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Dear Quota Team,
I’m wondering if you can help me. I’m in B2B sales, but I don’t think the industry really matters for the sake of this question. This is my fifth year in sales. I wouldn’t say I necessarily love it, but I have worked other jobs and I like the idea of being able to control my income to a certain degree.
My biggest problem is tuning out what’s going on around me. Whenever my coworkers start closing deals all around me, and I’m not closing anything, it makes me feel discouraged. When this happens, I find it super difficult to focus on prospecting and following up. I wouldn’t say I completely shut down or anything, but I definitely slow down and, more importantly, my confidence and mental game goes into the toilet.
It’s not that I don’t want my coworkers to succeed, I do. It’s that when everybody around me (or even some people around me) are able to close deals and I’m not, it makes me think that there’s something wrong with me or that it’s hopeless. I truly don’t know what to do about this, but it’s definitely affecting my performance, and I hate the feeling. Do you have any tips for how to overcome this? Thanks in advance.
Frustrated in Colorado
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Dear Frustrated,
Sales is a numbers game, and the board doesn’t lie. So when your coworkers are moving up and you’re staying the same, it can feel like everybody knows something you don’t, or that they’re “meant” to be in the role, and you’re not.
This is, of course, nonsense. They’re moving up because they’re focused on the input, while you’re focused on their output. Instead, you should be focusing on your own input, because that’s the only thing – let us repeat that again, it’s the only thing – that will make you successful.
It’s unrealistic to say that you shouldn’t pay attention to what’s happening on your sales team. It’s also unrealistic to say that you shouldn’t let it bother you. You can’t help either one of those things. But what you can help is what you do after you notice it and after you feel it bothering you.
You can either shut down and give up. Or you can use it to motivate yourself to take action. If you do the latter, and keep doing it every time you feel that awful feeling of inferiority, then you’ll soon start to notice your efforts paying off. This is the only way to go. You want to be successful, so stop getting in your own way and do what you know you should. We believe in you! Good luck!
