What are the biggest frustrations you have as a sales professional?

Being in sales, we experience challenges on a daily basis. One of the bigger frustrations is having a great quarter or year and then seeing the dial goes back to zero, knowing you need to start all over again. It’s what we all sign up for, but that doesn’t make it any easier of a pill to swallow. As a sales leader, one of the biggest challenges can be motivating reps to maintain consistency. Keeping reps motivated to successfully climb the mountain each quarter is not a one size fits all approach. For some reps, it’s providing growth and development opportunities that keep them driving, for others it’s SPIFs and recognition that helps them get where they need to be.

Finding a way to effectively manage your time can be another big frustration. At times, the sheer number of responsibilities on our plate can feel overwhelming. It’s hard when everyone seems to need something from you and there aren't enough hours in the day. I’ve found that it’s important to be as highly organized as possible, prioritize tasks, learn your productivity patterns, block out calendars to complete important activities and schedule breaks to refresh.

One of the biggest frustrations in sales is handling all the requests and tasks you have, which compete for your time and attention:

• You need to do what your prospects/customers require so you can move the deal forward.

• You need to do what your manager has asked of you (all those CRM updates, KPI measures you need to hit, etc.)

• You need to do the things to progress your career or continue your personal development.

When making decisions on how to prioritize my time, I have found that if I can take care of ONE item for each of these major buckets, each day, I can feel good about my productivity and ensuring I'm focused. Here's how I prioritize for each bucket:

• You need to do what your prospects/customers require so you can move the deal forward.

  • Focus on the "closest to the close" activity - what is the next best action that will move the deal along to a closed-won status?

• You need to do what your manager has asked of you (all those CRM updates, KPI measures you need to hit, etc.)

  • Focus on the action that will have the largest impact if you DON'T do it - for many, this is updating forecasts and pipeline details. Hunters may find it is getting through the call activity metric leadership requires to build pipeline. Find yours and tackle it first thing.

• You need to do the things to progress your career or continue your personal development.

  • Focus on a skill/training that can impact your current role as well as "future you". This may look like reading a book on time management, or working with a mentor/buddy on developing better discovery questions, handling negotiations, etc. You'll be working towards personal growth with a skill that can impact your current role and set you up for success in your next job too.

From a mental perspective burnout is definitely a real challenge in sales. I answered another question in how to handle burnout, as a career in sales is a marathon not a sprint.

From a tactical perspective, one of the biggest frustrations I have experienced as an AE are constant book-of-business (BoB) or territory changes.

AE's can really hit their stride when they can consistently work their BoB, and sudden, unexpected changes can be disruptive to productivity and revenue. Building a strong BoB is one of the hardest part of sales, once the foundation is set I like to give things time, watch reps cook and allows the “magic” to happen.

*This is of course if the current BoB/Territory alignment is working.

Sales can be a rollercoaster. You and your company are always judging your performance by what you've done lately. Missing quota is impossible not to take personally, and it's inevitable. Dealing with the highs and lows of selling month in and month out can be super difficult, it's very important to build a healthy process for handling stress and live with healthy habits or it can get the better of you.