Weekly Sales Tips: How to Get Promoted in Sales
It’s still early in the new year and you’re asking yourself, how can I get more out of my career? Perhaps you think that sales leadership might be the next step for you.
I went through that process myself. I was in new home sales for many years, and over time started to gain that thirst to step into a sales leadership role. I wanted a bigger opportunity.
It starts with having a plan. We’re going to talk about sales leadership, and five steps on how to get promoted in sales.
I wanted a chance to be able to groom, grow, and have an impact on the lives of people around me. I recognize that sales leadership is not for everyone, and I’m not suggesting that if you choose to remain in the sales position you’ve done something wrong. Some people are specifically cut out for sales. They’re good at it and, that’s what they should be doing.
Some of you aspire to be in a sales leadership role. If you want to move into that leadership role, let me offer you just five steps to getting promoted in sales that can help you to get there.
Master Your Own Job First
I can’t stress this enough, too many salespeople tell me they want to get into sales leadership, but they haven’t truly mastered sales. When I say master sales, I don’t mean that they attended training programs, or they figured out how to get by and make their quota every month. I mean that they are serious students about the sales process, that they are all in when it comes to learning more about lead conversion and the way that buyers buy.
They read like crazy. Students of the sale don’t stop at the training that their company provides. They seek out their own sources to learn more and more. If you can’t master your own job first, maybe you should think twice about moving up.
Identify Strengths to Leverage
As you are thinking about a potential career in sales leadership, you want to ask yourself the question, what do I bring to the table?
What is it in my skill set, in my mindset, in my appearance, that that would help me to be a valuable addition to the leadership team? Then you want to leverage those things. You want to lean into those things. Look for those opportunities where you can take your strengths and utilize them to better your own organization.
Volunteer to Take Stuff Off Your Manager’s Plate
Most sales leaders are just way too busy. They have so many different things on their to-do list on any given day. The ironic thing is that, oftentimes, there are things on the list for a sales leader that they really don’t want to do, or that they’re not particularly good at, that others on their team, like you, would rather enjoy.
Volunteer to find some of the things that your sales leader just doesn’t want to do and take them off their plate. It might be administrative tasks. It might be helpful for you to put sales meetings together. It could be comparative market analysis, any number of things along the line that would make the sales leader’s job easier.
Coach Your Peers
Look for opportunities to be that informal coach. Before you actually have the title of a sales leader, you can still be a leader, especially for the new people on the team. Take them under your wing and show them what you know.
Make Your Desire Known
Don’t wait for somebody to come along and hold you by the hand, to show you your career path, take it on yourself to make your desire known. Let the people around you and above you, in the organization, know that this is what you want.
As I said, sales leadership is not for everyone, but if you’re thinking this is where you want to go, it can be a very rewarding future. You’ll have the opportunity to change a lot of lives.
If you’re looking for more help getting on the path to your next promotion, my new course, Launching your Personal Growth Plan, is here. I’ll help you set those aggressive, but attainable growth goals, but in a way that won’t completely burn you out as you achieve them.
Until next time my friends, learn more to earn more.
