Managing stress is crucial for any workplace. According to Vivian Health, over 52% of employees take stress-related absences. Stress also leads over half of the workforce to apply for or consider moving to new jobs. Your sales team is likely to feel the strain—especially since sales is listed in the top ten of Vivian Health’s rankings of the most stressful industries.

It’s thus vital for the sales team manager to prioritize employee well-being in the workplace. Establishing workflows that allow for a healthy work-life balance and creating two-way avenues of communication to gather employee feedback and alleviate heavy task loads are great ways to start. However, you shouldn’t overlook the benefits of recognizing the mind-body connection—especially as the industry continues to go digital.

Most notably, though modern technology is especially beneficial for streamlining various workflows, using it in sales can strain the eyes. Whether your team is drafting pitches, meeting and negotiating with clients, processing orders, or upskilling, they’re likely using digital devices that are now linked to workplace eye health issues—the kind that can worsen their job satisfaction, productivity, and overall well-being.

As such, providing eye care resources can be one of the most effective things sales managers can do to reduce team stress in the modern workplace. Here’s more on how they can help:

Insurance

Your benefits package may already include health insurance. However, that often doesn’t cover things like vision care. That comprises a key source of stress for many American employees, including those who work in sales. With over 69% of them working longer hours, they log an average of four full days of screen time every week. As a result, over 43% of them report worsened eye health. Given the high costs of vision services, a third of Americans forego getting any issues checked because they don’t have the proper insurance. That can lead to any eye conditions they have progressing even further, exacerbating their stress in the workplace.

By providing your team with the necessary vision insurance, you can relieve that stress by giving them peace of mind. Many providers offer discounted or free annual eye exams and can reimburse prescription eyewear purchases. That means your team can benefit from reduced out-of-pocket costs when they need to get their eyesight assessed and potentially corrected with the necessary aids. MetLife, for example, offers eye exams for as little as $45 compared to the $100 people usually have to spend without insurance. Glasses.com also accepts plans from this provider, which will allow your team to buy quality glasses online even from designer brands like Ray-Ban and Michael Kors—which would otherwise cost around $300 without coverage.

Ergonomics

Even the environment your sales team works in can induce stress, especially when it comes to eye health. Insufficient lighting, as well as poor posture promoted by chair, desk, and monitor placement, can particularly cause their eyes to work harder just to see what’s on their computer screens. It can also lead to non-ocular physical issues that can further worsen their well-being. That includes headaches, neck and back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome, all of which are considered symptoms of digital eye strain or computer vision syndrome. Redesigning the workplace to reduce eye strain can help you create an environment where your team can operate more comfortably. As such, ergonomic fixtures will act as crucial vision care resources.

Properly lighting your workplace with warm white light bulbs, for example, will help match the brightness of a screen with its surroundings for additional visual comfort. Meanwhile, providing ergonomic furniture and accessories from trusted brands like Herman Miller—such as chairs, monitor or laptop stands, keyboards, and mice—will help promote natural body positions and device placements that don’t require the eyes to view screens from awkward angles.

Education

Finally, you can coach your sales team in maintaining healthy vision in the workplace, and the best way you can do this is by simply providing them with educational resources. For example, you can hold a quick seminar covering eye care practices, like eating foods with vision-friendly nutrients, exercising to lower ocular pressure, quitting smoking to reduce their likelihood of developing conditions like cataracts, and following the 20-20-20 rule to prevent eye strain. To this end, the volunteer organization Prevent Blindness offers plenty of free online resources you can share with your team, including checklists and guides on the best tricks and tools to use to prevent eye strain and workplace eye injuries.

More importantly, perhaps, you’ll want to let your team know more about the vision care resources you’re providing them. After all, even if you offer vision insurance and an eye-friendly work environment, they may not know how they can best take advantage of them. As such, you may want to organize a meeting where you can walk your sales team through these resources and how they can avail of them. For example, if one of your employees wants to reimburse their eyewear purchases, you can further explain the documents or processes they need to submit or undergo to adequately prove they’re eligible to avail of their insurance coverage. Providing these resources and taking these steps can help significantly reduce the stress they may be experiencing if they feel their eye health is worsening due to the nature of their job.

