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 20’s and 30’s 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 sort 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 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.

We can all learn how to be resilient and we can learn from a very early age.

Whether we learn to develop and cultivate our resilience in relatively safe environments like playing both team and individual sports, or learning music and performing at recitals, or we develop resilience via our personal experiences such as developing and losing friendships, or other trials of childhood like playing favourites, not fitting in, learning difficulties, etc., or more extreme difficulties such as  losing a parent to cancer, chronic illness, and other life changing events, all these have an effect on each of us.  How we are taught to deal with and overcome these challenges and learn from them the best way we can is what helps us develop resilience.  If someone else tries to assume responsibility for your journey, even if it is with the best intentions, they are really taking away your ability to learn and grow.

As a parent I know I want my children to be safe and free from harm, however if I cotton wool them from life’s tough experiences then they will not develop their resilience and learn the lessons of life. None of us need ever be a victim when we know we have choices in every moment and we take responsibility for them.

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 themselves as a person.
•    Feel like they are in control of their lives.
•    Be optimistic rather than pessimistic.

Selling, as a career, is not for the faint hearted 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 skilful 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.

Author: Sue Barrett is Founder & Managing Director of BARRETT

For further information on emotional resilience and other strategies please contact us on (+61) 03 9532 7677 or use this form.

To ensure our strategy is right for you, Barrett can incorporate a range of methods into our work including Emotional Intelligence (EI) theory, Positive Psychology, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Mindfulness and Meditation.   Mind Your Emotions® encompasses a series of programs and facilities Barrett has developed to give people access to tools, processes and assessments that can help them develop 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.

Talk to us about how you can Mind Your Emotions® and develop and enhance emotional resilience.

There are many things written and said about effective sales people, effective leaders, successful entrepreneurs, great teams and so on.

Many descriptions are in circulation.  There is an overabundance of experts recommending this approach one day and that approach the next.

Those of us who want to be effective and successful often follow the advice of those experts however we are at risk of turning ourselves inside out and losing sight of what we are really here to do if we keep trying to bend to the winds and whims of the latest management trends, fads, findings, research, etc.

I am not against reading widely, continuous learning, adopting new ways and adapting to change as you have probably realised by now.

However, in recent times I have been feeling overwhelmed by too much information and instead found myself opting for a ‘less is more’ approach to life.

As I always do, I have been sifting through a lot of information and finding that I am beginning to distill some fundamental truths that hold true whatever the fad or trend of the day.

On my most  recent distillation process I have found that I was able to identify four valuable life skills that work very well for me in every situation I have found myself in.  You will recognise that these skills are essential to effective selling, and I am sure you won’t miss their relevance to all other roles we play, personally and professionally.

So in the spirit of ‘less is more’ here are my 4 valuable life skills which continue to serve me very well:

1. The ability to ask good questions
2. The ability to actively listen
3. The ability to receive and give honest feedback
4. The ability to reflect on my actions

I hope they serve you well too. Enjoy your sales week.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

How well can we manage ourselves, our teams and businesses in a crisis or tough times?

Are our actions and behaviours putting us, our people and our businesses at risk?

As leaders and managers we are on show and our actions often speak louder than our words. In challenging times this is even more evident. Under pressure cracks may appear and our leadership is put to the test.

How do we cope under pressure? What happens to us when we crack? When placed under high levels of pressure, most people will rely on coping mechanisms or their strengths that help them manage in day to day activities, but due to the pressure they can actually become counterproductive tendencies. We refer to these as “risk factors” and they can emerge as our dark side. These coping mechanisms can become detrimental to our ability to build trust based relationships and impact on our leadership and sales style.

As each leader is an individual, they must find their own way to manage and lead. However, when we are assessing and understanding our own and others’ behaviours, we often refer to personality style as a key reference point. While certain personality assessments can provide accurate and reliable predictors of performance, there is more to a person’s capability and satisfaction or a team’s interactions than meets the eye.

As a starting point we can take a look at three key areas when taking into account an individual’s potential contribution to a role and workplace performance.

1. Out in the open: Personality
2. Beneath the surface: Motives and values
3. Under pressure: Coping strategies, derailers and the dark side

This does not exclude other important factors such as technical competence, experience, knowledge or cognitive ability. These play a critical part in a role or team, however given technical competence, experience, knowledge and appropriate levels of intelligence are sound for the task at hand, what else can impact the performance of you, your team and the business?

