Sales Leadership

Successful Step Up to Sales Leadership

Article supplied courtesy of Professionelle.

Q: I really feel ready for that next step up to managing a sales team. How can I identify my relevant skills to my employer and make myself the first choice?

This recent query from one of our members is one that – applied to your different industries and job positions – you've probably all wondered about from time to time. For such a specific career development question, we thought we’d turn to an expert in the field. We asked Frog Recruitment, a savvy recruitment company that treats its clients and candidates with equal measures of respect, to help answer this Managing Your Career question. Frog's advice appears below....


A: Thank you for your question. You can be absolutely certain of the fact that you are not alone. Many of us face the same dilemma in our careers, including the people who are currently managing you!

In our role as career agents [for savvy, sophisticated CareerSeekers] we are often called upon to provide advice, and we do feel an enormous responsibility to guide you in the right direction.

‘Seek first to understand’ is the best way to start here. It is based around research and well planned discussions so you are able to explore your ideal next step – and make an informed decision about the best way forward for you.

To help you, we’ve outlined some practical tips, including how career coaching might assist you and truly hope this provides you with some direction.

And we’ve also included a warning – yes, a warning – about a trap for the career aspirant and one that you may not have thought of. Read on.

1. Review your Career to Date
To start then…what talents and skills can you bring to the table? Success as a Sales Manager will be measured in a variety of ways so ensure that you can tick all the boxes that will be top of mind for your employers.

When considering moving into a leadership role, you need to think about where you can demonstrate your capability around leading, coaching, and motivating a group of people. Achievements in this area may come from a variety of sources and some may be from outside your professional life, but they’re all relevant.

How do you cope with change and pressure? One thing you can be certain of is that ‘change is constant’ in a leadership role. Not only will you have to manage your own reactions in a changing workscape but also the reactions of your team. Other areas of your life may also hold keys to how you cope with change and pressure.

Perhaps you’ve had experience in a sales management role previously. Think about what made you successful in that role. Was it the time you were able to dedicate to the team, or your ability to communicate sales strategy into practical operational tools for your team to be successful? We’re hoping it’s both.

Be prepared to describe your management style and to have this stand up to checks - who better to reference your style than those whom you have led before? Think about adding a key (but impartial) team member to your referee list; it could be a powerful reference.

2. Think about your life!
Ask yourself some key questions about what is important to you. We encourage you to think about what’s most important to you, what you are truly passionate about, what combination of work and life makes you happy, where you want to be and who’s going to be there with you.

We hope this doesn’t sound ‘flaky’, but being true to yourself is probably the most important consideration you can make and often as professional women, mothers and workers we consider others before ourselves.

Ultimately, what gets you excited on a Monday morning? And where do you want to be on a Monday night?

3. Write your own Career Plan
You’ve worked your way through the first two steps and now you are into the crunchy stuff. This is a difficult step and may require some professional assistance. To do this by yourself we suggest the ‘write your own obituary’ exercise. We do it every year.

(We recommend that you live a long and fulfilling life!) It’s an amazing experience to reflect upon and provides you with the ability to look into the future to what you will have achieved, and how you’d like to be remembered. It allows you to track backwards and apply some timelines to the steps you take along on the way.

4. The Talent Chat (a.k.a … the Performance Review)
We love the Talent Chat. Employers often share with us what they’d love their employees to do. One of their most common desires is for employees to ‘share their dreams’. If you want to be sitting in the chair of the person you’re reporting to, or the chair of the person they report to…tell them…they may well be able to assist you to get there. A few things to think about, though, before you share your deepest desires:

Find the most appropriate person in your organisation to speak to. This might be your immediate manager, or perhaps your HR Manager. For others it could be the MD, GM or CEO. It’s of vital importance that the right person is approached. After all - you’re broaching the subject of your future career here! The person you speak with needs to be able to facilitate your development into a position, and when appropriate, support your move. They also need to be professional, that is, open to you sharing your wishes for development and not threatened by your approach. Above all they need the capabilities to advise you.

Open the discussion at an appropriate time, in an appropriate place, and with appropriate notice. What we’re saying is: don’t accost the boss around the water cooler. While it might be nice to have that top line discussion, nothing will be resolved or actioned in this way. Act appropriately. Request a meeting, ensure that the person you’ve chosen to approach is happy to be approached. Explain why you would like to meet and what outcomes you hope to achieve from the meeting.

Climbing the career ladder: we suggest that a key outcome of this discussion needs to be identification of aspects of your experience that will take you to the next level. What’s more relevant are the areas where you still require development to climb that ladder, and how you are going to gain those skills in your current role. This might be through cross-functional team involvement, it may be through project leadership or involvement, or possibly through external training.

Career Coaching - an optional, but recommended, step.
We’ve included this here as most career coaches will step through the processes we’ve outlined, plus some. They will also be able to assist with recognising what might be career road blocks, finding mentors or buddies that can get you there and developing your personal action plan. Plus, some will assist with profiling your talents - finding out what you’re really suited to!

The Warning
The most common mistake that people make is to not say anything; then you wonder why you’ve been overlooked for that next step; you begrudge your employer for doing so, and you might even leave the organisation altogether as a result.

Frying pans and fires - they’re both hot.

Sure, you might move organisations, and you might be lucky enough to secure an opportunity that provides that ideal next step. Are you really ready for it, though? This is a scenario you must be very conscious of. Perhaps the reason you were overlooked is that you’re missing some of the pieces of the puzzle. Assessing what you are able to bring to the table as well as what you need to develop to get there is vital.

Good luck!

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