On my podcast, I spoke with Ray Rike, an expert in subscription software sales. Ray co-authored the book “Data and Diagnosis Driven Selling.” With over 30 years of experience, Ray shared valuable insights.

The Sales Landscape Analogy

Ray compared the challenges of sales to San Francisco’s microclimates. Just a few blocks can change the weather. This analogy showed the need for a systematic sales approach. The approach must adapt to ever-changing market conditions.

Ray explained the difference between sales methodology and sales process. A methodology is essential, but you also need a structured step-by-step process. This data-informed process guides the sales journey.

Ray and his co-authors offer wisdom on identifying the ideal customer profile in their book. This profile is based on data from successfully retained and renewed customers. The book guides sales pros in refining their approach.

Using Intent Data

Ray highlighted the value of leveraging intent data to prioritize sales outreach. Focus efforts on potential buyers showing positive interest signals. This optimizes time and resources.

Diagnosing the business need is critical in sales. Understand if your solution aligns with the customer’s needs. Collaborate with the customer to co-create tailored solutions.

Ray emphasized understanding customer pain points to tailor product demonstrations. This builds trust by showcasing relevant capabilities.

AI’s Role in Sales

Through data analysis, artificial intelligence can revolutionize sales processes. It can surface risks, predict deal probabilities, and optimize decision-making.

Ray’s book guides adopting a data-driven sales approach. He has also built a benchmarking database for recurring revenue software businesses. This database informs better decision-making.

Ray’s insights highlight the power of data, diagnosis, and AI in mastering SaaS sales. As the landscape evolves, these lessons will guide sales professionals toward excellence.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

In the intricate labyrinth of our minds, decisions are the threads that weave the tapestry of our lives. Each choice, whether monumental or mundane, is a ripple that resonates through time. In this article, we embark on a thought-provoking journey into the fascinating realm of decision-making, guided by the illuminating insights shared in a recent podcast episode. Our guest, Adele Spraggon—an esteemed behavior change expert, accomplished author, and international speaker—offers a profound exploration into the dynamics of the brain and the nuanced art of decision-making.

Unmasking the Power of the Subconscious

Unbeknownst to most, the vast majority of our decisions are orchestrated by the subconscious mind. These intricate patterns, woven in the tapestry of our formative years, continue to shape our choices throughout adulthood. The profound implications of this revelation invite us to ponder the untapped potential lying dormant within our subconscious minds. What if we could unravel these patterns, examine their threads, and reconfigure them to align with our conscious intentions?

Navigating Sales and the Landscape of Emotions

Venturing into the realm of sales often conjures images of aggressive tactics and discomfort. Adele Spraggon, a torchbearer of transformative change, sheds light on this paradigm, unraveling its intricacies. She underscores the significance of emotions in the sales process, urging us to address these feelings with empathy and authenticity. Employing language grounded in emotion can dissolve the barriers that often erect themselves between the seller and the buyer, paving the way for a more harmonious and relaxed exchange.

Triggers: Unveiling the Catalysts of Reaction

Have you ever experienced an emotional response that seemed to defy logic? These emotional triggers, often deeply embedded in our subconscious, can wield immense influence over our reactions. Adele Spraggon guides us toward a profound revelation—the recognition and comprehension of these triggers grant us a semblance of control over our emotional responses. Armed with this awareness, we can navigate our interactions with a heightened sense of self-mastery.

Discovering Joy in Selling: A Paradigm Shift

The transformation from a reluctant seller to an individual who relishes the art of selling might seem like an enigma, but Adele Spraggon reveals that the key lies in shifting our perspective. The pivot, she asserts, occurs when we transition from viewing sales as a transactional endeavor to recognizing it as an avenue for genuine connection. This metamorphosis is an embodiment of the age-old adage, “It’s not what you sell, but how you sell it.” The paradigm shift, though nuanced, bears the potential to redefine our interactions, engendering a deeper sense of purpose and fulfillment in our endeavors.

