When people talk about sales skills, the usual suspects always come up: communication, persuasion, trust building, objection handling, etc. All true. But there’s a quieter, less glamorous skill that makes or breaks long-term success in sales — emotional endurance.
Sales is a mental marathon. It’s not just about what you do in a meeting; it’s about how you survive the hundred moments between meetings. It’s how you handle the day when five people hang up on you before lunch. It’s how you stay focused after your biggest deal falls apart at the last minute. Emotional endurance is the ability to stay even-keeled when the highs are sky-high and the lows are brutal.
This isn’t resilience in the “tough guy” sense — it’s not about pretending things don’t hurt. Emotional endurance is more subtle. It’s about learning how to take rejection without personalizing it. It’s about finding ways to reset your mindset after a bad call, so that the next prospect doesn’t get a shadow of your frustration. It’s about being able to ride the emotional rollercoaster without letting it wreck your confidence or your energy.
When he spoke in class, I asked my brother, John Porter, how he reacts if he loses a big client and how it affects him. His answer was surprising. It was something along the lines of “I don’t take it personally and I’m sure I’ll find an even bigger client in the future.” But this calmness did not come easy, as he eluded to his earlier years of his job where he took every loss deeply to heart, letting it crush him.
Ironically, emotional endurance doesn’t mean you care less. It means you care enough to keep going. You don’t numb yourself — you just get better at recovering quickly. You figure out how to separate “what happened” from “who I am.” You build small routines that recharge you, whether it’s a walk, a funny video, or a mental reset phrase you tell yourself.
The best salespeople aren’t just the smoothest talkers. They’re the ones who can lose a big deal and be just as ready to give their best on the very next call. Emotional endurance isn’t cool to talk about. It’s not going to show up in a flashy LinkedIn post. But it makes all the difference
RMcIlwain
This is a great point! It really is so important to be able to separate yourself from your failures and successes in your career. And even beyond that, it’s a useful skill for everyday life!