I remember back to the days when AG was in its infancy. When I started in 04' and we shared a small sweat box we called an office consisting of 5 folks dialing for dollars. At the time I came into AG thinking I was the "big man on campus". With 5 previous years of inside sales experience under my belt, I assumed I would have a profound and immediate impact on the organization expecting that I could immediately help to grow our existing customer base. Quickly I learned that although I was keeping the client I was working with happy, I certainly wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire. It let me know that there is always more room for me to learn and grow (which is still the case today). At the time however, I had a bit too much pride to fully accept the fact that maybe I hadn’t fully developed every skill required to make it happen in inside sales.
After about 6 months on the phone I sat down with the owner of the company and let him know where I felt my next steps should be within the organization. I’ll never forget the conversation. Basically it boiled down to me whining about how I felt entitled to more responsibility and my boss saying: “I don’t really owe you anything”. He knew I could make cold calls having worked with me in a previous life, but I had to prove to him that I had the ability to get it done for him in the "here and now". I was honest with myself and realized at that point in time I wasn't ready for that step.
We all have known those sales guys in our career that for whatever reason felt they deserved more than anyone else. With all of the experience that your senior reps bring to the table, on occasion we have to deal with the slight headache of that rep asking you when it's their turn to move forward. Here are 3 questions I ask myself to assess whether they are ready for that next step:
Do they consistently achieve their goals?
We want them thinking more about just hitting their goals, it's about exceeding them. While I realize we can't be at our number every month/quarter, you should be there much more often than not if you feel you’re the one next in-line for a promotion.
Do they consistently show initiative?
Are they offering to train new hires? Are they coming up with new and creative ways to incent their colleagues? Are they offering up their ideas for a blog?
Do they possess the intangibles to advance within the organization? (Generally this means more than being adept at making a cold call- Are they good with your clients? Can they produce reports out of your CRM? Are they organized enough to juggle multiple responsibilities?
Now go ahead and ask them the same questions. If the answer isn’t yes to all 3, then maybe they aren't the best woman/man for the job.
They’ve shown an ability to get it done at the job, but what are they doing to go above and beyond? Everyone gets tired of listening to the braggart who keeps referencing a big achievement from 2 freakin’ years ago. Just because you have 5 more years of experience than the person sitting next to you doesn’t necessarily mean you’re automatically assigned to the next management opening.
Like I said last week, what have they done last quarter.. last month…yesterday?
Craig Ferrara is the Vice President of Client Operations for AG Salesworks. He has extensive experience in the sales and teleprospecting process. Craig joined AG Salesworks in 2003 and has successfully managed several teams of high-performing Business Development Representatives. To read more of his articles, click here.
I like the way you spun this out of your own experience - an important detail which adds tremendous credence to the questions you recommend asking.
Along with critical leadership skills, there seems to be an implied mindset and attitude in your post: the guy who is ready for promotion is the one who thinks about, strategizes and strives for excellence as though this were his/her own business.
Nicely put!
Don F Perkins
http://donfperkins.com