The Dark Mind Of Sales*

"Some mornings, I roll out of bed, see what I have on for the day, the sh*t I have to take care of… and honestly, I think about taking a gun, pointing it to the bottom of my chin and blowing my f**king brains out".

This was one of the most confronting, eye-opening, surprising and life-altering conversations I’ve ever had. I was sitting with a top-performing New York sales pro. A happy go lucky kind of guy with a large ‘public’ smile. It's haunted me ever since and I can't stop thinking about it.

In sales and business, we often talk about success! Economic growth, ROI, hitting quota, smashing out the KPA's... paired with a mandatory glass half full mindset of evergreen optimism and enthusiasm.

But there’s a dark underworld within the sales and business community that doesn’t appear to be spoken about anywhere near enough (let alone given the space to see the light of day).

That is anxiety, depression, alcoholism, drug abuse, relationship breakdown, lonely children, stress, sleep deprivation, burn out and suicide.

What’s fuelling this? Well, from what I can see, it's the same desire for success and economic growth that we mentioned earlier (not to mention the added pressure of a social media-led society of fame and fortune).

To further add fuel to the fire, we are seeing record amounts of capital being injected into startups and companies with a demand for one thing and one thing only...

A RETURN!

This recipe requires people to be thrown into sales positions at scale. One by one they enter the bullpen and given their number to satisfy hungry growth targets. The instructions are clear, perform or get out! Management is equally squeezed to 'drive' their teams to perform by insatiably hungry leaders/shareholders/owners and so the vicious cycle of relentless pressure begins.

This is affecting the sales culture and corporate culture at large and it’s not cool.

Like many others, I’ve been there; burnt out, neglecting irreplaceable family time with huge hours, stressed out of my brain, often turning to alcohol to numb the pain and provide a distraction from the pressure.

You wake up the next morning, feeling a little dustier than the day before, yet with the same relentless expectation to perform at all-time records. Day after day, month after month, quarter after quarter, year after year.

I’m here to say, It’s not going to end well.

We, as the sales and business community, need to rightly place wellbeing and true connection at a higher rung on the 'goals' ladder.

We need to value our people and realise they are unique in every way, with individual strengths.

We need to realise that our people hold inherent value that goes so far beyond profit contribution.

We need to realise that humans are not robots and are capable of immense creativity when given the opportunity to exercise it.

We need to realise that economic growth at the detriment of our health is a losing strategy for all.

I don’t have anywhere near enough answers to fix this. I don’t think anyone does single-handedly. We all need to band together as sales brothers and sisters, empathetically sharing our vulnerabilities with each other because ‘we know what it’s like’, all with the hopes of slowly creating a better way.

Better ways to work.

Better ways to learn.

Better ways to support.

Better ways to contribute.

Better ways to lead.

Better ways to grow.

And if you’re reading this right now in pain, please know that there are so many people who are ready to listen, ready to support and ready to love.

I’m personally here to do just that and I know many, many others in the comments will be too (along with amazing organisations that can support).

If that's you;

I want you to know that you have inherent value.

I want you to know that you are unique.

I want you to know that you are gifted and talented.

I want you to know that you matter.

I want you to know that it’s totally ok to be you.

I want you to know that your worth goes so far beyond your results.

I want you to know that we want you here.

And I want you to know that it’s ok that it’s dark right now.

We, the sales community, have got your back.

We've got you.

We've got this.

We can change the game.

Much Love,

Steve Claydon

__________________________________________________________________________

*Australian Support:

(Please post comments of other support providers that you know do great work in your country or hometown)

Heads Up: https://www.headsup.org.au/

Livin: https://livin.org/

Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au/

RUOK: https://www.ruok.org.au/

Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au/