Unraveling the Neural Tapestry: Adele’s Four-Step Technique

Adele Spraggon’s insights transcend the theoretical and venture into the practical. She introduces a meticulously crafted four-step technique designed to dismantle the shackles of sales anxiety and rewire the neural pathways governing our responses. This method commences with the identification of anxiety patterns, followed by a journey of introspection and dissection. Ultimately, the technique culminates in the restructuring of neural pathways, fostering a newfound sense of empowerment and liberation.

The Art of Listening: A Bridge to Understanding

In the cacophony of human interactions, the art of listening often takes a backseat. Yet, as Adele Spraggon elucidates, listening serves as a bridge to understanding, a cornerstone upon which relationships are built. The significance of active listening extends beyond the mere exchange of words; it encompasses a profound respect for the individual’s narrative and a commitment to fostering genuine connection. By asking probing questions and seeking clarification, we unveil the gems of comprehension, enriching our interactions immeasurably.

Delving Deeper: A Call to Action

The insights shared in this article merely scratch the surface of the profound conversation that transpired in the podcast episode. To embark on a more profound exploration of the art of decision-making, we urge you to immerse yourself in the full episode. For those whose curiosity has been piqued by Adele Spraggon’s wisdom, her book stands as a comprehensive guide to unraveling the complexities of the brain and harnessing its untapped potential.

As we extend our gratitude to you, our cherished podcast community, we invite you to stay attuned to the forthcoming installments that promise to illuminate diverse facets of the human experience. In a world pulsating with decisions both great and small, the insights unveiled herein offer a compass—a guiding light—as we navigate the enigmatic terrain of choice.

Carload Richie: The Life and Times of Harold F. Richie

Don Gillmor is a journalist, novelist, historian, and children’s book author from Canada. He has won numerous journalism and literary honors. He has written three novels and five non-fiction books. Gillmor won three gold and seven silver Canadian National Magazine Awards for his magazine work, and he has been dubbed “one of Canada’s most recognized profile writers.” In this expert insight interview, John and Don discuss his recently published book “Carload Richie: The life and times of Harold F. Richie.”

This Expert Insight Interview Discusses:

• The Book’s Origin.
• What Was Carload Ritchie’s Selling Strategy?
• What Was His Most Significant Advantage?

Life of The World’s Greatest Salesman

Carload Ritchie was born in the nineteenth century on a little island about 5 hours north of Toronto. He was one of the first people in the country to consider selling. As a result, he established operations in Australia, New Zealand, South America, North America, and Central America. This was what set him unique at the time.

He was a dedicated family man, although he spent more time traveling than at home. Carload Ritchie only traveled by car or plane because trains were too regular for him. An aviation tour around South America to inspect his agencies was common; he once claimed that he traveled 125,000 miles each year.

His Approach To Selling

In Time Magazine’s obituary, he was described as small and fat, despite the fact that he did not have such physical characteristics. Still, he felt that he should go to every territory he was selling into, so he traveled. He went around, met everyone, and looked around the market. He fully comprehends the market.

He realized what companies he was representing as a sales representative. He saw the promise in the best of them and ended up purchasing a number of them, and from them, a number of items became the foundation of huge pharmaceutical corporations.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Lee Chaix McDonough discusses creating a sustainable coaching business. Lee Chaix McDonough is the CEO and founder of Coach with Clarity, a training and education company for life and business coaches. She is also the host of Coach with Clarity Podcast and author of the #1 best-selling book Act on Your Business: Braving the Storms of Entrepreneurship and Creating Success Through Meaning, Mindset, and Mindfulness.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• Why do we avoid seeking support in our respective fields of expertise
• The prevalence of change in our lives and why we must always be prepared for it
• Some of the qualities that make a good coach

Seeking Support

We are willing to invest so much money in our hobbies, getting coaches, and paying for professional guidance, but we refuse to do the same for the thing that puts bread on our table. On some level, this must have to do with the assumption that we should just be good at what we do inherently.

