My career journey began in Information Technology, and after a long tenure with IT, I made a shift into sales. While it was a natural progression as one grows within the organization, it also called for a lot of preparation from my end. Being in sales gives one a peripheral view of the business, and as sales professionals we are expected to be agile and informed, always! From business, to people, to relationships, to management – as sales professionals we must score all round.
In technology, one’s view of the business is limited. Your efforts and time is spent in the backend, which does not put you in front of the customer and you don’t get to experience the exact business problems, customer issues, and how you convince a customer with a suave sales pitch.
And for me too, this transition was not easy, but I prepared myself for it in specific ways. Instead of doing it alone, I would suggest getting a coach to make career transitions work and come up to speed quickly.
Invest in a Coach who can help you navigate your career easily. They would gently put you on a path of self-discovery and self-awareness and provide pertinent guidance on where and how to improve. Development begins with introspection and reflection. Inclusion and so many such things have to be addressed, answered and acknowledged for the culture to evolve.
This critical input helps in learning, unlearning and relearning, shedding perceptions and biases, and adopting new and flexible styles of working.
Keep practicing and look at every obstacle as an opportunity to learn new dimensions of sales, market and business.
