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Healthy Salespeople - Healthy Sales Results
| Guest post by: Sue Barrett |
Article Overview: As I have stated previously, sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well - both physically and psychologically. They are self disciplined, self managed and take good care of themselves. You only have to look at them and know they are healthy. Their skin is clear, they have a vitality about them that is fresh, their attitude is positive and they are keen to learn. What sort of sales culture do you encourage? Is it one of health and wellbeing or a boozy, extreme living on the edge culture?
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Healthy Salespeople - Healthy Sales Results
Warning! This might sound like your mother.
As I have stated previously, sales is a demanding profession. Top performers know that to sustain a high level of performance, they need to keep fit and well - both physically and psychologically. They are self disciplined, self managed and take good care of themselves. You only have to look at them and know they are healthy. Their skin is clear, they have a vitality about them that is fresh, their attitude is positive and they are keen to learn.
What sort of sales culture do you encourage? Is it one of health and wellbeing or a boozy, extreme living on the edge culture?
I know you are not your sales people's keeper nor their parent, but I believe as business owners and leaders we can do a lot to set the values and culture of our business by what we encourage and value and how we live our lives. We want our businesses' to be healthy and successful, in so doing we need our people to be healthy and successful too.
It is quite interesting when I come in to run sales training sessions for teams of sales people and try to work out who are the successful ones and who are struggling. When I first enter to room I have not usually met the team and don't know who is a good performer and who is struggling yet. Over the years of running sales training programs I have been doing a little observation experiment of mine (not a scientific study as yet) to see if my observations are in line with my working hypothesis that the healthy ones are the successful ones. Each time I have tried this out I am at least 90% on the right track.
The healthy ones eat and drink healthily, are on time and actively engaged in their learning.
On the other hand the average or poorer performing sales people are often not taking good care of themselves, especially the younger people I see these days. The level of smoking, junk food and caffeine intake (Coke, ‘V', coffee, etc.) I see being consumed in great amounts by many of these people is concerning. And in addition, though not surprising, is the lack of physical fitness of these people. You can see they have trouble concentrating and participating in activities. They are quite hyped up (no surprise with the caffeine) and if I get to see them over several days they are out late most nights and pretty wrecked the next day.
I raise this topic out of concern for the many sales people I come across in my work and for 1,000's of others who may be like them.
I encourage you to help model good behaviours and ways if living as this will help you and they lead healthier sales careers and lives. It will be good for your business too.
You may like to ask the following questions of you and your sales team:
When you don't take good care of yourself, what can be the negative effects on your sales effectiveness and performance? When considering this question, try and recall a time when you have not taken adequate care of your health and wellbeing. Think about how your work was affected.
What are some of the ways that you find are helpful in looking after yourself?
With that you make like to consider yours and your team's wellbeing. Here are some tips of better wellbeing.
What is Well Being?
According to the Cummins Model, there are 7 domains to well-being.
For each, both perceived and actual (i.e. subjective and objective assessments) are considered in assessing well-being.
- Productivity - related to work life, or other productive activity.
- Emotional - satisfaction, contentment with ones life according to whether it is consistent with their life plans (includes mental health).
- Health - objective and subjective measures of the status of physical well being.
- Intimacy - Connectedness with friends and family
- Safety - Actual level of safety - physical & perceived safety
Ways to enhance your well-being
Sleep: Regular sleep habits, Uninterrupted by wakeful periods, Awaken feeling refreshed
Activity: Pleasant events, social activities, hobbies, games etc
Regular Exercise: Regular (20 minutes, raised heart rate at least3 x /wk)
Food & Nutrition: Regular 5 meals per day. Balanced diet high in fruit, veggie's and fibre.
Other: Relaxation / Meditation, Personal development, Supportive Counselling, Complimentary Medicine
As you can see there are no new flashy ideas here just tried and true methods we know are good for us.
Just ask your mother.
I wish you happy, successful and healthy selling.