Seeking support from someone else in our field of expertise might have been interpreted as a weakness once upon a time. However, we are seeing a paradigm shift and the fact that really strong business owners need a team of people to support them, including a coach.

Expecting Change

One thing is certain, and that is change. Regardless of what we have going on at any given time, we’re guaranteed to have some kind of change waiting around the corner. Trying to go through these changes alone is a very isolating experience.

Surrounding yourself with people who have your back and who you can trust will help you navigate the uncertainties that come with any kind of transition. That is one of the many reasons business and life coaches are such a smart investment for high-performing professionals.

Finding a Balance

There may be many people out there who would make fantastic coaches but don’t realize it, simply because we don’t all inherently understand what it takes to be a good coach. The truth is that there are qualities that can be honed to take somebody from being a good coach to being a great one.  For instance, there are good coaching apps that can improve your professional practice greatly. Adding them to your business model can help you scale, while still delivering practice-branded, personalized solutions.

One thing that Lee Chaix McDonough always looks for in people is their ability to balance their internal voice with the need to really focus their attention on their client and what they’re communicating both verbally and non-verbally.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

There’s no question about it, we’ve all been through a lot in the last two years. Even if your sales team was not immediately or directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, even if no one on your team was touched by the illness and you were able to keep your team up and running through those long months of lockdown, your team has still been impacted.

But the lingering effects of the pandemic are not the only reason why your sales team may not be performing as you need or want them to. There can also be deeper, systemic issues that traditional incentives, such as commissions and bonus pay, can’t accommodate. Knowing how to respond to these issues with understanding and compassion, however, is essential both for the overall performance of your team and for the general wellbeing of your team members.

Motivating Beyond Money

Once upon a time, the gold standard for incentivizing your sales team was the promise of a hefty commission. But many employees today need more. Above all, employees are looking to feel valued by their company.

And before they invest their time, skills, and energy in an organization, they want to know that their organization is willing to invest in them, too. One powerful way to do this is by offering your sales teams incentives for pursuing advanced education, such as Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees, which can be valuable in innumerable industries and career fields. In addition to tuition reimbursement, for example, you could offer individualized career planning that would include a significant promotion upon the attainment of the MBA.

And when you encourage your team to cultivate their skills and to advance within your organization as a result, you’re going to have a more loyal and motivated workforce. Not only that, but the skills acquired through this advanced training will only enhance their performance, which is great both for your employees and for the company.

Focus on Relationships

No matter how driven your sales team may be, no one wants to feel like just another cog in the machine. So if you find that your team’s performance is slumping and none of the traditional approaches, such as pay incentives, are working, then that’s a good sign that money isn’t the issue and you need to take another tack.

The key to this is building a strong relationship with your employees. Keep your office doors open, literally and figuratively, whenever you can. Work alongside them as much as possible. Above all, be present and get to know them. Only then will you truly begin to understand what they need, both as a team and as individuals.

For example, you may discover that you have an employee who is struggling with a crisis of confidence after losing a client. Offering a word of encouragement or some specific, individualized praise for a successful deal the employee has completed can be all you need not just to motivate that one individual but to fundamentally alter the tenor of the entire team.

Offer Rewards and Recognition

Compassionate incentives, above all, are about showing your employees you see them, you care about them, and you want the best for them. And that’s why rewards and recognition need to become an integral part of workplace culture.

The good news, though, is that you don’t have to break the bank to make this work. In fact, rewards and recognition aren’t primarily about money at all. If it were, then commissions and financial bonuses would have been enough. But there are other and, for many employees, more meaningful ways to celebrate your employees’ achievements.

For example, if you have an employee who has gone the extra mile in landing a new customer or closing that sale, then you might reward them with a gift card to their favorite restaurant. And the reward will be even more powerful because it shows that you have taken the time to know them, that you have cared enough to learn what their favorite restaurant is.

