Ambitious sales professionals will have their eye on promotion opportunities from day one in a new job. Others – perhaps the more realistic in the sales world – will realise that much must be proved to the sales director before the career ladder can be climbed.
These days promotions are not a given. A decade ago sales professionals progressed along specific career paths during their careers. However today, largely due to advances in technology and flatter organisational structures, this is no longer the case.
It’s more likely today for employees to be managing their own career paths and that means creating your own sales job opportunities to progress. It also means that moving up the sales career ladder will require jobs across several different companies. In today’s tough business environment you may need to make a lateral move to position yourself for a later upward move.
Here are ten ways to put your sales career progression into action:
Actively develop influential relationships
Research has shown how helpful mentoring can be in this respect, with a high percentage of those promoted having had a mentoring relationship with someone higher in the company who helped by advocating their skills and abilities. You might get some internal help with this as some large companies have formal mentoring programmes.However, if your company does not, there are still ways you can build relationships with people in higher positions in the company. Mentors can also be great sources for information and career guidance.
Practice self-promotion
If no-one knows how great you are, you simply won’t get ahead. So it makes sense to actively promote yourself and become a known quantity. If you have had major accomplishments or created new sales systems, or regularly beaten sales targets, make sure influential people within the company know about them. This means you must sell yourself – starting with letting it be known that you are seeking a promotion. This could take the form of regular informal chats with your boss, well planned out discussions in appraisals and sales meetings, or even a regular email to your line manager or the sales director with updates on your achievements.
Quantify and promote the results of your sales work
Promotions are not necessarily based on your past performance, but you can certainly make a much better case for a promotion by showing detailed information about your past and ongoing successes. In sales it is easy to quantify results – so make sure you are tracking the success of your activities. Ideas count in sales and marketing, so make sure no-one else in the team is stealing your thunder! Don’t let your personal achievements get lost in the overall ebb and flow of the sales department.
Build the relevant knowledge and skills
It goes without saying that one of the best ways to succeed in getting a promotion within sales is to expand your knowledge and skills sets in areas that are critical to the organisation. As technology and other environmental forces change rapidly, you need an ever-increasing skill set not only to perform your job, but to stay marketable. Become an expert in social media if this will help the company, for example. Attend conferences so that you are fully engaged in the industry your product or service is a part of. Understand the latest sales and marketing techniques as they come through.
Experts also suggest that employees who want to get ahead should not only keep current with industry news and events, but to also pay attention to trends and events outside their specialist area.
Extend your professional network
The more people who know you, and appreciate your strengths and abilities, know your value to the organisation and recognise your ambitions, the more likely your name will be discussed when relevant opportunities arise. You can use social media here, though be careful not to look as though you are job-hunting beyond your current employer.
A key benefit of internal networking is that you will learn much more about the company if you network with people in other areas of the business.
Immerse yourself in the company’s goals
Make the values and aims of the company your personal values and aims, and this way you will become a corporate player. Volunteering to help out other departments or teams or simply asking for more responsibilities certainly increases your value within the organisation. Asking for more work shows your interest and desire to help your department and company to succeed.
Because so much of work is now accomplished through teams – either departmental or cross-functional – it becomes even more important to share successes with your sales team and to avoid pointing your finger when there are failures. By proving yourself as a pivotal team player, you will build your reputation and increase your value to the organisation.
Act like a manager before you are one
Earn a reputation for being dependable, professional, and cooperative. Dress well because f you look like manager material you are more likely to be considered for management posts that come up. If it helps, volunteer to do presentations, speak at events or take on extra client research projects. So try and dress professionally, take the initiative whenever you can. Don’t get yourself a reputation as a clock watcher of someone who always complains. It will help to have a positive outlook and a ‘can do’ attitude even when times in the office are challenging.
Try in particular to be a problem-solver. If a difficult situation arises, be sure to come up with at least one solution before seeking your boss’s blessing for dealing with the situation. Problem-solvers are more likely than complainers to land a promotion and rise up the ranks.
Generate opportunities for yourself
At work, if you see an area that has been neglected and you have key sales skills in that area why not write a proposal for a new position?
And even if the company does not go for the new position, you have again shown your initiative, creativity, and value to the firm — and these things can only help you the next time you request a promotion.
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