Developing Your Medical/Ophthalmic Sales Career

Let’s say you have been working as a medical/ophthalmic device sales professional for several years.

Let’s also say that you think you would like to move up in ranks at some point: as much as you enjoy selling, you see yourself in some higher-level role, such as sales manager/director or head of business development.

The best way to make this upward mobility a reality?

First, understand that not every great salesperson makes a great manager. While certainly similar to sales, employee management takes a different type of skill set.

Great sales managers need to have:

·????????Strategic (team) planning abilities

·????????Exceptional communication skills

·????????The ability to motivate others

·????????Above-average people skills. After all, you may not be selling much yourself but nurturing, training, and encouraging your sales team is required.

·????????The ability to delegate (and being able to allow employees to get the job done in ways slightly different than perhaps you would do it).

·????????The capacity to stay calm under pressure, especially when your team members are looking to you for suggestions.

Yet if you have decided that you truly do want to move into a sales management role, here is what I suggest you do:

Volunteer to take on extra work/duties.

Doing so shows initiative and is required if you want to move up the sales ranks. You can ask your manager if there are more things you can assist with.

You may not receive extra compensation right away and you always should make sure you continue to do the job for which you were hired at a high level. Yet once you do these extra things – and do them well – don’t be shy about making sure your boss knows you have accomplished them (send him or her a quarterly report of projects you have completed/sales goals you have achieved and include the “extra” work in that report).

Taking on these extra tasks shows you have a “can do” attitude, the first step in showing your boss and other higher ups. How valuable you are.

Take EVERY leadership opportunity that appears available to you.

Sales managers are team leaders and you need to indicate to your higher ups that you can be an effective leader.

As you are volunteering for extra responsibility, also ask to take the lead on projects or task that show leadership skills, such as:

·????????Taking the lead on a team exploring a new prospect idea.

·????????Being the sales liaison on the marketing department’s new ideas.

·????????Training a new hire.

Putting yourself in a position of leadership is – basically – telling your boss that you are ready for larger leadership roles and are willing to handle the responsibility.

Meet and exceed your sales goals.

Taking on extra work while not meeting sales goals will only hurt your efforts, possibly in a large way because your boss may decide to let you go because you are not succeeding at the job for which you were hired: selling.

Exceeding your sales goals while doing extra work truly will help your manager see what an asset you are.

Consider getting (another) college degree

If you do not have a bachelor’s, seriously consider getting one. If you have one, research getting a master’s degree.

Understand that a Master of Business Administration (MBA) is not required for sales managers. A master’s in philosophy or literature is not necessarily a deal breaker – it does show your willingness to work hard – but a master’s degree that is applicable to your career (think a Master of Health Administration, Master of Health Sciences or in one in pharmaceutical sciences, etc. if you are in medical/ophthalmic sales) showcases to your boss that you’re dead serious about advancing.

If you do not have a bachelor’s, probably the two best degrees you could get at this point is a bachelor’s in business or marketing.

My overall point: showing your manager that you have ambition, have a great interest in sales, i.e., the college degrees, going above and beyond in your efforts, asking for more responsibility, etc. work to show your manager that you have the leadership skills to move up when an opportunity opens.

I wish you great success with your career aspirations.

#leadership #sales #salesmanagement