The boss, the commander in chief, the head honcho: call it what you like, there is something alluring about being number one.
As we all know, in a typical sales organisation, this elevated position sits at the top of a very well defined command structure. This kicks off with the newbie professionals just fresh in the door, wide-eyed and breathless. It then moves up a rung to the more experienced sellers, before climbing the ladder through various levels of sales managers.
Much further up it finally reaches a heavenly plateau: this is where all the sales directors live.
While the title may vary from Director or VP of Sales or even Zod the Almighty, the role and its responsibilities are consistent across the industry – as are the associated risks and rewards.
And this means that before going for any promoted role, it’s worth considering some fundamental, life-changing factors.
First, can you recall what first attracted you into sales? Without doubt, one of the USPs was the prospect of being your own person – the sales sector, like very few others, offers exceptional degrees of autonomy and flexibility. Talk the talk and walk the walk, for sure, but your professional day is mostly yours to organise and implement.
You can see where we’re going with this already. Yes, the first thing to start fading the higher you rise through the ranks will be your freedom. Instead it is replaced by responsibility. And when you’re at the top, that responsibility is full. Individual sales professionals who underperform can be offered fresh training and mentoring; if your entire sales force misses targets, the buck now stops with you and you won’t be offered a shoulder and a cup of tea.
No matter what your ambitions may be, how strong your own skills or how vast and deep your hard-earned experience in the field, if your dedication, passion and work ethic are not shared by those who look to you as leader, you will spend your days waiting for the trap door to open.
And don’t forget the meetings: executive meetings, budget meetings, strategy meetings, vendor meetings, customer issue meetings, meeting meetings. All of these and more are now part of your normal working day. Quite soon you may be pining to be back out on the road, face-to-face with customers and among your own.
Are you still reading? And do you still want to go for that senior job? Excellent! Because that was the bad news, now here is the really good stuff to know.
As Sales Director, you will command a higher salary and, if you can inspire and harness your people team into a solid, effective team that reaches customer-focused, results-oriented goals, there will be an equally significant amount of extra rewards: not only the year-end bonuses and executive trips to exotic locations, but opportunities to advance yourself even further.
We cannot underestimate the importance, too, of job satisfaction, which will grow exponentially with every success you lead. That feeling of knowing you are the captain of winning a team of professionals can be both life-affirming and motivational in achieving even greater success.
Oh, and one final piece of advice to frame and hang on the wall of your new executive-floor office: “One holds his job by knowing how. One becomes boss by knowing why.”
Search the latest jobs in Sales and Executive & Management positions.