#90: Listen as Jill Fratianne, Channel Account Manager at HubSpot, discusses building a resilient sales mindset and balancing the demands of sales with life. She and Tyler share personal experiences in work-life balance, handling major life events, and tips for being an effective sales manager and leader in unforeseen circumstances.

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Don’t feel like listening? Read the Episode Cliff Notes instead below:

Top performers in any profession, especially sales, are all wired differently for perfection. But unfortunately, high standards are the norm, and they can be detrimental as your career progresses. 

So what happens when life and you’re thrown off your game? You’re at the bottom, and that’s where resilience comes in.

Today’s salesperson is a person who is helpful because anyone can shop you out on the internet. 

By the time a customer gets to you, they know they will be talking to someone. And they want to know what’s behind all of the marketing jargon.

Eventually, you’re going to burn out. If your company has any form of a culture where you’re going to get fired, you can try and do it again elsewhere. But it’s a short lift.

A sales career is riddled with ups and downs. If anyone says that it’s not, they’re lying,

Jill was four or five deals away from achieving “founders club” HubSpot. She was heading into Q4 when she had to give birth, and she remembers sitting at her desk crying.

It was a difficult transition for her because she was used to having the flexibility she needed to be at the top of the boards. Now she had this huge responsibility and all the other things she was trying to balance. But this was a different type of responsibility.

Often we’re nervous about bringing up life outside the dashboard because it feels like we’re not “all in.” And God forbid your manager thinks your eye isn’t on the prize. It’s terrifying.

This is why the sales manager role is so important. Many sales reps’ experience at a company lives and dies by who they report to. It’s not the VP, the director, or the CEO. It’s their manager and the relationship between the sales manager and the sales.

Jill’s adrenaline held out until her daughter turned six months old. Then she hit exhaustion. 

Our kids are us. They become a huge part of our lives, and either a manager accepts that and incorporates it into the way they treat the frontline sales rep or ignores it.

There is a level of trust. If this manager has your back, they get you as a human being. They understand your personal goals. 

You’ve got to develop trust with the reps to have a two-way relationship. And that relationship becomes significant. 

If folks are going to find this level of balance of self-forgiveness, empathy, and resilience to maintain a sales career. You can fake it for a few years, but eventually, that catches up with you.

Grief can also destroy a personal life and career, so you have to give your employees space. If you hear someone die, your job as a sales manager is to shut down the computer.

The worst thing a manager can tell you is that you’re giving excuses when you are actually vulnerable.

Jill Fratianne a.k.a “JillyFrat” has been a top performing sales rep at HubSpot for going on 13yrs after switching careers from a concert violist and can still be seen on state with the Portland Symphony. She’s held various sales roles at HubSpot and is currently in Channel Sales. Her passion lies in helping cultivate resilient sales cultures as well as coaching and uplifting business leaders to be their best. She also has a significant stake in real estate, is a mother, and wife of a hot sauce entrepreneur. Fun fact, er Great Danes have been seen on Animal Planet