I meet periodically with a group of professional salespeople who are dedicated to sharpening their sales skills using the Sandler Selling Methodology. In the most recent session, we discussed something we all see at times – the peaks and valleys of sales. We’ve all had that experience in which sales cycle up and down, making a sales revenue line that has repeated peaks and valleys. What we all prefer is that sales continue on the upward swing and never trend down. So why does this happen?
We talked about the contributing factors. The consensus was that these peaks and valleys represent the daily level of effort we put into our sales process. We all know what activities we need to do to generate sales (for many of us, cold calling is a critical part), but we’re not consistent from day to day or month to month to the level of effort that we put forth. And this inconsistency is reflected in our sales numbers.
And why weren’t we being consistent? As we talked more, it seemed that the most common challenge was procrastination due to anxiety and stress associated with the outreach process. Although we all know that cold calling is the first step to qualifying leads that generate revenue, we fret over it.
So a critical success factor is the ability to handle that stress and overcome procrastination. As a sales professional and a professional “cold caller” who uses the DISC personality profile to understand my sales team and my sales prospects, I realize that each of the four DISC personality types requires a different approach to stress relief.
Stress Management Recommendations by DISC Personality Type
If you are a D (dominant) personality type, physical exercise is most likely the best solution for stress management.
If you are an I (Influencer), then social interaction is a great stress reliever as you thrive on connecting with others.
If you are an S (Steady Relator), getting adequate rest and having good sleep hygiene are important to recharging and handling stress daily.
If you are a C (Cautious/Compliant), then having time alone is going to help manage your stress.
Wherever you fall in the DISC profile, it’s important to make sure that you take active steps to reduce stress to remove the most common reason for procrastination. By doing this you’ll be able to act consistently on the activities that you know will generate consistent revenue and you’ll see fewer valleys and maximize those peaks.
At One of a Kind Sales, we are masters of consistency and we love cold calling. We can help your team become better cold callers or we can take on that task for you so that your team can go out and convert the new clients that we have qualified. Call Nancy at 908-879-2911 to learn more.
