Sales is a high-stakes game where the pressure to deliver results never lets up. Keeping a strong pipeline, meeting quotas, and balancing short-term wins with long-term growth can be a constant challenge.
In this episode of Go to Market with Dr. Amy Cook, sales leader, and RevOps advisor Andrew Conley dives into the realities of sales pressure and shares ways to manage stress, build resilience, and create a sustainable approach to success.
From diversifying pipelines to embracing stress-relief strategies like cold plunges, Andrew is living proof that leveraging the power of community and family support and coaching junior sales reps to develop drive and adaptability—not just skill—can empower underperforming reps to thrive.
Here are some interview highlights:
Amy: What are some of the top pressures sales reps face?
Andrew: A big part of the pressure is the constant expectation to deliver. Sales has a really short memory. You can have a fantastic year the prior year, but if you’re not doing well, now your job’s on the line, and it’s all that consumes you. If I do not hit my quota this quarter, it’s all you can think about. It’s all you’re consumed by. And there’s this constant pressure to say, how do I hit this quarter?
There’s a way to balance what you’re doing now and what you need to do long-term. But if you can’t get to the point where you’re confident and secure by what it looks like now, it’s tough to start thinking long-term about your career progression and long-term decisions. Finding balance is tricky.
Amy: How does focusing on your pipeline help?
Andrew: That’s one of the most important things I focus on because if you have an adequate pipeline, your sales life is better, and you feel more confident. You have multiple ways to hit your number, but you also have peace in how you communicate with customers. There’s no weird urgency to close deals unnaturally or push deals that aren’t ready to be moved.
Read more: The Dynamic Partnership of Sales and RevOps
But when you have adequate ways to hit and many different pipeline opportunities, it’s more natural. And your customers feel it. You feel it, and it also transcends your business life to your personal life.
One of the things that I’m working closely on with our sales team is building that pipeline. When we take it account by account, and I try to get them things in their ICP that are really important, it builds that trust so much more.
For the full interview, click here.
