5 Ways to Stay Motivated in Sales

Sales is a rollercoaster profession – everyone who’s been doing it for a long time knows there’s days where you feel like you’re on a treadmill going nowhere. No one is responding, you can’t keep the pipeline full and it feels like nothing’s getting done. Other days it feels like you’re ramming your head into a brick wall because there’s so much to do and you don’t know how to prioritize things.

Motivation is key in the sales profession for ultra high performers. It’s something that requires focus day-to-day; you can’t just wake up and expect you’re going to be motivated. We sat down with Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales and Selling to discuss five ways to stay motivated in sales:

1. TIME BLOCKING: At the beginning of each quarter, block time every week with the activities you know you need to complete to keep the pipeline full, keep accounts moving or expanding and continue adding value to your clients. Doing this will help you fight back the natural distractions of business and life.
2. COMPETITIVENESS: Knowing what you’re capable of and beating benchmarks can be very rewarding. Sometimes that means competing with yourself and other times it means competing with others. But try to have fun with it; spend time with those that are crushing it and figure out what they’re doing right.
3. CELEBRATE SMALL WINS: Sometimes a sale can take months and it’s easy to lose track of your focus along the way. Rewarding yourself for the small commitments along the way can help you set new goals and stay on track. And if you don’t get a win? Find a way to blow off some steam and let it go to reset your focus.
4. COMMUNITY: Sales reps can have the tendency to put up barriers. Making time to get together with other sales reps once a month or once a quarter can establish bonds that keep you accountable. It’s important to seek out community both inside and outside the sales organization that can be brutally honest with you.
5. LISTEN TO THE PODCAST FOR THE 5TH ELEMENT!

Listen to the entire podcast episode to get more insight into each key element, the things you, as a revenue executive, must be aware of to remain relevant and successful in the new sales landscape.

This post is based on a podcast discussion with Brian Burns, host of The Brutal Truth About Sales & Selling. To hear this episode, and many more like it, you can subscribe to the B2B Revenue Executive Experience.

If you don’t use iTunes, you can listen to every episode here.