Every salesperson or professional generally takes a role in their work environment, just like we all do in our everyday lives. But sometimes, even though you are willing to do your job well and adhere to your role inside the organization, things might go sideways, and your productivity may drop significantly.
More often than not, it is a process that occurs quietly. But it’s not without stress and frustration. Today we will talk about the three signs you don’t understand your sales role, why it is essential to avoid them, and how to avoid them.
Knowing these signs, you will determine what’s going on each time you feel overwhelmed or stressed out and what you need to do to deal with it.
You Often Feel Conflicted
This situation is created when a salesperson faces contradicting demands, internally or externally, or when various roles may overlap. An obvious example would be the contradictions in evaluations about pricing between your company and your prospect.
Contradicting evaluations on perceived value will put you in a situation where you’d like to sell to your prospect at a lower price than they demand. Still, you can’t do so because your company’s strategy doesn’t allow you to.
But role conflicts may also occur within the organization itself. There are unlimited examples of employees that are asked to do one thing by one of their superiors and another by another.
You Often Feel Overloaded
This sign refers to situations when a salesperson takes upon more responsibilities and tasks than they can perform efficiently. This works in two different ways, as role overload can be caused by managers or superiors that overwhelm the salesperson with functions or by the salesperson themselves.
This usually follows a circular path, where the salesperson wants to satisfy their company or themselves with another sale and a new success, and they get into the mentality of doing one more thing. But when one thing leads to another, and other tasks still need to be completed, the salesperson has to work some overtime or overload.
You Often Feel Clueless
Role ambiguity is much simpler and occurs when a salesperson does not know how to do something. This might also be the company’s fault or the salesperson’s fault. It should go without saying that no company out there will allow its employees to perform tasks they don’t know how to act.
The salesperson needs to notify their manager if they need to familiarize themselves with a process or tool. Role ambiguity can be easily eliminated. Take the time to ask your manager and other leaders in the organization what they expect and what they understand to be great in your role. Also, consider the position you want to play and the value you wish others to receive. Set a goal to create that value every day.
Now that you know the three signs, please get more curious. Engage with your manager, ask your peers, and spend more time with customers and prospects. To avoid these signs, the more you understand the "outside-in" view of your role, the better your chances of understanding what's expected. If you cannot figure out these different perspectives, you will end up stalling your organization's progress and your own. Role conflicts, role overload, and role ambiguity can be avoided with clear communication and honesty between team members and within the organization.
