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One minute your career is flying, you’re exceeding every target thrown at you and reeling in the commission. Holidays are for wimps and no one wants to be the first out of the office at the end of the day. Then, suddenly, you’re sitting alone in a seedy motel with only the mini-bar for company.
There was a time when most sales executives considered this kind of burnout an occupational hazard.
More recently, however, the concept of work-life balance has nervously crept on to the sales floor. Most top-end sales executives know that if they are to continue functioning at the highest level, they need to have a life outside work.
“I enjoy my work very much, but it’s not the be-all and end-all,” says Bryn Norton who, in three years as a business development manager at the IT company Star Technology, held the record for the most sales in a month. His average was 125 per cent of the target. He recently left Star to set up a new company selling customer relationship management solutions. “It’s absolutely vital to have a life outside work to preserve your mental balance.
“In sales you live and die by your numbers. It’s not a job where you can soft-pedal for a while and hope no one will notice. It’s very easy to become completely absorbed by it all. But if you do that, you end up being much less effective than if you go home and unwind.”
Norton’s way of unwinding is to seek out an environment very different from his frantic working day. “I live in the Cotswolds so at the end of the day I go back home and stare at the beautiful scenery. I also grow coral reef. I’ve got a couple of marine aquariums and the full cast of Finding Nemo out there.”
Norton says that it is as important to have personal aspirations as it is to set goals in your career. Indeed, after a few more years in sales, he plans to jack it in to become a warden in a country park.
Another sales executive making good use of his spare time is Martyn Halls, a sales consultant at M&G, an investment company. His perfect release from the pressure is playing drums in a rock band. “It’s a great way of letting off steam. I also think it helps my performance at work. I don’t go home and worry about work, so when I go in the next day, I can focus on it 100 per cent.”
Mario Martos, a customer sales adviser at British Gas, takes refuge in the kitchen. With an Italian father and Spanish mother, he is a master at Mediterranean cooking. “An interest outside of work is good for your morale and stops you thinking about work all the time,” he says.
But perhaps the ideal way to achieve work-life balance is to find a way of making your hobby your job. This is the route taken by Richard Barker, who combines being a PGA golf professional with the role of golf sales development manager at the De Vere Belfry Hotel in Wishaw. “I started out as a normal golf pro, giving lessons and selling equipment in the shop,” he says. “I did pretty well in the shop so I moved into the sales side and now I’m selling golfing breaks to corporate clients. I also play about seven or eight tournaments a year, so it’s a good balance. I get to play a lot of golf and I don’t have to work weekends.”