Leading the Way Out of Stressful Situations


by Nick Terrenzi


If there is one quality, we are not short of in today’s environment, it is certainly anxiety. So, our topic could not be timelier, and it could also be said that selling over the top of anxiety is seldom successful.

If you are a leader of a sales team or a company, the anxiety and uncertainty of the current business environment are most likely hitting you harder than anyone else in the organization. As well as it should, for if there is one thing true of a leadership position, it is the famous quote that once adorned the desk of President Harry S. Truman: “The buck stops here.”

*Maybe others in the company hierarchy can assign blame somewhere else for lack of company success (even though they really cannot because everyone is responsible), but the leader of either the sales team or company can never do so.

But fear not, as we are providing some guidance! This month, in each of our blogs, we take you through each of the steps to resolve this anxiety:

  • Promote your way out of anxiety, then
  • Refocus your sales team on your sales process to take advantage of the promotion results (leads)
  • Once sales are occurring, deliver well beyond customer expectations
  • And finally, reap the benefits of repeat business and referrals.

Now you might ask, where is the job of leadership in all of this?

Well, the leader or the manager’s job is to ensure that this whole flow—promotion, sales, and delivery resulting in repeat customers—is occurring. The leader’s job is to reduce the anxiety of these times, and this current environment, by doing so.

If you take a step back, one primary job of a leader is to create enough stability within the company so that everyone else can freely get on with their jobs. You could even look at this on a political level—the ablest leaders politically are those who create stability within an unstable world or a portion of it.

But within a company, a leader or a manager must:

  • see that marketing and promotion is occurring, accurately and in enough volume to create a good inflow of sales leads
  • see that there is a workable and effective sales process
  • see that the sales process is known and followed by the sales team
  • see that delivery of the company’s products and services is conducted to be far beyond customer expectations
  • see that repeat business and referrals are handled on the same stellar level so that the company has an endless source of revenue.

Follow us this month as we lead you through these vital steps, and your company can cease selling over the top of anxiety.