Behind the Numbers: The Hidden Emotional Rollercoaster of a Corporate Salesperson

Introduction

Sales are not just numbers. It seems like corporate sales is all about numbers, meeting targets, increasing sales, and monitoring conversions. Apart from the charts and statistics, there is a very human journey. Every transaction has a backstory for a salesperson, one that is filled with excitement, worry, hopefulness, conflicts, and occasional despair.

The Thrill of the Chase

The excitement of a new lead is the beginning of any trade. A salesperson's life is similar to discovering a hidden opportunity. Salespeople visualize their prospects replying, "Yes, let's do this!" But excitement is accompanied by uncertainty. “Will the potential client reply?” “Will they be interested?” The chase is fueled by an intense mixture of nervousness and optimism at this point.

The Happiness of Connecting

 It's a moment of pure joy and happiness when a prospect finally interacts. All of the work is validated by a favorable reaction or an insightful discussion. Connecting with someone who genuinely needs their product or service makes salespeople feel amazing. "Sales is not just about selling a product; it's about solving a problem, building relationships, and navigating the emotional rollercoaster that comes with every deal."

Resilience and Patience

The most difficult step after submitting a proposal is waiting. As salespeople ask themselves, "Did I say enough?" time seems to slow down. Was that a good offer? This stage puts resilience and patience to the test. The waiting game is often a little stressful.

The Success of Making a Purchase

The high point of a salesperson's career is closing a deal. They love hearing the words, "Yes, we're on board." It's a time to celebrate the victory as well as the hard work and dedication that led to it. Despite the difficulties, this is what motivates salesmen to continue.

Pressure from Boss

Sometimes we are doing all the best we can and giving it our all, but still there is no sale for weeks or sometimes even months, at this point you know that you are doing your best but sometimes your boss may not know this, so he or she may start asking questions as to why there has been no sale for months and sometimes these conversations with your boss may turn into heated arguments, at that time you may also get exhausted and tired of not getting any sale and it’s human nature to get angry or upset at such point, but what we should do here or at least try to do is explain our efforts to the boss and that is not going to work always because well, it’s your boss, and it is kind of their job to keep you on your toes so that you thrive and do your best and rather than taking the comments made by your boss during that heated conversation negatively, we shall take it as a challenge and keep trying, and sometimes we have to ignore the boss’s comments as it is for the best, but make sure your boss doesn’t know that you do that.

The Letdown of Missing a Sale

Rejection is painful, and not all talks are successful, regardless of the salesperson's level of experience. It's common to feel disappointed and question what went wrong. Every rejection, meanwhile, offers an opportunity for development. With each "no", salesmen get stronger and prepare for the next "yes." 

Onboarding clients takes time. After the client agrees to a meeting, which is a good thing, many questions come up after the meeting, such as: “Did I do it correctly?” “Did I miss something?” “Will he come?”  This is just normal; every salesperson fears rejection, but we should also remember that every no brings us one step closer to a yes. Therefore, we should learn from rejections and not be afraid of them.

Data Mining and Lead Generation 

The boring part, or sometimes the dreaded part of sales, finding and collecting the emails, LinkedIn accounts, and other info of potential clients can sometimes or often be exhausting as it is a never-ending process and the mind gets tired. We have all faced it, but in times like these, we should remind ourselves that to prepare a meal, we need to collect all the right ingredients, as without the ingredients there is no meal, AKA no lead, no client, no sale. Although lead generation is now easier than before, thanks to AI & automation tools.

Every Knock Counts 

Hundreds, thousands of virtual doors (emails, LinkedIn messages) are knocked every week, every month, but not all doors are going to open, and not all open doors are going to generate a sale; there will be a ‘no’, ‘not interested yet’ and many other forms of ‘no’s’. This is the point where we start to think, ‘What am I doing wrong?’, ‘What shall I change?’, and sometimes we start to doubt our capabilities. And when this happens, we should think that “every knock counts," meaning if we knock on 100 doors and there is a sale on the 100th door, that doesn’t mean that the 99 doors before that 100th were a waste of time; rather, if that sale is of $10 000, we should divide that by 100, meaning each door was worth $1000. Thinking of sales this way will help us to gain motivation when we are stuck in the ‘No, thank you zone’ of sales. I heard about thinking of sales this way from Grant Cardone, an American entrepreneur. 

And personally, I think questions like, ‘What am I doing wrong?’, ‘What shall I change?’, keeps us in check and helps us to modify our sales & marketing techniques and stay on trend and up to date. These questions shall be in a healthy amount, and we should not let these questions instill self-doubt in ourselves.

The Right Door

While it is true that all knocks and all doors count (at least as far as I know), the right door matters too. The right door here does not mean the right client, but rather what the right door means is the door that is more likely to get answered. I remember our team once had a lead, and we approached the lead through an email and then later through LinkedIn. The email was not answered, or maybe not even opened when later we sent a message on LinkedIn; there it was the right door, answered and opened, and a sale was made, and the lead turned into a client. So, the two doors here were Email and LinkedIn, and the right door was LinkedIn.      

So the message here is “knock on every available door," because sometimes all it takes is one right door.  

Conclusion

Sales is more than simply statistics; it's a journey including feelings, perseverance, and determination. From the excitement of new leads and internal conflicts with the team to the lessons gained from rejection, salespeople go through this rollercoaster every day. Therefore, the next time you come across a salesperson, remember the courage and tenacity needed to undergo it every day. Respect their achievements, acknowledge their difficulties, and appreciate the human element of this profession.

What would you say about the life of a salesperson?