Such a personal touch when you are celebrating your employees’ achievements and acknowledging the contributions they make to your organization can be far more motivating than a simple pay bump triggered in payroll. Commissions and bonuses might be great for your employees’ household budget, and certainly, no employee will feel motivated if they think they’re not compensated fairly. But to incentivize your team across the long term, and particularly to lift them out of a performance slump, they need to feel appreciated and acknowledged in personal and thoughtful ways.

The Takeaway

A career in sales can be as challenging as it is rewarding. And that means that motivating your employees can be no mean feat at times. But if you find that commissions and bonus pay just aren’t getting you the performance results you need, then that’s a strong indicator your sales team needs more. Incentivizing your employees through compassionate means, from relationship bidding to employee rewards and recognition to the cultivation of your employees’ professional development can be exactly what your team needs to achieve excellence.

In this Expert Insight Interview, Dr. Nadia Brown discusses why courage is a critical sales quality we need. Dr. Nadia Brown is the founder of The Doyenne Agency, a global sales, and sales training company.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• The importance of courage in sales
• How it has never been more challenging to get the prospects’ attention
• Acknowledging the things that you can control

Fear of Rejection

Courage is the willingness to move despite fear and concerns. Sales conversations can bring up worries about rejection, so having the courage to put yourself out there is a necessary sales skill.

A lot of people default into sales as a career. Now, this is being increasingly addressed with sales courses in universities, but once upon a time, most people who studied marketing ended up in sales as their first job, so it is not uncommon for young salespeople to come into the profession unprepared which is particularly scary.

Celebrating Your Courage

We feel that we are busier than we’ve ever been, or more distracted at the very least, so when a salesperson calls, the last thing that we want to do is talk to them. It has never been more difficult to get somebody’s attention, so the rejection rate has increased considerably in recent years.

So, how do you find the courage and resilience to keep going when the going gets tough? One thing you can do is celebrate the fact that you dared to put yourself out there in the first place.

Focusing on What You Can Control

Sometimes, there’s so much pressure for sales professionals to get the “yes,” close the deal, and move things forward that we don’t take the time to celebrate or acknowledge the fact that we did our part. We can’t control if and when our clients say yes; we would all be billionaires if we could.

What we can control are our actions and decisions to put ourselves out there, so sales professionals should take the time to pause and take a moment to acknowledge the things that they can control, rather than focusing on things they cannot control.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.

If you could go to school to be a leader, would you?

Early Intervention

There is a necessity to start developing students as leaders, right from the get-go. One of the things that the Doerr Institute emphasizes is early intervention. Just as with musical instruction, or playing a new sport, or learning a second language, the earlier that you introduce these skills into a person’s life, the better chance they have to develop those skills and gain expertise. The same goes for leadership. Helping young adults in their most formative years is a great strategy for developing leadership capacity.

Eliminating Trial and Error

Often times, leaders become leaders through a lot of mistakes and periods of trial and error. However, if students can cultivate skills early on, it eliminates a lot of the minutiae that comes with learning a skill on the job. If students can learn skills like emotional skills, cognitive skills, and social skills early on, they are setting themselves up for a lifetime of knowing how to lead, and lead well.

Developing Leadership Skills

There are any important skills that create good leaders. Emotional skills, cognitive skills, and social skills are among the basic requirements. In addition to these skills, it’s also important to cultivate a leader identity. Unless a leader sees themselves as a leader, they’re not likely to step up into leadership responsibility or display those behaviors. There is also a core set of practical skills that develop competence in leaders. Some of these skills include delegating, inspiring, and casting a vision, knowing how to deliver feedback, and being able to develop the people on your team. Fostering a variety of different skills helps to create a well rounded, successful leader.

Why University Programs?

Some people may be skeptical about going to college for the purpose of gaining leadership skills. After all, leaders have been made through on the job and real-life experience for years, or feel as if they got enough leadership training from their bachelor’s degree. But, going to college for four years does not turn you into a leader. You may gain a lot of knowledge, and learn how to think, but it does not turn you into an actual leader or prepare for you for leadership roles. People need to seek out leadership experiences and intentionally develop those skills. Those who participate in collegiate leadership programs such as the Doerr Institute are developing their leader identity and displaying more effective leadership skills.