Editor's Forum

Whether you are a salesperson, installer or other vital cog in the retail store machinery, you are somewhere along the path that is your career, and I hope you are getting what you want from it. If your path includes a desire for growth and advancement, you represent the majority of non-storeowners in our industry, based on surveys we’ve done in the past. Yet, so many people I talk to in this position feel like they don’t control their own career path, because of where they live or how big (small) their store is, or how little they know.

So, let’s change that. I want to give you eight pointers that will help you become the only factor in where your career takes you.

#1: Understand first that it’s your career, not a job. When you see a doctor, he or she doesn’t wear a tag that says “Doctor at Main Street Memorial Smith.” It says “Doctor Smith.” Even though you work for a particular store, it doesn’t change the fact that you have a skill you can apply anywhere. Building a career centers on perfecting a skillset others want and will pay for. Which leads to the next point.…

#2: Don’t ever feel like you’re limited. I know many people work for smaller operations in which career choices are limited due to store and staff size. But that should not stop you from learning more than your current position requires. In an industry dealing with constant change, the new skills you learn could become very important to your store (or another store) as it changes to remain competitive.

#3: Speaking of learning, take education in all its forms. In the magazine business, if we feel something is beneficial to our audience, we include it regardless of the source. That’s how you should be. Don’t cherry-pick your opportunities to learn. Turning down knowledge because you don’t like where it comes from is just dumb, and it hurts your opportunity to learn. Your only consideration should be whether or not what you learn will help you. If the answer is yes, then take it.

#4: Be informed, not influenced. Social media participation is more the rule these days rather than the exception. But it suffers from the same “empowerment via anonymity” as does the entire Internet: People say whatever they want to say,

whether it’s true, provable, right … or not. Filter out what’s important from what isn’t. Also, do what your mama taught you: Make your own determinations about whether a person, product or service is good or bad for you. Another person’s opinion is based on a limitless number of factors, most of which are entirely different from your own.

#5: Get your own … everything. Careers require investment. Most of that investment is time, but a good part is also money. Consider yourself a marketable entity rather than an employee. A plumber doesn’t go to a client’s house and ask to borrow their tools to do the work. If what you do earns you a living, you should strive to have all the resources you need, whether they are supplied by your employer or not.

#6: Discover different ways to create. Sales and installation are creative processes because they require non-systematic, dynamic thinking and subjective execution. You can’t write an instruction manual for sales because every customer is different, as is every car, driver preference and enhancement need in the installation world. Creativity takes different paths to the same objective. Don’t be resistant to learning multiple ways to accomplish the same thing, and don’t be so naive to think that your way is the only or best way to do something.

#7: Remember how small our industry really is. There’s a saying that goes, “You never know who you’re going to work for, or with. So don’t burn bridges.” Undue or inappropriate criticism, perceived disrespect, unfounded negative opinions, unresolved disagreements—whether directed at people, product or companies—can irreparably dissolve relationships or stop them from forming. And if karma has any say, it will be a relationship that would have provided you with opportunities in the future.

And #8: Develop and live by your own standard. There’s a reason that “A” is better than “C” in school. While the latter is acceptable, the former represents achievement of a higher standard. We learn our standards from our parents and from people we look up to. Use these influences to create your own standards for quality of work, integrity and how you treat others.