Is Your Job Title Holding You Back?

Take out your business card and look at your job title.

If you are a typical salesperson, your title is likely something like “Account Manager” or “Sales Representative”. If you are a business owner, you’ll read “Owner” or “President” on your card.

Americans are obsessed with titles and labels. We like to be able to define people and classify them easily. That’s why your company gives you a title for your card; so they know what department you work in and so clients will also. As an owner, your title conveys that the buck stops with you. Are these titles holding you back, though?

Think about the job title “account manager” for a moment. As a customer, that tells me that I am an account to you and your job is to keep me in line. Not very exciting for me, is it?

The same goes for “Sales Representative”; you’ve made it abundantly clear to me that you work for the company and are an agent of the sales department. I’m not getting all warm and fuzzy about that.

What if your card said “customer caretaker” instead? How would my perception as a customer differ? More importantly, how would you approach me differently?

As an owner, if your card says “President”, that means to me, as a customer, that you are the most senior officer in the company. As an employee, it tells me that you are the one in charge of everything. Is that message you want to convey? And is that what you really do?

At Play, a Richmond-based consulting company, the top officer in the company uses the title, “In Charge of What’s Next” because that is exactly what his role in the company is. That is all he focuses on and he delegates all other duties.

When you talk to Andy Stefanovich, you’ll never be offended if he doesn’t personally service you as a customer because you understand immediately what he really does in the organization. His employees know not to expect him to deal with mundane details so they go to other members of the company for help with issues. This frees Andy up to work on the important growth initiatives in his company.

If you’ve met Hugh Goldthorpe of Owens Minor, you’ll know that “Head Cheerleader” accurately describes his role as the man in charge of employee morale. His job encompasses training, motivating and leadership development, but rather than be pigeon-holed in any of these departments, he is focused on the people he serves. His title demonstrates that.

We all live up to, or down to, our job titles. They become our identity and shape our behavior subtly but powerfully. You need just one interaction with our “Queen of Everything”, Lynn Bailes, to understand how important a title can be.

So, what will your next set of business cards say about you?

Laura Posey brings much passion to her work as Vice President and Co-Founder of Dancing Elephants Achievement Group. She is a “firecracker” who likes to create and get things done. Over the years, she has received numerous awards and recognition for her sales and management contributions to different organizations in an extensive sales career that has covered the gamut from insurance to cars. She is co-author of Six Secrets of Sales Magnets. Laura has completed her work on a second book, But I’m not a Salesperson; the Small Business Owner’s Guide to Generating Sales, and is hard at work on her third. Her driving mission is for each of her clients to earn a healthy six-figure income in less than 40 hours per week. She can be reached at Laura@dancingelephants.net or at 804-254-4122.