Sales is a high-pressure field, which means burnout is always a risk. They have to constantly push to meet and exceed goals, and many never fully disconnect from their jobs, making themselves available to clients 24/7, wreaking havoc on work-life balance. It’s important to help your sales team avoid burnout, as it ultimately leads to turnover. Implement these tactics to help your sales force avoid burnout.

Help Employees Achieve Work-Life Balance

You may never convince your sales team to stop accepting client calls on their personal time, but you can help them achieve better balance through some easy policy and strategy changes like:

• A backup buddy system. When one buddy is taking PTO, their out-of-office messages should direct clients to the backup.
• Implement a flexible schedule. Salespeople can work from anywhere, so you can create some flexibility in their schedule to help them feel more balanced. Try allowing your team to start their day any time between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., as long as they work a full 8-hour day.
• Consider remote positions. Not all salespeople are cut out for a 100 percent remote position, but many members of your team can handle the freedom. Consider allowing remote positions to help ease stress associated with commuting and to provide talented sales pros with better balance.
• Don’t contact your team on off hours. You may catch up on emails in the evening, but try to avoid contacting your salespeople in their off hours. Save emails as drafts for the morning or install a widget that will hold the email and send it at a designated time.

Help Employees Make Changes

Small changes in an employee’s routine can help them manage stress and avoid burnout. Step in if you notice employees struggling with signs of burnout like irritability, sudden absences, forgetfulness, isolation from peers or a sudden change in work quality. You can help by:

• Suggesting the employee take a few days off, especially if they have a lot of PTO saved up. Even a short “staycation” can help the employee recharge their batteries.
• Asking what the employee needs from you to help manage his workload. Perhaps the employee is struggling to keep up with presentation preparation or reporting. Develop a plan to take some work off their plate until they get caught up.
• Reworking schedules. Sometimes salespeople can benefit from a little bit of structure. Make Fridays designated in-office days for people to catch up on administrative work and make cold calls, for example.
• Implementing mandatory break times at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Have everyone stop what they are doing and move around for ten minutes.

Staff Up

Keeping your team fully staffed can help ease the strain on the team, especially if your reps are responsible for both business development and account management. If your ag business needs talented sales reps to drive your business forward, contact the recruiting professionals at Morris Bixby Group today.