Day-to-day sales can be full of stressors, from the pressure to meet quotas to repeated rejection. Building a toolkit of effective stress management strategies is essential to deal with the rigors of a job in sales.
In this article, we’ll provide a comprehensive guide to sales stress management. Use our 11 tips to manage your stress levels, minimize health problems and maintain your performance and well-being.
Stress management definition: Stress management involves using various techniques to deal with or respond to stress more productively.
Sales is a profession well-renowned for its potential to cause stress, so developing stress management strategies is particularly important for salespeople.
Although stress is a normal reaction to challenging situations, leaving it unchecked puts you at risk of facing the burnout that 89% of sellers experience.
Equipping yourself with stress management skills will help you stay happy, productive and successful even when things get tough.
How to tell when you’re stressed
To successfully manage stress, you need to identify when you experience it. You also need to be able to identify the key effects of stress and distinguish them from other causes, like new starter nerves or excitement about reaching a sales target.
Researchers have found that repeated or prolonged stress is the type that’s harmful to the body:
When you encounter stressors, your body releases adrenaline, or the “fight-or-flight” hormone, alongside several stress hormones, including cortisol. Hormones like cortisol have different effects on your body and nervous system.
Some of these effects can be positive in moderation, like an increase in glucose, which provides you with more energy.
Too much stress and prolonged exposure to stress hormones have links to a variety of negative health effects.
Everybody reacts to stress slightly differently, but there are some commonly shared symptoms.
The American Heart Association says that your body’s stress response can cause symptoms including:
A headache
Body pains
Stomach pains
Rashes
Reduced energy
Poor sleep
Crankiness or forgetfulness
Muscle tension
These symptoms are all experienced individually for various reasons outside of stress. If you experience several of them at the same time, though, it might be an indicator that you’re stressed.
Avoiding the signs of chronic stress can lead to worse effects like a damaged immune system, high blood pressure and even heart disease.
People with pre-existing health conditions that are affected by stress, like psoriasis, may find that even moderate stress levels can worsen their symptoms.
Stress is sometimes necessary or unavoidable, but it’s important to recognize it. Reaching your sales goals shouldn’t come at any cost; you should balance your professional performance with your quality of life.
11 ways to manage stress in sales
The causes of stress can come from inside and outside of work. Managing stress caused by working in sales involves combining stress management techniques and sales-specific ones to mitigate the effects from both sides.
Stress management techniques are often categorized into four groups, represented by four “As”. Together, these four As function like a flowchart for identifying ways to deal with stressful situations.
Whenever you face a stressor, try working through these steps. Ask yourself if it’s possible to:
Avoid unnecessary stress
Alter the situation
Adapt to the stressor
Accept the things you can’t change
The four techniques above offer a head-start on addressing a stressful situation. Knowing what course of action to take means you can choose the right stress management technique.
There are countless techniques to consider. Doing some activities proactively and consistently can lower your baseline stress level, meaning that it will take more pressure for you to experience stress. Other techniques work better as direct responses to specific stressful situations.
Here are 11 of the best techniques to consider as you improve your approach to sales stress management.
1. Prioritize sleep
Sleep and stress are strongly correlated. Prioritizing getting more high-quality sleep keeps you well-rested, prevents or lessens the symptoms of stress and maximizes your ability to perform at work.
The American Psychological Association found that adults who sleep fewer than eight hours a night are more likely to report symptoms of stress, including feeling irritable, overwhelmed or demotivated.
Experts recommend at least 7 hours of sleep per night. Research has found that on average, women may need more sleep than men. Aiming for that as a minimum can boost your ability to manage stress.
If you find yourself regularly tempted to stay up late to do more work, remember that doing so might just mean you get less done the next day.
Tip: If you struggle to sleep because you feel stressed, try relaxation techniques like minimizing blue light exposure and practicing deep breathing exercises before bedtime. If you’re concerned about the quality of your sleep, try sleep monitoring apps like SleepScore and Sleep Cycle for insights and personalized tips.
