Stress Less, Sell More

JANUARY

JANUARY, Day 01: Quota Relief

I recently learned that companies like HubSpot offer their salespeople quota relief when they take vacations. Can we just agree that this should 100% be the norm for all salespeople everywhere?

At their core, quotas and sales targets should be nothing more than a challenging yet achievable goal that helps provide an individual sales rep with direction in their role. We encounter problems with them when the intention behind them changes, and they are viewed by leadership as a tool to control human behavior and impose obedience. Sadly, the latter is often the case and can be seen with vacation policies.

Any company touting “unlimited PTO” without offering quota relief is operating from a belief (whether they know it or not) that quota will keep salespeople obedient and “keep the policy in check.” Salespeople aren't naïve—we know this. Actions speak louder than words, and offering your salespeople quota relief when they take vacations is one of the best ways to show your team that you trust them to be responsible adults.

In addition to building more trusting relationships, teams can also expect a boost in mental health and sales performance. As Kevin Bailey from Dreamfuel taught me, feeling guilty is a very powerful emotion that makes it incredibly difficult to recover from stress and use our time off to effectively recharge. That's why I believe we can remove this feeling of guilt by offering quota relief so our salespeople can actually ...