Reading through some of my articles this morning I realized that I have been dancing around two really key sales success obstacles. Sales stress and anger issues.

Selling, consulting, advising, mentoring or whatever you’re comfortable calling it these days can be stressful. I mean really stressful. These stresses overtime can become overwhelming. Here are just a few of the situations that can cause stress for any of us.

Top 10 Igniters of Sales Stress

1. Disintegrating relationships.
2. Not paying your bills.
3. Company changes.
4. Manager conflicts.
5. Co-worker conflicts.
6. Poor health.
7. Feelings of inadequacy.
8. Performance pressure.
9. Lack of recognition.
10. Fitting in.

All of these sales stress igniters can trigger anger issues. Issues that are real and can become public. Issues that can cut your career short. Let me give you an example.

I had been put into a vicarious position with one of my past employers. As the newly hired sales manager I found myself in direct competition with one of the owners. This owner had made sure I had no real authority over “his” team. Many of the team members had worked for this organization for decades.

If that was not stressful enough I had moved to another state to take this position ahead of my family. My wife became ill and had multiple operations which ended up costing me tens of thousands of dollars. I was away from my family for quite some time.

As I settled in with this new position I realized quickly that the information about how things were with the company had been exaggerated or optimistically they just really didn’t know. The economy had taken a turn for the worst and their sales were already off thirty percent. They had hemorrhaged a big percentage of their customer base on top of this. When presented with this information they were in full-on denial. Wow.

“To be a champion, you have to learn to handle stress and pressure. But if you’ve prepared mentally and physically, you don’t have to worry.” – Harvey Mackay

Ultimately I was able to overcome some of these stress obstacles but the toll on my relationship with the owner had taken an irreparable direction.

In one of the weekly manager meetings I had responded to a question asked. The owner in a condescending tone had stopped everything at that point and proceeded to explain what I meant. Not the first time this had happened. I stopped him and said I didn’t need him to help with my answer. He retorted back and I said “whatever”. You would have thought I had slapped his first born. Physically angry he chewed me out in front of everyone in the meeting. Pretty humiliating. Obviously he was just as stressed with me as I was with him. Now we both had stepped it up to anger.

I left the company shortly after this confrontation but have always thought of how I could have kept my wits about me in a more professional manner. I had pushed a stressed environment to the breaking point. What could I have done different?

Here are some stress management ideas that have helped me since then.

12 Ways to Handle Sales Stress Before it Becomes Anger.

1. Think before you speak.
2. Express your feelings instead of bottling them up.
3. Be willing to compromise.
4. Manage your time better.
5. Focus on the positive and look for the upside.
6. Don’t try to control the uncontrollable.
7. Set aside relaxation time.
8. Keep your sense of humor.
9. Reduce caffeine.
10. Exercise regularly with a healthy diet.
11. Get enough sleep.
12. And most importantly… Learn to forgive.

I would like to tell you I am in control of all twelve but would be lying to you. With that said, I have mastered many of these skills which has had a recognizable change on my health and career. Take a minute and do a self-analysis of the last time you had a confrontation. How did you handle it? What could you have done better? Learning these skills could easily be a life-saver for your career today and in the future. Be in control of your sales stress and anger issues.

Chris Lott

Chris has over 15 year’s Sales Management experience including Business Ownership, Product Management and Web Design/Marketing. He’s a national sales team strategist and trainer. Chris is the designer of the popular totallysales™ sales playbook with thousands of copies downloaded. He’s a nationally syndicated author with his articles on SalesBlog! rated as a “top must-read” on consultative selling.