Upon being hired, many sales professionals simply go into the company, do their work, make quota, but don't gain any ground regarding getting to the next level. Then, they spend hours, days, weeks and years wondering as to why this is while they could spend the time bettering themselves.
The reason for this is that meeting quota and staying at a company is not a great feat and does not deserve accolade after accolade. Sales managers know this and they will, and this is not out of spite or personal dislike, create a glass ceiling and will promote others instead.
To become successful, you have to truly impress your sales manager and stand out within your company. This does not mean kissing up and excessively flattery. Unless your sales manager is exceedingly insecure, these approaches have the opposite effects.
Gain the mindset that simply meeting quota and vanishing at 5 p.m. is the equivalent of getting a "B" on a your report card.
In life, being a "B" player is fine if you like your job and you are happy with where you are. Conversely, if you are a Type A, you wish you to get ahead and to start off on the right foot, make a good impression from the day you are hired.
Don't be fooled. The first impression rule does apply to work as well. Below, you will find some facts and tips about your sales manager that will help you make quite a positive impression and effectively work with him or her from day one. Here's some key insight into your sales manager:
1. While you're responsible for one quota, your sales manager is responsible for several with several different personalities backing each one.
You know that, as a sales representative, it is hard enough to ensure that you personally meet quota. This can get quite stressful at times especially when some accounts are not answering. Therefore, you must multiply that stress by x number of people.
Also, good sales managers must keep training and upgrading their team, therefore this time cuts into the sales' team selling hours and he or she must have nothing short of amazing time management skills to pull this off in a successful manner.
2. A sales manager is also responsible for hiring and this, many times proves to be stressful because they are given a certain budget, have to determine market prices and turnovers reflect very poorly.
3. A sales manager is much more likely to get fired than you are. This rule applies 5 fold to publicly traded companies or heavily backed VC firms. In many companies, if numbers are not met for a single quarter, the sales manager will be heavily question and put on an informal probation.
4. Your sales manager is human, too. This means that they have probably the same broad worries as you and the same needs regarding their job as many don't know that there are fixed needs that all human beings share when it comes to employment.
Moreover, they most likely share similar goals (even if on a different level), have a family life as well as their own interests and hobbies.
Also, this translates into the fact that managers, like any other human beings, make mistakes. They are not robots. However, the better managers hold themselves accountable for every mistake that they do make.
