"Hi Shaun, I'm a salesman that is suffering from burnout. I can't stand rejection anymore. I'm have been doing for six years, however rejection still kills me. I consider myself a good salesperson, working for a great company, I know my company's strong points and weaknesses, and however my motivation is down almost to zero. There is no company support so I turn to you for some ideas?" Chaim
Chaim tough question to answer without having more knowledge of your individual situation. I will ask a lot of qualifying questions, then I will offer some broad recommendations. What do you sell? How big is the company you work for? Who do you sell to (business, consumers, government)? What level of person do you sell to? How competitive is your market? What’s the average dollar amount for your deals? Who do you report to in the org chart? How is your sales manager? What does your company think of sales people? How long have you been at your current company? What are your sales and company cultures? How long is your sales cycle? What percentage of deals to you lose? How do you get leads? What is your quota? Are you above or below quota? What was your W2 last year including base and bonus / commission? What is your personal financial situation? Do you believe in what you are selling? Are you selling new business or current clients? These answers will determine the options to motivate you or determine if sales is for you. Below are some motivational recommendations.
Helping your Clients:
Take a deep look at what you are selling and how your solutions help your clients. One reason I love selling is that I believe I am truly helping people with my solution. This could be helping companies be better run, growing their business, saving money, and differentiating from their competitors. You could be helping an individual at a company get a promotion, save them time, and/or helping them solving a business problem. If you are selling to consumers, are you helping them with finances, health, time management, or simply satisfying a personal need. Talk to your current clients at a detail about how they are using your solutions and you may find you are helping people more than you think. At one point in my career, I worked at a start-up medical device company where our technology could save lives, that helped motivate me through all the no’s.
The Daily Grind:
Have you indentified the specific area you are burning out on rejection and lack of company support? Is it the cold calls, your boss, you don’t believe in your product, you are unethically selling, hours working, travel, etc.? Once you identify the area is there something you can do. Some motivations ideas: For rejection, remember that rejection is not personal. When someone hangs up on me or tells me ‘no’ they are not rejecting me as a person but my offering. For advice cold calls check out one of my many posts on cold calling. For travel can you combine trips, block out no travel weeks, change territories, not travel on weekends. Travel is hard for me but part of my motivation, is I like meeting with clients to win deals, there is nothing better than face time with clients and prospects. If you don’t believe in what you are selling see above on getting motivation from your current clients. I you still don’t like what you are selling, I recommend finding another solution to sell either internally or externally. If you are having troubles with your boss, can you outlast him / her, can you put your ego aside and work with them; have you tried doing what they ask. If you have an unethically sales culture, I recommend you change jobs (internally or externally), or meet with management (the size of your company will most likely determine your strategy). If you are working too many hours, is this because the job requires it; you can’t say ‘no’, or you stress over the details.
Mirroring:
Is there a sales person at your company you admire and/or is not having the challenges you are having? If yes, take that person out to lunch and ask where they get their motivation and how they deal with the daily grind of selling.
Financial:
Can you find motivation in the financial rewards? I love helping people and I also like being fairly compensation for that help. When I get stuck in the ‘daily grind’, I remind myself that my job is hard and that is part of the reason I am well paid. Being hard is also part of the excitement and not getting board. You should take pride in dealing with rejection and the discipline it takes to be successful in sales. Can you compartmentalize the rejection part of your job you are struggling with (ex. It is hard dealing with rejection and my boss but I am making good money and I in reality I only spend a couple of hour a week with my boss)
Is sales for you?
What do you truly like to do? What is important to you? In a previous post, I answered a question on is sales the right profession?
Hopefully, you can find a nugget in my response to help you find the motivation to regain the enthusiasm in what you are selling to help you breakthrough to get to the next level in your sales career.
‘Good Motivating.’ Send us an update in six months! Reader Feedback, please click the ‘comments’ below to give ‘Chaim’ additional information on 'Motivation’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Chaim tough question to answer without having more knowledge of your individual situation. I will ask a lot of qualifying questions, then I will offer some broad recommendations. What do you sell? How big is the company you work for? Who do you sell to (business, consumers, government)? What level of person do you sell to? How competitive is your market? What’s the average dollar amount for your deals? Who do you report to in the org chart? How is your sales manager? What does your company think of sales people? How long have you been at your current company? What are your sales and company cultures? How long is your sales cycle? What percentage of deals to you lose? How do you get leads? What is your quota? Are you above or below quota? What was your W2 last year including base and bonus / commission? What is your personal financial situation? Do you believe in what you are selling? Are you selling new business or current clients? These answers will determine the options to motivate you or determine if sales is for you. Below are some motivational recommendations.
