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Sales is hard stuff and can be very challenging.
Cold calling, following up, and tackling the constant barrage of objections with ease can take its toll on the most seasoned sales professionals.
As soon as you’ve closed the loop, another is opening itself up.
The sales cycle can wear you down and almost make you want to throw in the towel.
Follow these tips to create balance and beat the overwhelm that comes with SaaS sales.
Ways founders can reduce overwhelm across their sales teams:
Setting goals that aren’t based on reality and are completely unattainable is a one-way ticket to creating burnout in your sales team.
The goals should be stretch goals, but they should never be so high that they are completely unrealistic.
Are you really going to sell 50% more this quarter than last? Probably not.
5-10% more? That’s far more realistic and will allow your team to feel like they’re making continuous progress.
As far as your bottom line goes, smaller goals will still create more revenue for your business. And the money you’ll save by not having to replace salespeople who quit because of unrealistic targets will add to this.
Your team deserves to be paid in line with their results. Creating tiered commission plans will foster competition to beat each goal and hit the next level.
It’ll also create healthy competition amongst the team to see who can get to the highest commission level first.
If your sales cycle is longer, plan for that in your base salary. In every industry, employers are seeing the fallout from not paying in accordance with the expectations of the role.
Don’t be like them. Your team will thank you and work harder for you as a result.
There’s nothing worse than not being properly onboarded and then expected to perform out the gate.
Take the time to get your new sales team up to speed, and they’ll be better equipped to demo, overcome objections, and close deals.
For those who are struggling, have tenured team members available to help overcome the challenges.
This might mean you! You’ve been focused on founder-led sales, and your first few hires will be looking to you for advice and guidance.
Don’t worry, they’ll master it all soon enough, and then you’ll have your first-gen sales mentors.
Reducing sales stress as a salesperson:
If you’re struggling, don’t try and get through it yourself.
Look to the veterans around you and pair up. You’ll learn a ton that would have taken you years to slog through.
And the relationships you build with your more-experienced peers and managers will have a ripple effect on your ability to manage stress at work.
Your past customers are more likely to buy from you than new ones.
While forging new connections and closing new deals, don’t forget about those who’ve already said “Yes.”
Nurturing those relationships will not only bring additional business easier but has an added benefit:
Staying top-of-mind and providing great customer service will also net you more referrals than if you let those past customers slip into the void.
Think about the deals you’ve closed with the least amount of resistance.
Is there a common thread between how you communicated with the customer?
Did you use a specific set of tactics, or have a script that worked really well?
There’s no sense in trying to reinvent the wheel.
Use what worked best, fastest, and easiest.
What do I mean? Here’s an example:
Hate video? Try to avoid it if you can. Your distaste will unconsciously show up and may dampen your confidence in the eyes of the prospect.
Multitasking may have been all the buzz for a long time, but we now know it’s more harmful than it ever was helpful.
By focusing on one task at a time, you’ll complete it faster and better.
Set blocks of time to check emails and respond to phone calls, and you’ll create structure around your work hours that allows you to be more productive, without working longer hours.
More productive time throughout your day may actually net you more deals, since your non-sales tasks will take less time.
Check out the Covey Time Matrix to learn more about building focus time into your day.
Now, not to get all woo-woo on you, but what you do outside work, influences you AT work.
Here are 3 ways to help battle your sales overwhelm that have nothing to do with being on the clock.
Let yourself be in the moment.
Meditating even for a few minutes per day has benefits that can extend well beyond your ability to handle the stress that comes along with sales.
Don’t knock it ‘til you try it – and you can thank me later.
It doesn’t need to be meditation, maybe you like fishing. Or cooking. Any of these activities can be a way to ground you and stay close to your mission as a person, not a worker.
You might be tempted to be “always on,” and I get why. With a difficult prospect, you might be so excited that this is the call where they say yes – that you miss out on the time you’ve set aside for family, or the things that make you happy.
In my experience, prospects respect that the things that matter, matter. When you show other people that you’re intentional about the time you spend at work, and at home, they learn to reach out when you’re available – or wait for a response when you are!
The same goes for your managers. If they’re expecting you to be on-call 24/7, it’s not likely they’re having a great time outside of work. It may be challenging, but setting boundaries around when work has access to you will create the space you need to WANT to be great at work.
Especially if you’re in a travel-heavy role, the time at home deserves to be time at home.
Whether your thing is the gym or shuffling the kids to football practice on Saturday mornings, how you fill your time, fills you up.
Make sure you’re spending your downtime in a way that’s positive and recharges you rather than drains you. Say no to things that you don’t like.
Just a thought: If someone’s upset with you for that, maybe they’re someone you really shouldn’t spend so much time with, anyway.
Sales Overwhelm is an all-too-common
problem amongst both founders and sales teams. However, by using these 10
strategies to reduce overwhelm, you can build a better experience for yourself,
your sales team, and your customers.
If you’re ready to build a more effective
sales team or hire your first one ever, let’s talk.
The right talent.
The right onboarding.
The right solution for your SaaS business.
Daniel Feander – Founder & CEO, salesmentor.