FEATURE | STRESS MANAGEMENT
CAN YOU BREATHE
RUTA MISIUNAITE considers key strategies for coping with stress in sales
UNDERWATER? S
ales is not a walk in a park kind of profession. It is super-fast paced, extremely high pressure, and requires incredible levels of resilience to carry on when things get tough. And things get tough on a regular basis. Maybe that’s why the vast majority of sales professionals, when asked about how they got into new business development, say that they simply fell into it. Yours truly included. After all, no-one grows up dreaming about working in a highly stressful environment. And yet so many people dedicate their whole lifetime to sales. Personally, I’m not surprised. Once you’ve fallen, you fall hard. And fast. Pretty soon you find out if you’ve got it in you to succeed in sales. The thrill of the chase and the endorphin rush you get after landing your first deal 16 WINNING EDGE
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gets you hooked in an instant. Without realising it, you quickly forget about all of the blood, sweat and tears that go into winning a new account and swiftly move on to searching relentlessly for another fix. And then you do it again, and again, and again. Yes, winning new business is a drug and it’s highly addictive. Throughout my career, I’ve had the pleasure of exploring various sales roles – ad hoc projects, midmarket, key prospects and, most recently, sales management. Over 2,000 days in sales and there is one thing I know for sure: things will barely ever go your way. In a world where business challenges are changing more rapidly than ever before, there’s either going to be lack of resource, ridiculous targets that feel so unachievable you can only laugh about them, or you’re so overwhelmed
ISMPROFESSIONAL.COM
14/04/2019 09:43
