Conquering Sales Burnout

 By Michael Kenney

 Fear and Stress Today

 Coping with years of economic instability and job uncertainty has resulted in workers being stretched physiologically and economically.  Fear of job loss has generated a culture of “do more with less”. In the beginning, this was accepted because it was necessary to make it over the hump. Over time, this culture has coupled burn-out with job protectionism, resulting in unhealthy and unsustainable behavior. Last year, about 57% of working Americans had unused vacation time at the end of 2011, and most of them left an average of 11 days unused - or nearly 70 percent of their allotted time off. The main reason for not using the time was “they felt there was too much work”.

 Direct Impacts on Sales People

 Narrowing the focus of this culture switch to sales shows continued assignment of larger revenue quotas with less help and more reporting demands. Mix in the 7/24 availability created by modern technology, and you have “do more with less on steroids”.

 Strategy to Help Cope

 As sales people go faster to do more, their sales pipelines become Boa Constrictors. As the pressure increases, the tendency is to add more deals, which just adds more pressure. In this state of increasing turmoil, it could be time to refresh the skill of disqualification. Not every deal is winnable, so the earlier we disqualify out of those opportunities, the more time we can spend on “real” opportunities.   

 Key Steps in Disqualification

A good starting point for disqualification is to consider the following:

   1. Do we have access to the power to buy – the key players in this project

   2. Does the prospect understand our solution and our differentiators, if any

   3. Has the prospect determined the money they will make or save with our solution

   4. Do we understand the prospect’s buying process

   5. Does the prospect understand the implementation path and services we offer

Into Action

A sanity test of “Is this a good use of my time!” If not, grab the Boa Constrictor and cut that part out.