Although the personality or ‘out in the open’ component is a crucial one, increasingly businesses leader are also wanting to look at people’s ability to cope under pressure. They want to know about your coping strategies, derailers and the dark side.

I find people are fascinated with the “Dark Side” so I thought I would provide you with some insight into this topic and share with you some of the work we do.

The Dark Side: Derailers & Coping Strategies

Sales leadership or any people management role involves building and maintaining a high-performing team. Anything that detracts from our ability to build a sales team also detracts from our performance as a sales leader.

Coping strategies are the behaviours that we have developed over time (even from childhood) to cope with increased levels of pressure. This pressure can be due to change, high stress, boredom, multi-tasking, work overload, unhappy environment, or finding ourselves outside our comfort zone.

When placed under such pressure, most people will display certain counterproductive tendencies. We usually refer to these as “derailers” or our potential “dark side.” Under normal conditions these characteristics may actually be strengths, but when the demands increase, our reliance on these mechanisms can impede our effectiveness and erode the quality of our relationships with customers, colleagues, and direct reports.

When confidence turns into arrogance
A specific example of when a strength can become a derailer is when confidence turns into arrogance. It is a fair assumption that confidence can be one important contributor to a successful career in business and sales. To be ‘confident’ means to have courage, to be bold, to be self-assured, and people are more likely to follow or believe in a confident leader. However, this strength can become a derailer when we are under pressure as our self-assured nature goes too far and we stop listening to other people, become condescending, egotistical and make ineffective decisions.

This is not to suggest that all confident sales leaders will demonstrate arrogance, but this is one of several potential dark sides that could have an impact on our careers.

The other potential derailers are: Excitable, Skeptical, Cautious, Reserved, Leisurely, Mischievous, Colourful, Imaginative, Diligent and Dutiful.

It is very important to note that these characteristics can have highly positive implications and which we can master and turn onto our strengths. By identifying and being made aware of our leadership coping strategies or potential dark sides we can take the ‘right’ action that allows us to develop further as leaders.

Gaining insights (by whatever trusted and validated means) into and applying corrective strategies about behaviours that could potentially undermine or inhibit your performance and ability to effectively build trust based relationships will assist you to lead people and your business more effectively and help you avoid putting you, your people and your businesses at unnecessary risk.

The research consistently shows that elite sales professionals engage in self appraisal and continuous learning. They are always looking for ways to be better. So in your quest for high performance don’t forget to look at the Dark Side.

Sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well – both physically and psychologically. An increasing body of research is showing that keeping an optimistic outlook, and having the physical energy to meet the demands of working in sales are critical to a sales person’s effectiveness, success and overall well-being. Something many of us know intuitively, however it good to have it validated.

Managing and overcoming setbacks is key to succeeding in anything. In sales we are tested everyday. Without a sense of optimism it would make getting up to face each day that much harder.

So what is Optimism?
A tendency to expect the best possible outcome or dwell on the most hopeful aspects of a situation.

So optimism is a very useful mindset to take especially into sales, even more so in the tough times. As a sales person I know I have had to call upon my optimism many times in my business career and it works every time. However, many people mistakenly think being optimistic is being unrealistically positive all the time. It is not. Being optimistic does, however, determine how a person deals with setbacks. The good news is that optimism can be learned and developed, resulting in real dividends due to a more resilient workforce.

A lot of research and positive work has been done on learned optimism by Dr. Martin Seligman, Chairman of the University of Pennsylvania Positive Psychology Center and founder of Positive Psychology. If you like to read more about his work I recommend you go to: http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu/Default.aspx

Being an Optimistic Sales Professional is about developing personal strategies helpful to leading a successful sales career. Key areas to focus on include:

• Developing Learned Optimism
• Developing and maintaining resilience & drive
• Developing ways to enhance your wellbeing (diet, sleep, exercise, rest, recreation, etc.)
• Recognising common types of thinking errors
• Dealing effectively with the effects of negative thinking
• Minimising unhelpful self appraisal
• Using Mindfulness and Meditation to enhance your performance

Top performers will have variety of strategies and techniques that they apply in their daily life.

