Failure to Take the Next Step

As a past sales associate for a couple of major department stores, I have always wondered why and how some of my coworkers were not able to move up in the company after years and years of service. In various fields, such as selling cars or selling financial services, how has a seasoned worker not been able to work their way from an entry level position to being one of the most important people in that region or in the store itself is a major question I have pondered. Although we hear that it is through hard work and years and years of experience that any worker can move up the chain, I feel there is more to it. In an article titled “Understanding the Sales Force“, author David Kurlan points out why many people are unable to rise to the ranks to become managers in their workplace. In this interesting read, Kurlan listed a few areas in which the sales associates and workers lack important traits and characteristics in order to become a manager or supervisor. “Lack of recruiting skills, lack of coaching skills, lack of skills around accountability”, were a few of the areas in which current employees and current managers fail to succeed in the business they are a part of. One of the analogies Kurlan touches on is the sales DNA. “When Sales DNA fails to support effective selling, Sales Managers can show and tell until they are blue in the face and their salespeople still won’t be able to replicate their words and actions.”. Your ability to move up in the work place is dependent upon your sales DNA. However, not having a good set of sales DNA is not the only reasons associates are unable to move up in their workplace. Factors such as lack of training, laziness, and lack of communication skills are major reasons salespeople are not able to move up the ladder in their workplace. Overall, moving up to becoming a manager or supervisor is not easy task, I believe there is a certain breed of people who are able to accomplish this task.