but creates an unsteady level of energy and causes you to crash throughout the day. This can increase stress as it creates more ups and downs in your energy and mood. Clean up your diet, lay off the energy drinks and you’ll see your energy go up and remain steady throughout the day. This will help both your mood and stress levels. We won’t go as far as recommending giving up coffee…

7. Take time off

American culture tends to value work above all else, and this is dangerous because it can make people believe that taking time off is a sign of weakness. Nothing could be further from the truth. Successful people know that recharging your batteries is one of the keys to being successful in the first place. If you have vacation time, use it instead of wasting it as if it was some badge of honor. And when you’re on vacation, don’t try to keep up with closing deals.

8. Produce

One of the best ways to relieve the stress of sales is to become a top producer. When you close deals and hit and exceed your goals, you’ll feel great about everything because you’ll be handling the very things that create the majority of stress in sales. Your quota will be met, your management will be (temporarily) happy, and you’ll know that you have a great commission check coming. Like Mark Cuban says, “sales cures all.”