Top performers also possess resilience, drive and determination.

What is Resilience?
Ability to recover readily from illness, depression, adversity, or the like; buoyancy.

What is Drive?
To strive vigorously toward a goal or objective; to work, play, or try wholeheartedly and with determination.

What is Determination?
Firmness of purpose; resolve

And by being optimistic you really help build upon your resilience, drive and determination. All good things for building sales.

What’s the alternative?

Well it has been shown that Pessimistic Sales People are twice as likely to quit their job as those who are optimistic.

Whereas Optimists enjoy better health, take less time off work and are more adaptable in a changing environment.

I know what path I am choosing.

Which path are you going to choose?

I wish you happy and successful selling.

PS Barrett has developed the The Optimistic Sales Professional program. Call us on 03 9532 7677 for more details.

Season’s greetings to you, your teams and your families.

I have enjoyed sharing my opinions, ideas and work with you over this year.

I hope it has supported you in some small way to achieve your goals and endeavors and I look forward to being of service to you all in 2008.

Now given my focus has been on ‘Sales’ you might wonder why I am focusing on “Meditation as path to happiness’ as my final piece for 2007. There is method in my madness. You may recall some months ago I wrote about ‘reflecting on reflecting’ and how it is a powerful skill to help people work and perform to their best. There is also an increasing body of scientific research showing definite links and health benefits on all levels to meditation and mindfulness.

Some of you may not be aware but my university education is in science, studying biochemistry, physiology, pharmacology and immunology. This background combined with my life long participation in sport and my love of yoga and meditation has kept me looking out for the work that links them all together and show the links between mind body and spirit.

Top performing people in many occupations, including sales, are often extremely self-aware and other-aware. Many participate in forms of reflection and meditative practice to assist them in remaining effective in their day-to-day work and dealings with self and others. With that in mind, as another year comes to an end, it is often an opportunity to take time to reflect on the year that was and our role in it – whether we are in sales or not.

With all that we do it is so easy to become caught up in the relentless pursuit of meeting deadlines, pursuing goals and just keeping everything on track, personally and professionally. With all this activity we may put ourselves at risk of missing the wonderful opportunities to reflect on what we have learned and what we already have to be grateful for in our lives.

I have personally been reflecting on the on the 13 years I have been in this business. From those early days to now has been quite some journey. I began this business on 9 January 1995 with the intention of working with the whole person to develop their potential to engage in productive work relationships in concert with a bigger picture. I found focusing on the area of sales and service seemed a logic way to legitimise this type of work more easily. Our aim at Barrett has always been to help people grow and gain mastery through greater self-awareness, understanding, mindfulness and purposeful action. In doing this work, we too, have learned much, received many insights and found much to be grateful for along the way. I have been wanting to speak publicly for a long time about mindfulness and meditation, however back 13 years ago mindfulness, meditation and self-awareness were not mainstream topics for discussion in business. The good news is, that in more recent times, these practices are taking the main stage. Unlike some new age ideas in the market today, people are realising these practices are not fads, they are life long skills which allow for mastery in many areas, including sales. People are now recognising that using Mindfulness and Meditation helps them be more effective, creative and relaxed at work, home and in the community.

With that I would like to introduce you to some of the current work being done in this area. Meditation as path to Happiness (PDF) is paper written and presented by Dr. Craig Hassed at the 2006 Happiness and its Causes conference www.happinessanditscauses.com.au. Dr Craig Hassed was trained in medicine at Melbourne University and graduated in 1984. His interest in a holistic approach led him to focus on wellbeing rather than simply treating illness. This led him to focus upon counselling, mind-body medicine and meditation. In 1988 Craig decided to make a contribution to bridging these missing links in medical education through joining the Monash University Department of Community Medicine and General Practice. I would like to thank him for giving us permission to publish this article and bring his work to your attention. Topics include:

• The stress response and its effects on the mind, brain and body
• Mental health today
• The importance of attention
• The search for happiness
• Meditation, healing and happiness
• Mindfulness meditation

In addition to this paper I have also included a lovely meditation you may like to try over the new year break called The Attentive Heart Meditation

Thank you again for your continued support. I look forward to keeping in touch with you in 2008.

Happy New Year & Best Wishes

Warmest regards

Sue Barrett