Helping your Clients:
Take a deep look at what you are selling and how your solutions help your clients. One reason I love selling is that I believe I am truly helping people with my solution. This could be helping companies be better run, growing their business, saving money, and differentiating from their competitors. You could be helping an individual at a company get a promotion, save them time, and/or helping them solving a business problem. If you are selling to consumers, are you helping them with finances, health, time management, or simply satisfying a personal need. Talk to your current clients at a detail about how they are using your solutions and you may find you are helping people more than you think. At one point in my career, I worked at a start-up medical device company where our technology could save lives, that helped motivate me through all the no’s.
The Daily Grind:
Have you indentified the specific area you are burning out on rejection and lack of company support? Is it the cold calls, your boss, you don’t believe in your product, you are unethically selling, hours working, travel, etc.? Once you identify the area is there something you can do. Some motivations ideas: For rejection, remember that rejection is not personal. When someone hangs up on me or tells me ‘no’ they are not rejecting me as a person but my offering. For advice cold calls check out one of my many posts on cold calling. For travel can you combine trips, block out no travel weeks, change territories, not travel on weekends. Travel is hard for me but part of my motivation, is I like meeting with clients to win deals, there is nothing better than face time with clients and prospects. If you don’t believe in what you are selling see above on getting motivation from your current clients. I you still don’t like what you are selling, I recommend finding another solution to sell either internally or externally. If you are having troubles with your boss, can you outlast him / her, can you put your ego aside and work with them; have you tried doing what they ask. If you have an unethically sales culture, I recommend you change jobs (internally or externally), or meet with management (the size of your company will most likely determine your strategy). If you are working too many hours, is this because the job requires it; you can’t say ‘no’, or you stress over the details.
Mirroring:
Is there a sales person at your company you admire and/or is not having the challenges you are having? If yes, take that person out to lunch and ask where they get their motivation and how they deal with the daily grind of selling.
Financial:
Can you find motivation in the financial rewards? I love helping people and I also like being fairly compensation for that help. When I get stuck in the ‘daily grind’, I remind myself that my job is hard and that is part of the reason I am well paid. Being hard is also part of the excitement and not getting board. You should take pride in dealing with rejection and the discipline it takes to be successful in sales. Can you compartmentalize the rejection part of your job you are struggling with (ex. It is hard dealing with rejection and my boss but I am making good money and I in reality I only spend a couple of hour a week with my boss)
Is sales for you?
What do you truly like to do? What is important to you? In a previous post, I answered a question on is sales the right profession?
Hopefully, you can find a nugget in my response to help you find the motivation to regain the enthusiasm in what you are selling to help you breakthrough to get to the next level in your sales career.
‘Good Motivating.’ Send us an update in six months! Reader Feedback, please click the ‘comments’ below to give ‘Chaim’ additional information on 'Motivation’ and I want your feedback on my response. Shaun Priest aka CloserQ.
Comments
Shaun has given you many things to think about, he has however left out one important motivation factor.
I'm willing to bet that when you leave for your day's work you don't know where you are going. You must plan a month ahead,a week ahead and each week day by day.
A ship leaving port without a destination will flounder forever. Do you know your port of call every day.
Set goals, always without fail make one extra sales call a day, tha is 200 plus extra calls a day.
"Plan your work and work your plan." A great weight will be lifted off of your shoulders.
I have been on the road for 40 years, rejection is the price you must pay to be in the greatest profession that offers unlimited income.
Go find a apple tree sit down and ask yourself do i want to be part of a community that can proudly say "noting happens until something is sold" and i'm part of that team. Every rejection or No is that much closer to a YES. Good luck.
Yours in selling,
W. Ford
This is a great post. I believe all salespeople deal with sales burnout on some level. In my case, a great workout in the middle of the day keeps me going. After a shower at the gym, I'm ready to go back out. I find lack of excercise and poor diets are very common among outside salespeople who travel frequently. In any case, thanks for addressing this primary concern that veteran salespeople struggle with.
Sincerely,
Will