No More Notifications, Avoiding Burnout, Hiring Top-Performers
Dive into the fourth issue of Hacking the Sale
Rob Wormley
- June 29, 2018
No more notifications 🔔
It’s time to make a change. You’ve been letting it happen for too long now. We all have. It’s affecting your productivity. Your sleep. Your relationships. Your happiness.
It’s time to say NO to the push notification.
If you’re like many people, you’ve fallen into the bad habit of checking your phone each time you hear or see a push notification pop up. You get the urge to dismiss or reveal what your phone is previewing for you immediately upon receiving a notification. You can’t seem to ignore it. No matter what you’re doing or working on or who you’re having a conversation with, you have to at least look, right?
Push notifications were created to make your life more convenient. They give you instant access to information and sources that you have determined and decided are worthy of your immediate attention.
But here’s the thing: while they may have been created with good intentions, push notifications were also created to keep us engaged with apps and our smartphones for as long and as often as possible—and that might be causing more damage than we are willing to admit.
According to Microsoft Research, it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back on task after being interrupted by an email notification during the workday.
As more research comes out about smartphone addiction, companies like Apple are starting to release new tools to help you be more aware of and limit the amount of time you spend glued to your screen.
So my tip for you this week is this: disable as many push notifications on your phone as you can. Stay focused on the task or conversation at hand, and choose when to distract yourself—don’t let your phone make the choice for you. See how your productivity, your mood, and your relationships improve over time.
Need help turning off notifications? Use this guide from HubSpot.
The Risk of Burnout is Real
To build a successful career in sales—or in any profession—you have to recognize that the risk of burnout is real. It can happen to anyone.
Burnout can be described in a number of ways. In one article from Forbes, it’s defined as, “an extended period of time where someone experiences exhaustion and a lack of interest in things, resulting in a decline in their job performance.”
In another article from Psychology Today, it’s defined as, “a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment, feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.”
As a salesperson or sales leader, it’s important to understand what some of the telltale signs of burnout are, how to prevent it from happening to you, and what to do if you find yourself in a state of feeling burnt out.
Here are some resources that can help:
- 13 Ways the Busiest People Ever Avoid Burnout from The Muse
- How To Cure Your Burnout Without Quitting Your Job from Forbes
- The Telltale Signs of Burnout … Do You Have Them? from Psychology Today
SALES GLOSSARY: Playbook
In sales, your playbook defines and outlines the standard processes, tactics, guidelines, scripts, questions, and channels you and your team use on a regular basis to convert leads into customers.
The Value of Self-Awareness
HBR IdeaCast is a podcast hosted by Sarah Green Carmichael and produced by Harvard Business Review.
In episode #633: How to Become More Self-Aware, Sarah sits down with Tasha Eurich, an organizational psychologist and author of the book Insight, to talk about why we all should be working on self-awareness.
In the interview, Eurich makes the argument that self-awareness is the most important skill you can have in the 21st Century workplace.
She references research that suggests that people who are self-aware are better performers, more promotable, better communicators, have stronger relationships, and lead more profitable companies.
It’s a great episode to listen to in order to better understand what self-awareness is, why it’s necessary in order to be successful at work, and how to develop it in yourself and the people you manage.
LISTEN TIME: 20 MIN
Want to read the interview instead? Click here for the full transcript.
Learn How to Hire Top-Performers
In sales, you need a strong team to survive and thrive. If you’ve been struggling with employee churn or lack of performance lately, keep the following seven characteristics in mind when considering whether or not to hire someone:
- GRIT – Do they have the ability to stick with it when things get hard?
- OWNERSHIP – Do they have the ability to not only do work in service of others but also take initiative when things are not clear?
- CURIOSITY – Do they have the ability to challenge, dig deeper, and ask the right questions?
- POLISH – Do they have the ability to communicate effectively and thoughtfully with others using a variety of channels/mediums (email, phone, chat, in-person)?
- TEAMWORK – Do they have the ability to collaborate and work well with others in order to drive results?
- RIGOR – Do they have the ability to, as the authors at First Round Review describe it, “take in evidence, integrate information from multiple sources, derive meaning from it, and make critical decisions quickly?”
- IMPACT – Do they have the ability to think about the bigger picture and how the work of an individual affects the success of the entire team or organization?
These seven characteristics were developed through extensive research by the people behind Koru, a predictive hiring software tool for managers. Want to learn more about how to leverage the Koru7 when interviewing candidates? Dig into the article from First Round Review.
News Stories Worth Reading
15 Science-Backed Tips for Making Better Sales Calls
Looking for ways to improve your sales calls next month? Dig into this actionable resource from HubSpot.
How to Produce Content That Doubles Your Sales Funnel Conversion Rate
Want to start nurturing your prospects with more/better content? Leverage this helpful resource from Entrepreneur to understand where to start and what to focus on.
Are your demos not compelling enough? Read through this resource from Sales Hacker to understand how to create and give demos that drive prospects to act.
Share your feedback!
We hope you enjoyed the fourth issue of Hacking the Sale.
If you have any feedback on this edition or want to send article or topics ideas our way, just reply to this email. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
// Rob Wormley and the team at Rambl
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