Salespeople are aware that many customers hold negative stereotypes about sales profession. Consequently, salespeople may get defensive and fearful about how customers perceive them. This phenomenon is called stereotype threat. Stereotype threat may be exacerbated when meeting with customers of a different race/ethnicity or background because salespeople are often told that customers prefer to work with service providers who seem similar to themselves. Using a survey of professional salespeople, the results show that salespeople are less likely to experience stereotype threat from customers when they perceive themselves to be similar to customers. Furthermore, perceived similarity with their manager also reduces stereotype threat from customers. The results also show that stereotype threat increases anxiety, which can reduce organizational commitment. However, managerial support is effective for helping salespeople to cope with anxiety. The implications of this research will help sales managers to both reduce stereotype threat and help salespeople cope with it.