What do you do if your Sales Development career hits a plateau and you want to keep progressing?

1 Assess your strengths and weaknesses

The first step to overcome a career plateau is to honestly evaluate your current skills, knowledge, and results. What are you good at and what are you struggling with? What are the gaps in your sales development process, tools, or techniques? How do you compare to your peers, your goals, and your industry benchmarks? By conducting a self-assessment, you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and pinpoint the areas that need improvement or reinforcement. You can also ask for feedback from your manager, your colleagues, or your mentors to get a different perspective and insight.

2 Seek new challenges and opportunities

The second step to overcome a career plateau is to look for new challenges and opportunities that can stretch your abilities and test your limits. This can include taking on more complex or difficult prospects, targeting new markets or segments, experimenting with new approaches or methods, or volunteering for special projects or initiatives. By seeking new challenges and opportunities, you can expand your scope, learn new skills, gain more exposure, and demonstrate your value and potential. You can also increase your confidence, motivation, and satisfaction by overcoming obstacles and achieving results.

3 Update your knowledge and skills

The third step to overcome a career plateau is to update your knowledge and skills to keep up with the changing trends, technologies, and best practices in sales development. This can include reading books, blogs, podcasts, or newsletters, taking online courses or certifications, attending webinars or events, or joining communities or groups. By updating your knowledge and skills, you can stay relevant, competitive, and informed in your field and industry. You can also discover new ideas, insights, or solutions that can help you improve your sales development process, tools, or techniques.

5 Plan your career path and goals

The fifth step to overcome a career plateau is to plan your career path and goals for the short-term and the long-term. What do you want to achieve in your sales development role and where do you want to go next? Do you want to become a senior SDR, an account executive, a sales manager, or something else? How will you prepare yourself for the transition and what skills, knowledge, or experience do you need to acquire? By planning your career path and goals, you can create a clear vision, direction, and roadmap for your sales development journey. You can also align your actions, decisions, and priorities with your desired outcomes and measure your progress and success.

6 Seek support and guidance

The sixth step to overcome a career plateau is to seek support and guidance from people who can help you overcome your challenges and achieve your goals. This can include your manager, your mentor, your coach, or your peers. By seeking support and guidance, you can get advice, feedback, or encouragement that can help you improve your performance, skills, or mindset. You can also learn from their experiences, mistakes, or successes and avoid common pitfalls or errors. You can also leverage their network, resources, or opportunities and accelerate your growth and advancement.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?