Sales has a career ladder like no other.
Unlike with other career paths, there just aren’t natural stepping stones from one level to the next.
You may start work as a Sales Exec: mopping up the admin of the hot shot at the top. You diligently complete their CRM records, book in appointments and attend the odd meeting. You excel and go up a step.
You take on your own client opportunities. Instead of being in the office all day with a few salesy phone calls, you’re out and about. Meeting prospects, networking, following up: all different skills to those you perfected as an Exec. You close some good clients. You’re on the way up, having fast learnt some new skills about working face to face with clients, maybe some presentation skills with negotiation.
How about that next step up into doing much bigger deals: presentations that take weeks or months of preparation? What about all that research you had to do – that isn’t what your career has taught you to date.
And then what about running your own sales team. It’s another huge shift – this time maybe away from day to day client contact into training, developing, mentoring and coaching. Setting objectives and ensuring there is a great reward or a key consequence when those objectives aren’t met. Bringing some fun and competitive spirit into the team. Setting a culture and tone for coping with disappointments but celebrating success.
Promotions sound like great opportunities. Being rewarded for a good job well done is what most people want after working 40+ hours a week. For employers, giving promotions offers an incentive for staff to work hard, drive those sales and make the company profit.
However, it should not be done lightly. As an employer, you must make sure they have the right personality for a managerial or leadership role. Are they able to be diplomatic? Can they accept feedback? Are they able to build relationships and manage other people? Are they committed to the company?
The Peter Principle is the well-known concept that anything that performs at the current level will be pushed until it fails. This could apply to anything from cars to relationships. Here, the Peter Principle concern is that a promoted employee will work at their new job and be given more responsibility until they fail to perform. Beware promoting to the level of incompetency.
For a sales team, this is particularly concerning. The responsibilities of different steps of the ladder seem so jarring – is it really a career path at all? And how do we take people on that journey so that we have a team of excellent sales people who are using their main working strengths, without expecting things of them they just can’t deliver?
Just because they are good or even great at their current job does not mean they will be good at a more senior role.
Being a manager requires excellent people skills because you will have to deal with complaints, hiring and firing, motivating your team, dealing with tricky situations and come up with solutions. It may also mean a shift in work-life balance and greater stress levels. We need to encourage people to engage with this ahead of greater status or income.
If you are thinking of promoting someone here are our 3 top questions to consider:
- Can the employee handle the stress and emotional commitment to their current role? Do you think they have capacity for more?
- Have you tried and tested them across most aspects of the new role? Have they succeeded?
- Do they come to you most often to ask questions or to offer solutions?
Honest answers to these 3 should give you an indication of whether your employee may be able to make the step up. If you aren’t sure, consider a 3 month trial or interim position at the management role then make your decision.
And from you, the employer’s perspective, consider:
- Do the responsibilities of this role make sense for this person’s working style?
- What training will they need to really excel?
- What support will they need to perform brilliantly?
While a promotion can be an exciting challenge and opportunity, it can backfire. If you are concerned about who to promote and whether they will succeed, have a chat with us at People puzzles and we can offer some tried and tested ideas to help you make the decision.
Ally Maughan founded People Puzzles in 2010 because early in her career she recognised that people problems were often the biggest, single factor holding a company back from growth. Four years later, and with her hand-picked Team of experienced, people professionals, Ally has worked with more than 100 SME and mid-tier companies. For more information about People Puzzles head to the website or email Ally.
