Sales Representative, Account Executive, Enterprise Account Manager, Business Development Associate, etc.
These titles could all potentially describe the same position. The same responsibilities, the same place in the hierarchy.
So considering that, is your title important? Should we give weight to a title?
Yes and no…
How’s that for a not answer? Well its as good as I can do since it depends on the situation.
Let’s go over a couple of examples. Both of which I am sure you’ve come across at some point in your career as a sales person.
“You are dealing with a customer who doesn’t like what you have to say, so you’re boss joins the conversation. They say the exact same thing as you and the customer is OK with it“
Sound familiar? This is an instance where title does matter. Often times customers, especially disgruntle ones need to hear “it” from a higher authority. No it does not make the information more right nor does it change the information.
But from the customer’s perspective, hearing it from your boss gives greater weight to the information.
Many times this is simply a matter of trust. Something I work hard to develop the moment I start talking with a customer or prospect.
or maybe in your last job search you came across a start up company that is hiring a “Sales Manager position”
When I was last looking for a job I often came across this title as an open position at a company. More often than not it was for a smaller company or a smaller territory then normally seen.
In my experience a Sales Manager is a lower to middle management position.
But based on the description of the job responsibilities this was clearly an outside sales / business development position. There would be no direct reports and as such the position as described was an individual contributor role.
Definitely not what I would consider a Sales Manager. In this case title didn’t much matter. The title Sales Manager was used interchangeably with Sales Associate or Account Executive.
Don’t Focus On Title
Although I would love to have the title of VP of Sales, if my responsibilities were more in line with the title of Account Executive I could very well give the wrong impression to those I come in contact with.
Title Inflation as I call it.
In my opinion its as if a title is being used to make someone sound more important than they really are. And as I referenced previously “Power is like being a woman, if you have to tell people you are, then you aren’t” ~ Margaret Thatcher
Let your actions and knowledge speak for your title. Build trust and it wont matter if you are a junior titled sales person or the VP of Sales.
They will trust that what you tell them is true.
What do you think? Should we care about titles?
~Johnny Bravo
Image courtesy of pakorn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m of the yes and no camp when it comes to titles. As a teacher, I could never decide if I would prefer to be a teacher, an instructor, a coach, or a facilitator. I lean towards facilitator, but to use that term with most people, they just give you a funny look, even though it is the most apt term in my opinion.
Absolutely, and when you explain facilitator how often did they say “oh! like a teacher”? There is something to be said about the familiarity with some titles over others.