Working In Sales: How Hot Markets Take Their Toll on Sales Professionals

The 2022 housing market is off to a fast start with market conditions similar to 2021- low inventory, high demand, and already rising prices. Basically, it’s a new home salesperson’s dream, right?

Maybe.

Reflecting on last year, a large number of people working in sales achieved metrics higher than ever before – crushing company records and income goals.  However, there also are a number of sales professionals who seem less satisfied with their job and job performance in 2021.

In what could have been the hottest housing market in history, how could this possibly be?  And if you happen to be one of those sales professionals that are feeling this way, how can you be sure to turn things around for yourself in 2022?

I asked Mary Beth Berry, VP of Sales at D.R. Horton Greenville, SC division this question.  Here are some of her thoughts:

After evaluating salespeople across my market and speaking to leaders across the country, I was surprised that what appeared to be such an awesome year on paper was leaving some of my team members tired and disappointed in their individual performances (even some that had achieved their numbers for the year). 

Upon review, some key themes seemed to emerge for those professionals working in sales feeling worn out by the wild ride that was 2021.

• Top performers found limitations they had never encountered before – land delays, supply/labor shortages, or even limiting the number of homes for sale each month/quarter. The best salespeople are often not satisfied with “limits” of any kind, and having to adjust to those caps can be stressful, causing salespeople to feel like they didn’t achieve their potential.

• In the past two years, there have been more circumstances than ever beyond our control, professionally and personally.
  
  Having to work remotely for weeks at a time for quarantines, kids in and out of school, or even personal tragedies distracted from sales numbers for weeks at a time.
• As buyer demand intensified in many areas, the focus of the job shifted from writing new contracts to an importance in customer experience and managing buyer emotions between contract and closing. With supply/ labor challenges, managing our customer’s experience could be time-consuming and emotionally draining!

• New skillsets emerged- those able to embrace virtual selling were ahead of the game; those who were slower to adopt new technologies may have felt like they missed out.

These circumstances were very real in our market last year, but where I saw some people working in sales really struggle was when I saw them comparing themselves to an unrealistic expectation of how they “should” have done.  It was almost as if comparing themselves against the “hot market hype” they were hearing about on social media and comparing themselves to others had them feeling hollow and isolated.  Even some salespeople who beat the original goals they set for themselves for the year were acting as if they were disappointed when we talked about their year – it was really shocking.

Humans, by nature, have a tendency to amplify expectations and compare their performance to external factors. However, while doing this, we often neglect to factor in individual setbacks and how they played a role in achieving our results.  In no way, shape, or form am I saying we all need excuses, but we should be realistic about our own situations and recognize that, in most cases, we did pretty darn well considering the obstacles we faced.  And if we did fail, we can be honest with ourselves about what we can do better the next time we are faced with a similar situation.

So how can we make sure that we set ourselves up for success in our goals in 2022?

This year, let’s embrace the things we CAN control. Let’s re-evaluate our goals frequently and in smaller intervals.  Let’s grab an accountability partner (your Sales Manager or favorite co-worker) and take time to CELEBRATE your wins and milestones!

And most importantly, let’s keep our focus on the best part of the job – changing our customer’s worlds!