How to Get Promoted from SDR to AE (And Beyond)
TL;DR: To get a promotion, you must follow this three-step process: make it known, create an “aspirational” development plan, and have a regular meeting cadence to discuss progress. If you don’t make it known = the promotion never happens
Before you read this post about how to get promoted, I encourage you to make sure that your sales org doesn’t have any of the red flags that could kill your chances of being promoted.
If the circumstances are off, then the likelihood of a promotion is low. Super low.
That said, if your sales org lacks any of the red flags mentioned in the post above, then you’re ready to start planting the seeds for your promotion.
I always recommend trying to get a promotion internally first, exhausting all options there. Then, if all else fails, begin to interview externally. There is a lot of wealth to be extracted from your current situation if you do things right… (I’ll go over green flags to look out for in a separate post).
Now, before I begin discussing what you need to do to get promoted, I want to make one point clear:
Hard work alone does not get you promoted. You must ALSO advocate for yourself and communicate your ambitions.
If you fail to advocate for yourself, your hard work goes unnoticed. Nobody knows what you want if you don’t make it known.
And so, a critical part of landing the promotion is communication.
This brings me to Point #1 (and the most important point).
Step 1: Let them know
This is the first and most important step.
It’s really not complicated.
“Hey, now that I’m fully ramped and hitting my metrics for the last XYZ months, I want to begin discussing my career plans and ambitions with you…”
End scene.
There are so many different ways that you can carry this conversation. I’ll leave it up to you to navigate that.
But just remember…
If they don’t know = the promotion isn’t happening.
Step 2: Create an aspirational development plan
Build a development plan template that you can run by your Manager and get approval on.
But for now, the responsibility is on you to create your own “rough draft”.
Essentially, you should be creating a document that outlines step-by-step the different action items, metrics you’re hitting, and skills you are learning in your journey to become an Account Executive (or if you’re already an AE, the action items to get promoted upmarket or into Leadership).
This “plan” that you have created will serve as the roadmap to your promotion, which leads me to the last step.
Step 3: Work towards a timeline and have regular 1:1’ to discuss progress
Once you have a development plan in place, you should be having a regular cadence with your manager (and later on, the extended leadership team) discussing progress against metrics and skills. Every month, you should be inching towards the promotion. The path is clear and inevitable because you’re putting in the work AND getting buy-in from everyone around you (your manager, and their Directors).
The beauty of the plan + check-ins is that they allow you to humble brag about your accomplishments.
“Here’s what I’ve been working on in the last month, and here are the wins/progress/learnings I’ve had”
And that’s it!
The beauty of this three-step program is that not everyone does this. People wait and hope forever for a promotion. Then, they never get it. Or, they get a promotion after YEARS of waiting.
The idea is that this plan will cut those years so that you can get promoted in a lightning speed.
Believe it or not, the other people don’t advocate for themselves. Members of your team will have the same aspirations as you but never get promoted because they don’t have a game plan in place.
Let them make that mistake.
Don’t let that be you. Let it be known, create a plan, and then meet regularly to discuss that plan.
Good luck,
-Alex.
Source: I left a company prematurely. After I left, I had multiple leaders message me/call me asking why. Turns out, a promotion could’ve been granted down the line. However, because I never communicated my needs and wants, it was too late. I’ve also seen colleagues land promotions and raises before me, despite having similar (if not worse) performances. All because they were terrific at advocating for themselves and their ambitions.
A couple of nuanced takes:
Yes, promotions can still happen even when you don’t advocate for yourself. However, the chances are a lot slimmer and slower. We want to stack the odds in our favor as quickly as possible and get started on the journey to promotion sooner rather than later.
Slow progress is better than no progress. Even if you have a development plan in place, the promotion can still take 1-2 years. That’s fine, depending on your desires and timeline. Patience is a part of the game. But the idea is to have a PLAN to get there.
If your development plan fails internally (meaning, something happens where you don’t end up getting the promotion), you can still use all the experience and feedback you gathered to land the promotion externally. I recommend going for a promotion both internally AND externally to keep your options open.
That said, getting the promotion internally is always better than going externally because the risks are lower. You aren’t starting from scratch, you have high social capital, and you know the environment better than being a newbie somewhere else.