2. Adjust your diet
There’s a strong link between what you eat and how you feel. A poor diet can cause stress and experiencing stress can negatively impact your diet. Working toward a healthier diet can help break the cycle, leaving you better equipped to deal with stress at work.
One study concluded that the Mediterranean diet is associated with better mental well-being. The diet revolves around a range of fruits, vegetables and whole grains supported by fish, nuts, poultry and eggs in moderation.
A separate study investigated foods that contribute positively and negatively to anxiety symptoms, highlighting some stress-fighting dietary choices that correlate with the Mediterranean diet:
Avoid | Embrace |
| Caffeine | Dietary fiber (found in fresh fruits and raw vegetables) |
| Alcohol | Omega-3 fatty acids (found in fatty fish like salmon or tuna as well as nuts and seeds) |
| Artificial sweeteners | Fermented foods (like yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut and kimchi) |
Working a busy sales job can make finding time to build a healthy diet seem challenging. However, the benefits of eating better can make it easier to deal with daily stressors in the first place.
Tip: Try popular techniques like meal prepping to cut down on the time it takes to maintain a healthy diet and replace unhealthy desk snacks with fruits or nuts.
3. Find time for exercise
Exercise is often cited as an effective mechanism to lower stress. Making room in your schedule for movement that raises your heart rate can reduce your overall stress levels.
Research from the Anxiety & Depression Association of America (ADAA) found that 14% of respondents used regular exercise as a stress relief tool, putting it in the top three most common techniques.
Exercises people use to manage stress (%)
You don’t have to run a marathon to get the benefits. Various studies show that as little as 20 to 30 minutes of light cardio, such as walking or yoga, can have a marked positive effect.
Not only will this help you manage stress actively and boost your physical health, but it will also contribute to better sleep.
The key to maintaining a good exercise routine over the long term is to be realistic with your goals, something that’s especially important when balancing it with a busy day-to-day in sales.
Tip: Find simple ways to fit exercise into your existing schedule, such as by adopting a cycling commute, taking a brisk walk at lunchtime or using a nearby gym after work.
4. Identify your key stressors
Many elements of a sales role can cause stress. Identifying the specific parts of your job that have the biggest impact on your mental well-being is the first step in developing a plan to deal with key stressors.
Reflect on your day-to-day at work and think about what tasks or responsibilities weigh heaviest on you. That might be:
Negotiating deals
Attending meetings
Traveling to meet customers
Handling complaints
When you’ve identified which parts of your job cause you the most stress, delve deeper to investigate why that might be.
For example, you may feel intense pressure to meet sales targets or feel under-equipped to handle customer objections.
Then, consider what you can do to tackle those stressors. Remember, your managers and colleagues benefit from you feeling less stressed, too. Speaking to them about your challenges might reveal ways to solve them.
Tip: Simple solutions like a conversation with your sales manager about expectations or further training to upskill might be all it takes to conquer your key stressors and reduce long-term stress.
Consider automations to lighten the load. Our State of Sales and Marketing report revealed that salespeople who automate tasks are 16% more likely to hit their targets.
5. Ask for help
Sales is renowned for being a competitive environment, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help.
If you’re struggling, reach out to your colleagues or manager for support, especially if you’re new to a role. Asking for help won’t make you seem incapable – it’s an important part of the sales onboarding process.
Communicating your challenges and seeking advice is one of the best ways to grow into a role.
If you struggle silently, you might slip under the radar, making things more challenging in the long term, as your workload and stress pile up.
There are two main ways asking for help can make it easier to manage stress:
Your colleagues might be able to take some work off your hands or teach you their methods for tackling tasks, helping you feel less overwhelmed
Experienced salespeople will be able to share advice on how they manage sales stress, giving you a toolkit to apply to your own situation
Either one can make a meaningful difference to your ability to manage stress at work. You’ll also build relationships with your colleagues that will provide value long into the future, giving you a place to turn the next time you struggle.
Tip: It’s not easy for everyone to open up about their struggles at work. Try talking about it outside of work at a coffee shop, for example. If you feel uncomfortable, flip the script and consider how you would feel if a colleague asked you for help.
