The end of the year is always stressful in the sales world. Closing last-minute orders and tying up loose ends can be energizing. But reaching out to those customers that promised to get back to you and then went radio silent hits us differently.

But, now it’s the new year and the clock starts all over again.

The big question is, “How can you start the new year in a less stressful place than it ended?” Not everyone has the luxury of time off during the holidays to de-stress, but I’m hoping you’re one of the lucky ones.

To begin, I believe Socrates said it best: Know Thyself.

As a sales coach that focuses on the Four People Personality Styles, I’ve learned that we need to understand who we are as individuals first to better understand how we cope with stress and the best way to alleviate it.

First let’s take a look at the stress factors for each personality style and then how you alleviate it.

The Blue style is the relator. Relationships are a priority. So for the Blue, radio silence is the worst. If customers don’t get back to them, they worry about what went wrong or if they are the ones guilty of producing any tension in the relationship.

The best way for the Blue to alleviate stress is to restore emotional harmony, both with themselves and with the client. Visit your customers to calm the stress through connection and reassurance. Talk things out with your customers to make sure all is good.

For the Gold, known as the director, stress happens when there’s ambiguity, uncertainty or lack of structure. When deadlines are missed by customers and contracts fall through the crack, Gold’s experience chaos. Being organized is their strength and when they lose that, stress comes out loud and clear.

To regain their calmness, they need to get back on track. Golds need to reassert control over their plan and return to their proven process. They need to reaffirm deadlines, review their to-do list, then reprioritize what’s most important at the time. Going back to their structure will reduce their stress.

For the Green, known as the detective, stress comes from unclear information, getting vague answers from customers, or a highly emotional selling environment. You can imagine how the end of the year with deadline pressures and hasty decisions might be very stressful to the Green personality.

Greens can reduce stress by organizing the facts and possibilities. When they think it through, seek insights, analyze options and clarify any uncertainty, it can greatly reduce their stress.

Oranges known as the activator enjoy the hustle and excitement for any opportunity to win big at the end of the year. What drives the Orange crazy is slow processes and too many details. Too much red tape throws up roadblocks that will stress them out. Delays more than anything else can create excess anxiety. Being told “we need more time” does not bode well with the Orange.

For the Orange, taking a deep breath will help to lower the anxiety. Shift your focus to opportunities moving forward and create action and momentum.

As you’ve seen, each style needs to understand their own strengths and weaknesses. To reduce stress, use your strengths to gain focus and control of your emotions.