My sales team isn’t coping with the fallout from the GFC. Help!

Many sales people, for the first time, are experiencing tough times when it comes to selling and many are not sure how to handle themselves in these difficult situations. The current climate is, indeed, a test of character.

Many sales people, especially those in their 20s and 30s have not likely experienced selling in tough markets before. For the past 12 years prior to 2008, at least, the business climate in our market place has been, for the most part, buoyant. As we all know it’s very easy to sell when times are good.

It now begs the question: How well have we prepared ourselves practically, emotionally, and physically to manage our way through these tough times?

In recent weeks and months at Barrett, we have seen an increase in the number of conversations we are having with clients about how to help their salespeople to deal with distressful situations. They are seeking support, coaching and training in how to help sales people and sales managers handle the emotional fallout from the GFC.

The requests for support and training range from wellbeing, emotional resilience, optimism, stress management, how to re-engage with the team or clients, and how to lead a healthy life.

Not surprisingly, many of these requests have come from the finance and advertising sectors reporting that the current landscape has been one of turmoil and distress. While other sectors have also sought support, it is not at the level suggested above. These business leaders have indicated that many of their clients have been severely affected by the GFC and this has created a significant amount of depression in the market place, also affecting their sales teams.

For instance, at a recent management meeting, the sales leaders raised their concerns about how the sales team was handling the distress arising from severely reduced incomes for themselves and their clients and the loss of a number of clients from their industry. They wanted to know what they could do about it because what they were doing by way of standard management practice wasn’t working. For the first time they are seeking help around emotional resilience and optimism.

Another business, in the advertising space, reported that their sales team had been hit hard too with lower than expected advertising spend. Management was observing very low motivation levels and rising levels of distress in the team. They realised that their people didn’t have strategies to cope with this crisis. They were worried their people were feeling useless and dejected.

The one thing these two sales teams have in common is that their sales people earn significant commission from their sales results. With their clients in freefall and sales down, these sales people’s earnings were being affected, which meant that some are having trouble paying their mortgages, maintaining their life styles, etc. Certainly reasons for concern, however doing nothing and getting “depressed” isn’t going to help solve their problems.

But it isn’t just the income drop that’s causing concern, another sales team whose incomes are not linked to commissions, also found it hard to remain positive and keep going in the face of adversity. With clients feeling the pain, these sales people didn’t want to be around the negativity or distress. It’s almost as if they have chosen to put their fingers in their ears and saying ‘la la la la la’ to block out the stress hoping it all goes away. Not very useful either.

The sales teams mentioned above are all highly trained and skillful sales people. They have been trained in appropriate sales skills and processes but many do not have the tools or know-how when it comes to managing their own wellbeing, stress, emotions and the emotions of others.

If, as is being highlighted, these and other sales people like them are not used to dealing with sets backs, overcoming obstacles or they let the negative sentiments of others overtake them then their work will suffer. It will be much harder to achieve results. This negativity can cloud their thinking and potentially keep them from seeing and realising those ideas and strategies that will get them back on track and producing again.

So what do you rely upon to get you through the tough times?

Besides the obvious sales skills, processes and tools, we need to learn (if we haven’t already) and apply the skills that go to developing strategies for healthy thinking, emotional resilience, optimism, healthy lifestyle practices, etc.

My concern is that many people, especially younger people, may not have been in a position to really build up their resilience and toughen up, especially in sales and tough markets like this. It appears that many don’t seem know how to navigate and manage their thinking and emotions through these times.

Developing emotional resilience and awareness in a variety of situations is vital for your ongoing survival and ability to thrive despite the markets or life’s other circumstance.

Developing emotional resilience supports individuals to better achieve their goals, communicate with and manage other people, and spring back emotionally after suffering through a difficult and stressful time in one’s life.

Some of us might be born with the potential to be more resilient than others, but you do not know how resilient you are until you put yourself to the test or life does it for you. The saying “If it doesn’t kill it will make you grow stronger” is quite apt here.

No one can ever be guaranteed of winning. We know we have to work for our successes. We usually fail more than we succeed but that is par for the course in life. We need to encourage each other to pick ourselves up and keep going, learning from our mistakes, stretching ourselves to do better. It’s about doing our best at whatever we do. Winning isn’t everything, but doing our best, developing self mastery, taking calculated risks and learning from everything we do is what life was all about.

It is possible to teach people how to develop the skills to enhance their emotional resilience, optimism and ways of thinking and dealing with the world. This information is not new either; it has been around for thousands of years. We can all encourage a resilient attitude at work and at home. Here are some tips.

Developing a Resilient Attitude

The first step to becoming more emotionally resilient is the acknowledgment that there is room for improvement and taking the time to learn more about yourself. The following behaviours and attitudes are some ways in which emotional resilience can be demonstrated and measured:

• Have realistic and attainable expectations and goals.
• Show good judgment and problem solving skills.
• Be persistent and determined.
• Be responsible and thoughtful rather than impulsive.
• Be effective communicators with good people skills.
• Learn from past experience so as to not repeat mistakes.
• Be empathetic toward other people (caring how others around them are feeling).
• Have a social conscience, (caring about the welfare of others).
• Feel good about yourself as a person.
• Feel like you are in control of your life.
• Be optimistic rather than pessimistic.

Selling, as a career, is not for the fainthearted as I have often stated. Besides good selling skills, quality thinking and solid process, it takes courage, self-discipline, determination, persistence, the ability to learn from your mistakes, a sense of humour, and a healthy approach to life to lead a healthy sales career.

How do we do this? Among other things this requires people to have access to insight and self-awareness.

In my opinion, we need to help people become more emotionally aware, and resilient in a number of ways. We need to give people access to tools, processes and assessments that can help them develop insight and strategies to enhance their emotional resilience and allow people to make the most of their capabilities and the situations they find themselves in on a daily basis. Particularly if they have not had the chances to really test themselves in previous roles or earlier in their lives.

Not only do we need to be skilful in selling we need to be skilfull in how we manage our wellbeing, our emotions and the emotions of others.

So as I reflect on my life so far and all the challenges and joys that come with it, I am indeed grateful for the gift of resilience, it keeps me growing.

Click here for blogs from Sue Barrett.

Sue Barrett is a Thought Leader on 21st century sales training, sales coaching, sales leadership, sales capability and sales culture. She practices as a coach, advisor, speaker, facilitator, consultant and writer and works across all market segments with her skilful team at BARRETT.  They help people from many different careers become aware of their sales capabilities and enable them to take the steps to becoming effective, and productive when it comes to selling, sales coaching or sales leadership. Sue and her team are your first and best reference when it comes to forging out a successful career as a competent sales professional and leader . If you have an idea, capability, product, service or opportunity that can benefit another and make their life better in some way then Sue says you need to be able to sell – ethically, honourably, and effectively.  To hone your sales skills or learn how to sell go to www.barrett.com.au.