Winston Churchill has often been quoted as saying that “a pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Repeating this to your sales team could inspire them during a difficult patch, when so many things miraculously seem to be going against them. However, if you still need some extra help, here are some techniques which you could use to stir them back into enthusiasm, much like Churchill himself kept up wartime Britain’s spirits.

Don’t vent your own stress on your employees

While it might look like we have just likened your workers to the British troops during the war, it would be counterproductive to bark orders at those employees like you are a drill sergeant. This would make clear that the difficulty of the whole situation is affecting your own ability to stay calm. Showing stress in this way could induce stress in your team; therefore, you should instead offer direction in your usual manner while letting workers handle the situation in their own ways.

Prepare to reassure as you leave your office door open

Members of your sales team might often come to you seeking reassurances about various matters that are negatively affecting them or the company as a whole. You can suitably prepare to receive such approaches from workers.

You should, for example, set aside sufficient time for them to spend chatting to you about their concerns. However, as you converse with them, you should stay honest and non-evasive; this means avoiding promising anything that you are unable to follow up on, as The Wall Street Journal advises.

Teach your team skills in visualisation

Musicians and actors will often picture themselves delivering successful performances before they head out to perform. This technique is known as visualisation, as Eventbrite notes – and it significantly boosts their chances of excelling when performing for real. Your sales personnel, too, could bring themselves closer to success in their work by imagining that success happening. Otherwise, your team could become too prone to negative visualisation.

Negative visualisation is where someone would think about the various obstacles ahead of them. This can be too easily done – but, if the salespeople in your team did it, they would be unnecessarily decreasing the likelihood of their success. Encourage them to visualise not only positively but in as much detail as possible – right down to the conversations that would happen, the salespeople’s attire, and even what weather would be discernible through the office window.

Provide special training to your sales team

Visualising success is one of the techniques taught with the stress management training that we at Frosch Learning can provide in-house. This programme is intended for people adversely affected by stress problems hindering – or likely to hinder – their work. Also taught on the course are the subjects of learning rational behaviour and assertiveness, resolving conflict, and devising an action plan for diminishing stress. You can read many more details about the course’s content by clicking here.