In 2011 I was a team leader in a German finance company. Everything was 100 percent commission. No fixed salary, no safety net. You worked for every euro.
People on my team would come to me exhausted. They would say: Nandar, I do not know how you invite so many people to the sales presentations. I cannot even make an appointment.
They expected sales tips. A better script. A harder push.
I gave them something else. I said: you look so tired, and you are worn out. First things first, you need to take care of yourself. Do not worry about the sales now. Because if you are not on top of your game, if you do not feel good and peaceful with your life, how can you convince anyone to believe and trust in you?
So I started teaching my team to meditate. In our meetings. One to one. Openly, not as some secret ritual. And something began to change.
They learned to regulate their emotions. They could feel the fear of picking up the phone and pick it up anyway. They made the calls. They made the appointments. They filled the sales presentations.
And at the end of the year, out of about 2,500 salespeople, I was named Best Team Leader of 2011. Not because we pushed harder. Because we stopped pushing from an empty tank.
Rest and results are not opposites
People think every hour spent recovering is an hour stolen from the target. I carried a sales target for years, so let me say it plainly: your results are downstream of your energy. A fearful salesperson under pressure does not hit the target anyway. A calm one, strangely, does.
And one more thing I learned as a team leader: you cannot teach other people what you do not do. I meditated every morning myself, five minutes, sometimes ten, sometimes twenty. That was the whole practice. Small, daily, non-negotiable.
Try this before your next difficult call
Here is the version my team used, and it fits inside your busiest day too.
- Stop for two minutes. Feet on the floor, eyes closed, count your breath from 1 to 10.
- Notice the fear that says: I do not have time for this, I should be doing. That voice is the empty tank talking.
- Take your time, and just breathe, accepting any good and bad thoughts and emotions as they happen.
- Then make the call. Notice the difference in your voice.
That is the entire method.
Your target will still be there on Monday. You will be different in front of it.