Is it a coincidence that majority of corporate Presidents started as a salesman or were sales people at some point in their career?
Selling is a super critical function. Selling possibly is the only function that gets up close and personal to your customer. A sales person starts to understanding customer’s likes, dislikes and idiosyncrasies. They get to know the precise reason why a product or company clicks or why it ticks.
And as the salesperson grows in the organization to increased responsibilities, they start shaping products, teams and organization structures to address their customer’s need. They have first hand experience and the conviction required to fix things that generates revenue for the company. Over time and not surprisingly, the successful salesman becomes an star within the company. He is well recognized, for the sales man knows their customers the best.
When management wants to hire for a position on the management team,
Selling is a super critical function. Selling possibly is the only function that gets up close and personal to your customer. A sales person starts to understanding customer’s likes, dislikes and idiosyncrasies. They get to know the precise reason why a product or company clicks or why it ticks.
And as the salesperson grows in the organization to increased responsibilities, they start shaping products, teams and organization structures to address their customer’s need. They have first hand experience and the conviction required to fix things that generates revenue for the company. Over time and not surprisingly, the successful salesman becomes an star within the company. He is well recognized, for the sales man knows their customers the best.
When management wants to hire for a position on the management team,
- who do you think would be on their A-list – A star salesman.
- Secondly, since organization exist because of their customers, management would prefer some one who has been with the customers for senior positions.
- Thirdly, in all probability the current CEO and the executive team were salespersons themselves in the career. It is only natural for biases towards star salespersons.
Whatever be the case if you are a salesman you are in good hands. You have the inherent advantage to get to the top. If not, get a role in sales to fill up that gaping hole in your otherwise impeccable record.