A sales manager's coaching style directly impacts their team's mindset. Constantly asking 'When will this close?' amplifies a seller's anxiety and negativity bias. In contrast, asking 'How are you helping this person?' reinforces a healthier, customer-centric process that leads to better long-term results.

Anxiety is largely a product of anticipating a difficult situation rather than the situation itself. The act of confronting the issue head-on—taking action—immediately reduces this anxiety by shifting your focus from a hypothetical future to the present reality of solving the problem.

Instead of relying on purely mental exercises, sales professionals can directly combat anxiety and emotional slumps through physical activity. The "motion leads to emotion" principle is a practical tool to improve presence, energy, and overall mental health, which are foundational to sales success.

After missing goals, the immediate priority is rebuilding confidence, not just pipeline. Calling existing, happy customers provides a "shot of adrenaline" by reminding you of past successes and positive relationships. This creates the psychological foundation needed to start chasing new deals again.

Fixating on closing a deal triggers negativity bias and creates a sense of desperation that prospects can detect. To counteract this, salespeople should shift their primary objective from 'How do I close this?' to 'How do I help this person?'. This simple reframe leads to better questions, stronger rapport, and more natural closes.

To prevent one failure from poisoning future interactions, salespeople should emulate elite athletes like Roger Federer who mentally "reset" immediately after a mistake. This compartmentalization ensures that past negative outcomes do not influence the performance of the next call or meeting.

The stress and anxiety felt after a sales interaction goes poorly is not a weakness. It signals a high degree of ownership and responsibility—core traits of successful salespeople. Those who feel this pain are more likely to learn, adapt, and ultimately be trusted by clients.

To break out of a negative mindset during a bad week, proactively give referrals to others in your network. This act of generosity shifts your focus from your own problems to helping others, which improves your attitude and can generate goodwill that leads to opportunities.

Gratitude and self-pity are mutually exclusive mindsets. By consciously practicing gratitude, salespeople can displace the insidious tendency to dwell on lost deals or rejections. This allows for a focus on lessons learned and future opportunities, rather than past failures.