You can also try starting with some template topic openers, such as:
1. I’m having trouble with…
2. I can’t get my head around…
3. What’s your understanding of…
6. Take regular breaks
You may feel tempted to work as much as possible during stressful periods to get through tasks. However, regular breaks are an important element of stress management, helping prevent burnout and boosting your ability to concentrate.
The idea that maximizing your input will also maximize how much you get done seems logical, but it doesn’t account for your performance dropping when you’re stressed. Science backs up the value of taking breaks to destress and increase overall output.
Researchers who carried out an extensive analysis of studies on the topic wrote about their results for Harvard Business Review, providing a conclusion from their research:
They go on to provide several tips for how to take effective breaks at work, including:
Taking shorter breaks in the morning and longer breaks in the afternoon helps counter worsening fatigue
Taking breaks outside, preferably in a green space, is better for recharging than taking them at your desk
Engaging in physical activity during your break can improve performance and well-being and browsing social media can have the opposite effect
Everybody has different needs when it comes to taking breaks. The key is to monitor your energy levels and take breaks accordingly, ensuring you’re never too tired to perform or manage your stress levels.
Tip: Build a break structure that works for you to refresh yourself through the workday and reliably maintain your energy, leading to better sales performance.
7. Set realistic goals
Focusing solely on ambitious long-term goals or sales quotas can cause undue stress. Working toward more tangible short-term goals provides easier milestones to complete, helping you make steady progress toward long-term objectives, and boosts day-to-day fulfillment.
The SMART framework is a great way to set these goals. SMART goals are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based. They’re well-defined, meaning it’s easier to know how to work toward achieving them.
Specific: A clear understanding of what the goal is and how you will achieve it
Measurable: A way to accurately measure your level of success in hitting the goal
Achievable: Make sure it’s not too challenging or stressful to reach
Realistic: Confirm it aligns with your organization-wide business goals
Time-based: Create a realistic timeline in which you’ll achieve them
Here’s an example of how you could improve a typical sales goal, like acquiring new customers, with the SMART criteria:
| SMART criteria | Sales goal example |
| Specific | Acquire five new customer accounts |
| Measurable | New customers can be tracked in your sales CRM |
| Achievable | Use targeted outreach via email and phone calls |
| Relevant | Supports the goal of boosting short-term revenue |
| Time-based | Achieve this goal within a month |
Building goals using the SMART criteria can help mitigate the pressure of lofty quarterly sales quotas. Instead, you can focus on achieving smaller, more concrete objectives in a shorter time.
Tip: If goals pressure is a stressor for you, set up a meeting with your manager to discuss your goals, ensuring they’re all SMART and appropriate to your skill set.
8. Improve your time management
Developing strategies to manage your time more effectively can help you methodically tackle the array of tasks before you, allowing you to make consistent incremental progress.
The key to time management is creating a more purposeful workday routine, which time management strategies can help you achieve.
Time blocking, for instance, involves breaking your workday down into smaller blocks and assigning a single task to each one.
Below is an example of how Benjamin Franklin time-blocked his day from his autobiography.
Today, this typically involves setting up a Google Calendar or iCal to block out parts of your day for focused work or schedule meetings only in the morning.
Using this technique means you’ll know what to focus on at any given hour of the day, preventing you from jumping between tasks and wasting time refocusing.
Minimizing other distractions will help you stick to this routine. Researchers found that people get distracted from tasks they’re working on every three minutes on average. It then takes them up to 20 minutes to get back to the task.
Muting your phone, closing your email inbox and putting on headphones can help you stay focused on the work at hand. You’ll get more done this way and slowly work through your responsibilities.
Tip: Find a time management strategy that works for you and plan your days according to a routine, while minimizing external distractions.
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9. Lean on technology
Sales technology can boost your efficiency in many regular sales activities, from lead discovery to performance analysis. Properly using it will give you more time and energy to spend elsewhere.
Out of all the tools available, your sales CRM can be the most valuable in streamlining your workday.
CRMs like Pipedrive include sales automation features in addition to basic functions like tracking leads through your pipeline and managing customer communications.
You can use them to eliminate unnecessary manual work and boost your productivity.
