Career Development and Sales Leadership

This assignment focuses on career development and sales leadership, covering essential skills and knowledge required for success in these fields. It emphasizes the importance of self-assessment, feedback from seniors, and mentorship in achieving personal and professional goals. The assignment includes a detailed plan for career development, including setting targets and achieving specific time periods. It also highlights the significance of effective communication skills and sales leadership techniques in career advancement.

Personal and Professional
Development Reflective Essay 9

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY ..................................................................................................................................3
An evaluation of own skill set ...................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Personal as well as professional development can be defined as the procedure of
improving as well as increasing the capabilities through accessing education as well as training
opportunities. An effective personal as well as professional development plan assist an individual
in managing their learning. It helps people in fostering personal as well as professional growth
(Newton, 2018). In addition to this, personal development cover the different activities which
assists an individual in generating awareness as well as improving identity (Hase and Busch,
2018.). Personal as well as professional development can be considered to be as procedure of
obtaining the knowledge, developing abilities in order to perform specific job role in particular
industry. Continuous professional development supports an individual in building confidence. It
also assists people in improving efficiency.
The Gibbs model will be used in the report for defining the learning experience gained
during the course. Study will have focus on addressing the skills, knowledge and experience
required by sales manager. It will also include the suggestions related to the different activities
which are required to be performed by an individual in order to develop the different core
competencies in order to accomplish desired career objectives.
MAIN BODY
An evaluation of own skill set
Gibbs Reflective model
Description : During my schooling I have decided to pursue my career in marketing. I chose
sales as a career as there are many opportunities to earn bonus. At the beginning of my MBA I
took advice from my friends, family and colleagues regarding my decision related to master
programs and career. I was very confused to make a decision but later on I selected MBA in
marketing for my master degree. I was highly attracted towards marketing and its use in
businesses. In addition to this, I perceive that it is a sales job through which I can maintain
balance between work and life. I have taken the admission in MBA in marketing. By attending
the classes I gained depth knowledge about the marketing as well as sales field. In addition to
this, by participating in the course I develop understanding about the different abilities such as
communication, negotiation, management skill etc. Are required for becoming an effective sales
person (Greenhaus, Callanan and Godshalk, 2018.). Another important and major

Feelings : While enrolling myself for the admission of MBA in marketing I felt excited and
curious to lean about the sales management. When I was attending the lecture on the skills
required by sales person, I felt that I possess some qualities as well as abilities, but still there are
few core competencies and skills which I am not confident about the skill set which I will need
to improve in order to pursue my career in particular field. I have decided to conduct swot
analysis for identifying my strength as well as weakness in context of chosen career path. This
was a strong feeling that forced me to take my career seriously. I realized that even though I had
good knowledge and understanding of marketing, I still need to develop as well as improve
different skills in myself.
Evaluation :
Swot analysis is considered to be as an effective tool which can be used by an individual
in order to assess own skills in context of career goals. I have used this technique for addressing
my own skills in context of career ambitions. My personal goal is to earn high bonus or
incentive. Professional goal is to help organization in increasing sales and profitability.
Strength :
 Active listening skills
 Planning and organization skills
 High influencing power
 Good as well as pleasing personality
 Result oriented
 Knowledge about market
 Friendly behavior
Weakness :
 Lack of negotiation skills
 Lack of mentoring skills
 Lack of in depth knowledge about
selling technique.
 Lack of marketing skills in sales
 Lack of an effective communication
skills
 Ineffective time management skills
Opportunity:
 To get expertise in sales field by getting
an internship opportunity.
 To get job as a salesperson in reputed
organization.
Threat :
 Increase in intensity of competitions.
 Advancement in technology can replace
the Job of sales person.
 Lack of skills can hinder my personal

