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B2B Sales is Turning You Neurotic

B2B Sales is Turning You Neurotic

A study finds a clear link between B2B sales jobs and increased neuroticism

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Good Morning! Happy National Compliance Officer Day. It’s a great day to remind yourself that there are ethical and non-ethical ways to do outreach. For example, sending a short email about an industry event is a completely ethical way to follow up. But breaking into a prospect’s office to surprise them with your presence is apparently frowned upon and likely to land you in HR’s office. Happy selling out there. 🫡

In today’s Follow Up:

B2B sales increase neuroticism? 🤔
Responding to ‘I’m not interested’ 👀
A sales rep is suing their former employer 👀
Sales jobs, LinkedIn & a meme 😂

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B2B Sales Jobs are Increasing Neuroticism

Ever feel like your sales job is full of uncertainty and things that are out of your control?

You're not alone.

Things like long sales cycles, intense negotiations, and variable pay can make a B2B sales job feel totally uncertain at times. But how does that uncertainty affect us?

A new study compared 1,700 B2B sales reps to 24,000 non-sales professionals to see if sales jobs can affect someone’s personality… and as you’d probably guess, they do. The study found a positive correlation between B2B sales jobs and an increase in neuroticism, meaning B2B sales jobs likely make someone more neurotic.

What's the deal with neuroticism?

Neuroticism is known as one of the Big Five personality traits, characterized by:

Tendency to experience anxiety and depression.
Heightened sensitivity to stress.
Increased likelihood of reacting negatively to challenges.

For B2B salespeople, neuroticism can lead to many negative emotions when something threatens a goal (like not closing a deal or missing quota). And as a sales rep faces more threats to their goals, their neuroticism can increase.

Why is B2B sales linked to neuroticism?

According to the researchers in the study, there are multiple aspects of a B2B sales job that contribute to increasing neuroticism.

Complex customer needs: Some B2B products can be highly complex or customizable which makes them complicated to sell.
Extra long sales cycles: Sales cycles can take months or even years. The idea of putting so much time into a deal with no certainty of closing it can put a toll on some reps.
Tough negotiations: Going toe-to-toe with seasoned negotiators who likely have more experience than you makes many deals feel uncertain.
Commission dependence: When your financial stability depends on closing deals, anxiety, and stress are likely to pay you a visit.

So…. what can you do about it?

Let’s be real… Sales is a stressful job, and there’s no real way around it. If you’re extremely sensitive to stress or uncertainty, sales might not be the best fit for you. After all, that’s why they pay us the big commission checks. This job isn’t meant to be easy.

But that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do to combat the negatives. Here are some ideas:

Clear goals and commission plans

Nothing’s worse than not knowing what you’re being judged on or how you’ll make your commission. Make sure expectations are crystal clear:

Spell out exactly what you're judging reps on (KPIs).
Explain how they'll get paid.
Provide clear feedback on what's right, wrong, and improvable.

Check-ins and chats

Start your 1v1’s with a simple question: "How are you doing?"

Understand your reps' current situations.
Find out what you can do to support them.
Show that you care about their well-being, not just their numbers.

Training and practice.

You wouldn't run a basketball team without practice, so why skimp on sales training? Set up recurring training on:

Managing long sales cycles.
Dealing with tough negotiators.
Sales skills that boost both performance and resilience.

As a professional sales rep, you are ultimately responsible for your performance and numbers. As Jeff Bezos famously said: “Stress primarily comes from not taking action over something that you can have some control over.”

How often do you feel stressed in your sales job?

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Sales Tip of The Day 💡

When a prospect immediately says they’re not interested, try responding with:

I gotcha. Just out of curiosity when do you typically re-evaluate your (insert the product/solution you sell)?
I gotcha. Just out of curiosity when do you typically re-evaluate your data provider services?

The goal is to learn more about their current provider and get a reason to follow up with them later.

Sales Around The Web 🗞️

👀 One of CloudKitchen’s earliest sales reps is suing the company for gender discrimination. The sales rep was fired 6 months after her return from maternity leave, but the company says she was let go for underperforming.

🧠 Research shows that the most competent leaders know when their knowledge and expertise is limited.

🗣️ How public relations can help play a role in the success of a B2B sales team.

💰️ A serial sales job hopper gives his reasons on why he continues to job-hop but doesn’t recommend it to others.