Burnout or Workout?

Working from home has never been a hotter topic. Driven by necessity over the past year or so, some have thrived from their home offices, others desperately crave the ‘me-time’ on their commute, working lunches in the conference room or just general office chit-chat. 

Are you experiencing the work-from-home burnout, or have you found your groove in a booming sales workout?

Whether remote working is your professional environment of choice or not, lines have undoubtedly become blurred between ‘out of office’ and working hours. That said, digital innovation, business enablement tools and virtual meetings have kept the professional world connected, whilst simultaneously revealing issues of mental overload and the inability to switch off. 

How does sales productivity compare to the gym?

Feeling the burn can hinder one’s progress, but can also encourage and stimulate. Imagine a gruelling gym session where your muscles ache and scream to give up… Now, recall the adrenaline rush when you beat your record, fight harder and feel on top of the world afterwards.

We can say the same for sales…

You work up a sweat running a treadmill of leads and playing catch-up towards the end of the month. It can be stressful, push limits and almost make you crack under pressure. However, the thrill of topping the leader board, beating your personal best and pounding commissions is legendary. For those working remotely, home comforts and feeling in control may have even upped your game. For others, including managers, the pressure of balancing family time with the job may have been too much. You perhaps feel forever more demotivated the longer your confinement continues - numbers are down and targets seem further out of reach.

How can leaders keep up moral when they too feel overworked?

Sales managers who are already saturated by a daily bombardment of emails, targets and analysis through antiquated tracking channels, still need to find time to support representatives in the field, some of whom struggle to meet objectives without face-to-face customer interaction. Managers who successfully keep the cogs of their business turning in uncertain times and achieve both employee and client satisfaction throughout, are winning. 

Mental wellbeing is a key modern metric – measurable and decisive with the right tools at hand

A recent Forbes Magazine article recognised cognitive overload and said that organisations ‘that are able to successfully measure and improve this new metric could reap the business benefits that will define the winners and losers of this new digitally transformed workplace.’

Summary: 

Be ‘SPECIFIC’ – The first S.M.A.R.T. goal

Access to an extensive range of digital software, customised to meet your company’s specific needs, not only save time, but may also help maintain a healthy work-life balance. Managers benefit from consolidated data all in one place and reps can easily ‘exercise’ their sales workout techniques in order to meet targets.

Overworked muscles won’t lift any more weight and could suffer irreversible damage. An exhausted mind cannot process and retain new information either. It’s time to make specific changes, adapt to today’s transitory workstations and digitally evolve - without burning out.