At a former company, a new hire began as a Junior Business Development Manager. After her probation period, she changed her title to Business Development Manager. Nine months later, she updated her LinkedIn profile to Senior Business Development Manager.
Nothing wrong with that… except I also know she missed important KPIs and was overwhelmed when speaking to customers.
Here’s a hard truth: Nobody ever bought anything because your business card said “Executive Vice President of Strategic Client Success Optimization” or whatever fancy title you’re chasing.
Customers buy because you deliver VALUE.
Your manager promotes you because you deliver VALUE.
Companies hire you because you deliver VALUE.
Too many sales reps obsess over title progression like it’s some video game achievement system. “Just need to grind for 18 months to unlock ‘Director’ status!”
Meanwhile, the quiet rep who’s crushing numbers, solving customer problems, and making the company money is the one actually moving up.
Want my advice? Stop worrying about what’s printed on your business card and start obsessing over:
- How many customer problems you solved today
- What measurable value your solution delivered
- The revenue you helped generate (for yourself AND your clients)
I promise you this: Deliver enough value and the titles, recommendations, and money will chase YOU down.
You’ll have headhunters sliding into your DMs asking if you’re happy in your current role.
Customers will request you by name.
Your commission checks will make your manager jealous.
So go ahead… update that LinkedIn title if it makes you feel good. Just remember that while you’re formatting your profile, someone else is out there delivering so much value they don’t need to tell everyone how important they are.
Their results are doing the talking for them.
