Sales Success Hangovers: How to Nip Them in the Bud!

So your sales month has ended and now you have to start all over again!

One of my team members was lamenting about this the other day. He was suffering from the agony top performers go through when they have an awesome month. Their monthly target has been hit or exceeded, and now the reality of starting again for the next month sets in.

The “sales success hangover" is how I describe it. Any top producer has experienced the hangover. We work hard, move prospects through our pipeline and achieve the top of the leaderboard for our team, get the accolades of our management and peers, have a victory celebration. Then, the reality that we have to start all over again the next month sets in. Ugh.

Boom, sales success hangover is in full effect. Anxiety and doubt creep into our minds. I call it pissing on your brain.

But how is it even possible?

You just proved you are a top performer. You were the best last month, and you have the commission cheque to prove it.

As a sales coach, how do we identify these hangovers in our top performers and help them recover to succeed again? I have come up with the perfect analogy for sales leaders to execute when they have a top performer that's headed for the hangover.

Keep in mind that typically, 80% of our business comes from 20% of our producers, so we have to make sure those producers keep grinding out the business. Minimizing the hangover is key to ongoing production.

Here is my analogy for high performers; take them aside and relate to them that they remind you of Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots. Or, if you happen to know their favourite team and they have been having success, use that player and organization.

As I am writing this Brady and the Pats are 8-0.  

Anyways, remind the high performer that he/she reminds you of the sports figure “it” team. They just had one of the best performances of their career last week and this coming Sunday, at 11am EST, they have to "start all over" and do it all again!  

I have found this sports analogy to be very motivating for sales professionals. Knowing that they are like a famous sports figure is compelling to their ego and fuels their competitive nature. We all face the same challenges in sales that Mr Brady and the Patriots face every week: next game they start all over again.

Let's look closely at the skills you deployed last week/month/quarter to find success. It was every qualifying question, follow up call or email, training session, 14 day trial launched, closing question asked that brought you success. Let's not forget about these as we move into the next battle/month!

Sales is very much a mental game and your top performers need your coaching to ensure success as much as the struggling members of your team. By minimizing the length of the inevitable sales hangover, top performers experience will ensure you reach the group targets set by your CEO or board.

Register for the next sales training webinar with George Leith. The webinars are every Wednesday at 1 pm EST.