For example, Pipedrive’s Smart Contact Data feature allows you to pre-qualify leads with one click. Elsewhere, you can set up configurable sales workflow automations to automate lead management, follow-up emails, deal progression and more.
Taking advantage of the automation features included in a sales-focused CRM like Pipedrive has two main effects that can help reduce stress:
Minimizing workload
Maximizing sales performance
Combined, these benefits address two key stressors in a sales job: the quantity of work and the pressure to perform.
Tip: Use sales technology like CRM automations and AI-powered email writing tools to reduce how long you spend on simple, repetitive tasks.
10. Work on self-development
If you’re feeling the effects of sales pressure, working on self-development can help you by improving both your confidence and abilities.
When you’re new to sales, there’s a lot to learn. Some stresses will naturally ebb away as you become more experienced.
Even if you’re relatively experienced there’s still plenty of value from dedicating some time to continued learning.
More training, whether to develop stronger soft sales skills or learn how to use sales technologies effectively, will help you perform better, make you more confident in your ability to reach targets and reduce stress.
If there are particular areas of the job you feel underprepared to deal with, ask your manager for additional sales training or use a free resource like Pipedrive Learn to upskill.
Also, don’t forget the importance of self-development outside of the workplace. Practicing hobbies, playing sports or just taking time for yourself can give you a sense of progression that combats your feelings of stress.
Tip: Invest in yourself and constantly work on upskilling by pursuing further sales training or education whenever you can. There are many sales training courses, so it can be hard to know which is worthwhile. Colleagues and managers might be able to tell you which courses they’ve found most valuable to help you create a shortlist of courses worthy of your time.
11. Celebrate small wins
Recognizing and celebrating minor sales successes can help you stay focused and motivated. Breaking down larger, more daunting goals into more manageable steps can also prevent you from feeling overwhelmed.
Celebrating small wins is effective because it builds momentum over time to encourage more of the same effort.
For example, you could take 15 minutes to relax with your favorite podcast to celebrate securing a meeting with a high-value prospect.
When you reward or acknowledge good habits or achievements, you encourage that behavior to continue. This positive reinforcement refocuses your efforts on what you’re doing right (instead of what you’re not) to reduce worry and stress.
Here are five more ways you can recognize small wins in sales:
Write down one accomplishment for the day, even if it’s minor
Share progress with a colleague for a quick morale boost
Take a break to recharge after a productive sales call
Buy yourself a treat or coffee after completing an activity you’ve been putting off
Create a visual progress tracker (e.g., a checklist or board) and mark off each success
Small wins add up. Recognizing them doesn’t just boost morale; it can also keep you on track to hit bigger targets with less stress.
Tip: Set a reward system where you treat yourself to something small but enjoyable every time you reach a small goal (e.g., securing a meeting or progressing a lead). The bigger the achievement, the bigger the reward can be.
Resources for managing stress
Stress can be hard to deal with, but there are lots of resources to help you on your journey. The resources below offer diverse benefits, from providing more healthy ways to deal with negative thoughts to allowing you to practice some self-care.
Mental health professionals: Meeting with a mental health professional, such as a counselor or a trained psychotherapist, can help you develop strategies for dealing with stress.
Stress support groups: Finding communities that offer a forum to discuss your problems in a casual setting can provide a valuable outlet, whether they’re online or in-person.
Free online resources: Organizations like the American Heart Association and Mayo Clinic offer a huge bank of free stress management resources.
Mental health apps: Apps like Headspace or Calm offer approachable ways to practice meditation and manage stress, perfect for filling breaks in your workday.
Remember, you’re not alone in feeling stressed. Nearly half of all Americans report frequently experiencing stress in daily life.
That means many support resources designed specifically to help stressed people are available for you to use.
Final thoughts
Sales might be stressful, but that doesn’t mean stress has to impact your daily life. The best way to mitigate stress will be different for everyone, but these tips are a great starting point to help you build your own stress management strategies.
Try to apply them in your own unique situation and see how they help. You’ll see the benefits of stress management and be able to work at a higher level without risking burnout. That’ll help you boost long-term results both in the office and in terms of your mental health.
