Rest and Relaxation: Your Sales Execution Secret Weapon

R & R – one underutilized letter (used twice) that packs a ton of necessity. While rest and relaxation isn’t always readily available in the U.S. (our friends in Europe tend to be a bit more fortunate in that department), clearing the mind of all that keeps us up at night is essential for the sanity of well…everyone.

In fact, a recent study in the journal Science found that sleep (a key ingredient in R & R) drives “metabolite clearance” in our brains, removing the neurotoxic waste that builds up during the day, or quite literally taking out the trash. We’ve all experienced brain fog – and it’s no fun. It’s not conducive to productivity either. And with only a few days left in the month of relative leisure (hey, we’ll take what we can get!), it’s critical to plan ahead for rest and relaxation in the wake of the brewing Q3 craziness.

Optimial Sleep is Key for an Agile Mindset

The restorative function of R & R enhances our ability to be productive, adding value to daily initiatives and increasing the mental capacity for making sense of new data – important benefits in today’s age of information overload. At the same time, the question remains: with fewer days off, how can you catch some z’s, or that much needed break, with fewer days away from the office? For some the answer is meditation. For others – like myself who can’t as easily “om” and still the mind – the answer lies within remaining agile. But will adopting an agile mindset help your sales teams stay clear-headed and focused? I’m betting on yes.

As Jill Konrath presented at our 2014 Connect conference, agile selling is learning how to quickly assimilate new information in a selling situation and pick up and adapt new sales skills to execute effectively. Accordingly, you can think of agile selling as an approach that spoon feeds the mind just the right amount of delish information from an overloaded and ever-changing sales menu full of too many choices.

If sales reps, especially new hires, are able to incorporate a learning sequence that prioritizes new information once presented with a new selling situation, they are better prepared for problem solving and creative thinking – both central features in a winning sales strategy. And is a successful sales strategy really anything more than one that adds value for customers? Not really. For the most part, if a customer finds real value in what you’re pitching, you’re safe to smile.

Agile selling reduces the risk of salespeople being unable to adapt and reply when they engage a customer. So prep your sales team with well-deserved R & R, so they are ready to adopt an agile selling mindset – otherwise, they may just run the risk of snoozing & losing.

Rest and Relaxation: Your Sales Execution Secret Weapon