In sales, few words hit as hard as "burnout." You've seen it happen. Your team members barely making it through the day, looking tired and checked out, sometimes not showing up at all. As their leader, it's your job to help them bounce back. But here's what nobody talks about: who helps you when you're the one struggling?
You're dealing with pressure from your bosses, trying to hit your numbers every month, and making sure your team stays on track. All of this piles up fast. And sometimes, it gets too heavy. Burnout is real for everyone in sales, leaders included.
Understanding sales leader burnout
Sales is tough. Long hours, hearing "no" constantly, competing with everyone. It makes sense that even good salespeople get worn down. But here's the problem: everyone talks about helping reps avoid burnout, but almost nobody mentions what happens when leaders start burning out. As a sales leader, pressure comes at you from everywhere. You have goals to meet, people to manage, problems to solve, and new issues popping up daily. The pandemic made it worse. Work and home life got mixed together. Those quick chats with your team disappeared. Remote work became normal, but not everyone does well working alone.
Sales leader burnout is real, and it can happen to you. Whether you work from home, the office, or a mix of both, here's how to protect yourself:
Strategies to prevent sales leader burnout
Here's the good news: you can avoid burnout. With some smart changes to how you work and live, you can stay energized and effective.
1. Get enough sleep
Burnout feels a lot like stress. You feel unmotivated, always tired, can't think clearly, don't care about things you used to care about. Know what else causes all that? Not sleeping enough. Studies show that getting less than 6 hours of sleep makes burnout way more likely. If you're feeling burned out, fix your sleep first.
Things that helped me:
Keep a schedule: I go to bed and wake up around the same time every day. Your brain gets used to this pattern, which makes sleeping easier.
Stop using screens before bed: Phone and computer screens mess with your sleep. I put all screens away at least 30 minutes before bed.
Write stuff down: I keep a notebook next to my bed. Before sleeping, I write down what went well, what didn't, and anything else on my mind. This helps my brain relax instead of thinking about work all night.
2. Build the right team
Managing a good sales team is hard. Managing a bad one? That leads straight to burnout. Constant drama, arguments, and people who don't follow the plan create endless stress. When you can't see what your team is working on or track their deals properly, it makes you anxious. You know something will go wrong eventually, and you'll have to fix it.
The answer starts with hiring the right people. Get team members who work the way you do and share your values. At Wonit, we built our team around three simple ideas:
Trust people first: We believe everyone on our team wants to do good work and knows their stuff. We respect what they bring to the table. You don't have to earn trust here, we give it to you from day one.
Move fast and learn: We believe in doing things instead of overthinking them. Done is better than perfect. We build something, put it out there, learn from it, and make it better. When we need to decide something, we just move forward.
Try new things: We test ideas all the time and see failure as a way to learn. Trying new approaches helps us grow. Playing it safe means falling behind, so we're always testing and improving. When you have a team you can actually trust to do their work, it takes so much weight off your shoulders. You don't need people who agree with everything you say. You need people who can do their job well and speak up when they disagree.
3. Set clear boundaries
Creating boundaries is hard in sales. Only 21% of sales managers work a regular 40-hour week. The rest work way more than that. Add working from home, and suddenly you're available all the time. That doesn't work long-term.
Being always available means you never get a break. You need clear lines between work time and personal time. When your work day ends, turn off email notifications. If you work from home, don't work in the same spot where you relax. Working late? Set a time to stop that still lets you sleep enough.
My personal rules:
Lunch and dinner are for family only. No work during meals.
I wear specific clothes for work. When I take them off, work is done for the day.
I check work once after dinner, but only after my daughter goes to bed.
I deleted Slack from my phone. Fewer apps means fewer distractions. My phone stays in the kitchen after 7:30 pm, not in my bedroom.
Everyone I work with knows when I go to bed. So nobody messages me late at night.
4. Pick the right work setup
Working from home was great for some people and terrible for others. People who like structure and talking to coworkers in person really struggled. Now that offices are opening again, people who got used to home are stressed about going back. Where you work affects how stressed you feel. If you can choose, pick what works best for you. Give your team that choice too. When people work where they're comfortable, they do better work and feel less stressed.
5. Take care of yourself
You can't lead well if you're exhausted. Just like you tell your team to take care of themselves, you need to do the same. Taking care of yourself looks different for everyone. Maybe it's meditation in the morning, exercise after work, or just having quiet time alone. Figure out what helps you relax and make time for it. Taking breaks from work helps you come back feeling better and thinking clearer.
6. Use better tools
Bad processes create a lot of stress. When everything you do has unnecessary steps and problems, your job gets way harder and takes way longer. These problems might come from other departments, old ways of doing things, or just bad tools.
Still making proposals by hand? That's painful. It takes hours, nothing looks consistent, you can't see what's happening, and it's easy to make mistakes. The stress gets worse when you realize how much time you waste on formatting instead of actually selling.
This is where Wonit helps, you can create complete proposals in minutes instead of hours. Your team can work together easily. You can see exactly who's looking at your proposals and what they're doing. You get control and consistency in how you create proposals. Creating a personalized proposal in 5 minutes instead of spending all afternoon fixing fonts and layouts. That saved time goes back into what actually matters, leading your team and closing deals.
Conclusion
When you burn out, your whole team feels it. Sales leader burnout isn't just your problem, it affects everyone. The trick is catching it early and doing something about it. Take care of yourself the same way you take care of your team. Remember, you can't help others if you're empty yourself. Get enough sleep, build a team you trust, keep clear boundaries, work where you're comfortable, take care of yourself, and use tools that make your job easier. Success over the long run needs consistent energy, not just one good month.
Ready to transform your proposal process? Get early access to Wonit and start creating winning proposals today.