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Article Tags: attitude, business owners, caffeine intake, coffee, coke, edge culture, health and wellbeing, junk food, living on the edge, observation, profession, sales training programs, sessions, taking good care, top performers, vitality, working hypothesis
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About the Author: Sue Barrett RSS for Sue's articles - Visit Sue's website Sue is one of the leading voices commenting on sales today. Sue has a unique way of getting to the heart of the matter - she combines extensive knowledge, research, insight, and practical experience with a deep sense of compassion to bring forth a more enlightened way of thinking and participating in the world. This makes her stand out from the usual crowd of existing business commentators. Her ability to distill complex ideas and relate them to life's everyday challenges and opportunities has audience members and readers leaving with a stronger understanding of "self" and how they can begin to achieve excellence through purposeful action. Presenting and writing on a wide range of topics about the world of 21st Century selling Sue's presentations and articles include sales philosophy and culture, sales leadership and coaching, sales training, selling skills, resilience, neuroscience in selling and more. Sue's articles are some of the most widely read in Australia and she is gaining a following overseas as well. Besides publishing on Barrett Sales Blog site, Sue has been the lead sales writer for www.smartcompany.com.au since 2007, and is also regularly published on other highly regarded publications such as Australian Anthill Magazine, Niche Magazine, Marketing Mag, Business Chicks, and Business Deals. Click here to visit Sue's website   Whats channel stuffing and why is it problematic How much training should I give my sales team Getting back to the sales basics Is your sales effort built on a house of cards Persistence and the Honourable Retreat |
Related Forum Posts
Re: How does an entrepreneur stay energized?
- Hi there,
This subject is not only for entrepreneurs. Everybody can benefit from this, that is the reason why 'Healthy Living and Eating' is a multi billion Dollar business.
Often I smile, because so much is written about it. So many different business are blooming and doing well. Whilst there is so much knowledge and opportunity to be healthy and well, the need is still growing.
There is so much that could be said. The cheapest form of energy is gained by a good sleep.
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional
- [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan,
I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz]
I second the request...
Run a major competition
- You beat me to the punch LoveInventions! I was just on my way to post this!
The idea is simple: run a competition for a major prize to get people posting. In this case Darren put up a $729 Nikon DSLR up for grabs as the top prize. The winner was selected randomly and each post you wrote gave you another chance to win.
[quote:1nc4sv0r]The Goal - the aim of the exercise was simple. To sign up new members to my forum and increase page views. My hope was to have a bumper month but also get new members signed up to have an ongoing impact on overall activity going forward.[/quote:1nc4sv0r]
[quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: Traffic - Over the full month traffic was increased 66.7%.[/quote:1nc4sv0r]
[quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: New Members - Recruiting new members to the forum was another goal of the competition. We’d had an influx in January of 1803 new sign ups as a result of a previous smaller competition but since had been around the 1200 per month. April however saw a boost in numbers by an extra 2823 members.[/quote:1nc4sv0r]
[quote:1nc4sv0r]Results: Activity - Another bonus related to increased traffic is the increases in user activity on the forum. Here’s the increase in new ‘threads’ to the forum (up from the 1500’s to just over 4000 for the month). And here is the increase in new posts (up from 1400 per month to over 43000 for the month).[/quote:1nc4sv0r]
[quote:1nc4sv0r]
The Downside
So far it’s sounding fairly rosy isn’t it. Increases in traffic, members, activity and even earning are all good. However there was two downsides.
1. Moderation Workload - I have an amazing team of moderators to DPS but the month of April was the hardest that they’ve ever worked. I totally underestimated the extra load upon them in setting up this competition. It has made me reconsider how I run future competitions.
2. Impact upon Quality of Reader Interaction - over all the increased activity of the site brought in some wonderful new members who are interacting on the site with genuine interaction. However a small number of new members were just there for the competition - even though I made it clear that spammy entries wouldn’t win. This impacted moderators workloads but also the overall morale on the site a little. I think we managed to contain it but again - next time I run a competition it’ll not be based upon post numbers but rather some sort of quality level of interaction.[/quote:1nc4sv0r]
What do you guys think? Is it worth testing out? Considering we already give out over $1,000 in month prizes, what would be the ultimate prize that we award at the end of the competition?
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