Promotion from Sales to Management - Essay Example

Executives within a company may be lured into believing that promoting the top salesperson and putting five people under them will translate into five times the sales. This may be an illusion and maybe far from reality. Promotion to a management position should not be solely based on performance only. This stems from the fact that a selling role and managerial position require distinct abilities and diverse motivators (Ingram et al. 289).

A core trait that should be sought in the promotion of salespersons into management is a demonstration of being a top salesperson with possession of a solid work ethic, among other aspects. Promotion into management for a salesperson is not a soft option as the manager is expected to manage a successful sales team and deliver predictable performance. Moreover, top salespeople who get promoted are rarely awarded a functioning, highly-effective sales team. The pressure to turn around the fortunes heaps a lot of pressure on the manager.

Critics of promotion based on a selling role point out that this is a prime example of promoting people to “a level of incompetence.” The move should not be inspired by “disciple selling,” as this is a recipe for failure. The motivation of the promotion should be a conviction that the salespersons have the potential to succeed in that capacity. This demands an application of a clear-cut process and methodology in order to evaluate the best sales management, candidates.

The depressing aspect of most promotions from selling roles is that the vast majority of the new managers are not successful in their endeavors. The move from a technical or sales position into management is usually complicated and sometimes less desirable than it appears. This stems from the fact that sales and management are utterly different and take contrasting mindsets. For instance, salespeople are mainly motivated by individual achievement while a manager has to concentrate on the performance of the sales team. The criteria for the promotion of salespersons into a managerial position should not hinge on the assumption that top-seller = top sales manager. Not all “excellent salespeople become excellent sales managers.” Some top salespersons certainly become first-rate managers, while others utterly fail at sales management.

Sales management should not be perceived as merely a job elevation, but a job change. The promotion from sales to management should be handled as a job change, rather than a “promotion.” Perceiving sales promotion as a job change means that this is an opportunity to provide training and mentoring programs, besides monitoring their performance. The core objective of the company should be ensuring that the new sales manager successfully assimilates into the new role.

In conclusion, sales professionals aiming for a managerial position should have a concise career plan coupled with lateral moves that explore career interests and aspirations. High performance in the field of sales is crucial, besides adding value to the sales team and being visionary. The newly promoted managers should not project their own values concerning work ethic, career goals, and personal goals onto their team in order to avoid friction. In addition, the manager should actively engage in training, coaching, and follow-up in order to promote performance within the teams. Read More