 To foster professional growth by
developing skills and core
competencies.
as well as professional growth.
Analysis: It has been analyzed by conducting the Swot analysis that there are few skills of mine
which matches with my career which I have chosen. But still there are few abilities which I feel
that I need to improve such as communication, coaching, negotiation and marketing skills.
During the course I found that skills such marketing, negotiation and time management is very
much important in order to become an effective sales person. The main strengths I have are my
active listening skills, planning and organizing skills, High influencing power, Good knowledge
of market etc. These skills can help me to achieve my professional goal, in addition to this I also
have several weaknesses such as Lack of negotiation skills, Lack of marketing sales, Lack of
mentoring skills etc. These weaknesses can be barriers for me in terms of better interacting with
others and also creates the problems for fostering growth in terms developing skills and core
competencies. Advancement in the technology also affect my job as it can replace me from the
job of sales person. Ineffective time management skill will also affect my overall performance
which would results in less productivity. Furthermore, I also have certain threats which can
negatively influence my future goals and objectives.
CONCLUSION
From the above it has been summarised that an effective sales person has unique qualities
as well as core competencies such as negotiation skills and market knowledge which makes them
different from other people within an enterprise. It has been found during the study is that an
effective plan is very much important in order to foster personal as well as professional growth
(Johnson and Matthes, 2018). In addition to this, It can be determined form this report that
personal development covers the diverse activities which helps an individual in developing
awareness as well as cultivating identity. Personal as well as professional development can be
considered to be as process of gaining the knowledge & developing abilities in order to perform
specific job role in particular industry. Continuous professional development assists an
individual in building confidence. It also assists people in improving efficiency. The other thing

which has been found during the study is that personal as well as professional development is a
blueprint which assists an individual in identifying the activities which are required to be
performed in order achieve set career goals.
RECOMMENDATIONS
In order accomplish my career goals and objectives, I need to develop certain skills and
in myself through various activities and actions. I have analyzed my strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities and threats which can be helpful for me attain my goal. I will develop a personal
development plan to improve my skills. This development will consist an Action plan which I
will execute in order to develop the skills which are required for pursuing the career as a sales
manager. I will develop and improve all the skills through different activities in a specific time
period. In addition to this, I will also require to measure my performance after implementing the
action plans for development of my skills. For measuring my performance, I will use various
techniques such as Self evaluation, Self assessment, Feedback from peer, Feedback from
subordinates etc. These strategies will help me to become an effective and successful sales
person or sales manager in future.
Skills to be
developed
Requirement of
resources
Actions to be
taken
Time scale Criteria for
measuring
performance
 Negotiatio
n skills
 Support
from good
negotiatio
n coach
 Internet
 I will use
the
proactive
approach
to
negotiate
training.
 I will
conduct
research .
 I will
Six months Self evaluation

listen
other
people
negotiatin
g.
Mentoring skills Support from peer
mentor
I will seek
support from peer
mentor.
I will attend
training program .
I will
communicate
with subordinates
in order to
develop the
understanding
about their
expectations from
me as a mentor.
Two months  Feedback
from peer
 Feedback
from
subordinat
es
Knowledge about
techniques of
selling
Books
Internet
 I will
attend
training ,
workshop
and
seminars.
 I will take
advice as
well as
suggestion
from
Eight months Self assessment

seniors
Effective
communication
skills
Books
Support from
coach or tutor
I will attend
personal
development
classes.
Six months Self assessment
Marketing skills Books I will attend
training
Six months Feedback from
seniors
Time
management
skills
Support from
seniors
I will set target
which is to be
achieved by me
within specific
time period.
Five months. Self- evaluation.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Greenhaus, J.H., Callanan, G.A. and Godshalk, V.M., 2018. Career management for life.
Routledge.
Kamińska, B., 2018. Coaching as a Tool Supporting Conscious Career Building-Theoretical
Perspective. Przedsiębiorczość i Zarządzanie, 19(1, cz. 2 Determination of Organizational
Effectiveness vs. Humanistic Management), pp.63-73.
Hambly, L. and Bomford, C., 2018. Creative Career Coaching: Theory Into Practice.
Routledge.
Newton, C., 2018. Sales Leaders & