Beat Sales Burnout: Maximize Sales, Minimize Stress

226 Pages·2005·1.15 MB·English

by  Stephan Schiffman

Beat
Sales

BURNOUT
MAXIMIZE SALES,
MINIMIZE STRESS
Stephan Schiffman
President, D.E.I. Management Group
Adams Media
Avon, Massachusetts
Copyright ©2005 by Stephan Schiffman. All rights reserved. This book, or parts
thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher;
exceptions are made for brief excerpts used in published reviews.
Published by Adams Media, an F + W Publications Company
57 Littlefield Street
Avon, MA 02322
Visit our home page at www.adamsmedia.com
ISBN: 1-59337-155-1 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59337-155-5 (EPUB)
Printed in Canada
J I H G F E D C B A
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schiffman, Stephan.
Beat sales burnout / Stephan Schiffman.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-59337-155-1 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-59337-155-5 (EPUB)
1. Selling—Vocational guidance. 2. Burnout (Psychology)—Prevention.
3. Job stress. I. Title.
HF5438.25.S3338 2005
158.7’23—dc22
2004013274
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with
regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the pub-
lisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional advice. If
legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent profes-
sional person should be sought.
—From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Committee of the
American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations
The characters and examples in this book are fictional and are used for illustration
purposes only. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events or
locales is entirely coincidental.
Many of the designations used by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their prod-
ucts are claimed as trademarks. Where those designations appear in this book and
Adams Media was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed
with initial capital letters.
This book is available at quantity discounts for bulk purchases.
For information, please call 1-800-872-5627.
Acknowledgments
M
y thanks go out to all the people whose help made this book
possible: Brandon Toropov, Steve Bookbinder, Lynne Einleger,
Amy Stagg, Scott Forman, Tina Bradshaw, Alan Koval, Surendra
Sewsankar, George Richardson, Stacia Skinner, Art Jackson, David
Rivera, and everyone else at D.E.I. Management Group. As always,
thank you Daniele, Jennifer, and Anne.
iii
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . x
Part One:
STRATEGIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Beat Burnout Strategy #1:
Test Yourself. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Beat Burnout Strategy #2:
Learn the Difference Between Creative Stress
and Burnout-Inducing Stress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Beat Burnout Strategy #3:
Recognize When You’re
Feeling Stressed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Beat Burnout Strategy #4:
Monitor Your Diet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Beat Burnout Strategy #5:
Make Your Move!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Beat Burnout Strategy #6:
Breathe Right . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Beat Burnout Strategy #7:
Get Some Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Beat Burnout Strategy #8:
Give Yourself a Reward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Beat Burnout Strategy #9:
Set Your Own Limits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28
iv
Table of Contents
Beat Burnout Strategy #10:
Have the Sense of a Goose . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Beat Burnout Strategy #11:
Don’t Be an Eleanor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Beat Burnout Strategy #12:
Group Like Activities Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Beat Burnout Strategy #13:
Take Back the Morning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Beat Burnout Strategy #14:
Develop a Success Ritual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Beat Burnout Strategy #15:
Make Your Commute Work for You, Not Against You . . . . . .42
Beat Burnout Strategy #16:
Take a Good, Long Look at Your Surroundings . . . . . . . . .43
Beat Burnout Strategy #17:
Go with the Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Beat Burnout Strategy #18:
Ask Your Manager for Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Beat Burnout Strategy #19:
Find Another Point of Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Beat Burnout Strategy #20:
Escape the “Rejection Trap” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Beat Burnout Strategy #21:
Understand Your Own Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Beat Burnout Strategy #22:
Abolish the Sales Slump . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
v
Beat Sales Burnout
Beat Burnout Strategy #23:
Learn the Ten Commandments for
Making Sales Slumps a Thing of the Past . . . . . . . . . . .64
Beat Burnout Strategy #24:
Take Twenty-One Days at a Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Part Two:
BEATING THE HABITS THAT MAKE
LONG-TERM BURNOUT POSSIBLE . . . . . . 71
Burnout Habit #1:
Selling Yourself a Bill of Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Burnout Habit #2:
Setting Uninspiring Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Burnout Habit #3:
Not Tracking Your Own Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Burnout Habit #4:
Not Knowing What Kind of Day You Just Had. . . . . . . . . .85
Burnout Habit #5:
Failing to Engage the Other Person
Effectively During the First Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Burnout Habit #6:
Buying into the “Vanity” Sales Culture . . . . . . . . . . . .92
Burnout Habit #7:
Doing All the Work Without Getting
Any Commitment from the Other Side . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Burnout Habit #8:
Forgetting about Prospects
Once They Turn into Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
vi
Table of Contents
Burnout Habit #9:
Not Positioning Yourself as a Resource . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Burnout Habit #10:
Not Getting Feedback from Your Customers . . . . . . . . . 109
Burnout Habit #11:
Making Sales Projections That
Have Nothing to Do with Reality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Burnout Habit #12:
Not Making Peace with Your Organization’s Tech People . . . 114
Burnout Habit #13:
Keeping Your Supervisor Out of the Loop . . . . . . . . . . 117
Burnout Habit #14:
Not Instilling a Sense of Urgency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Part Three:
INSIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Insight #1:
Professionalism Prevents Burnout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Insight #2:
Urgency Is Different from Anxiety. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Insight #3:
Everyone Has a Corporate Career Turning Point . . . . . . . 129
Insight #4:
There Are Five Stages to the Sales Career . . . . . . . . . . 134
Insight #5:
It Pays to Move Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
vii
Beat Sales Burnout
Insight #6:
Salespeople Who Don’t Burn Out
Have Certain Personality Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Insight #7:
You Can’t Do Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Insight #8:
You Create Your Own Truth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Part Four:
FOR MANAGERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #1:
Determine What Your Ideal Performer Looks Like—
and Try to Hire Against That Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #2:
Recruit with the Live-Breathe-Enjoy Formula! . . . . . . . . 151
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #3:
Strategize for the Marathon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #4:
Set Regular One-on-One Coaching Meetings. . . . . . . . . 159
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #5:
Choose the Mentor! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #6:
Establish an Eight-Week Coaching
Plan for the Team as a Whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #7:
Understand the Transition Curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Beat Burnout in Your Sales Staff Tip #8:
Build Training and Retention Programs
Around Your Top Performers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
viii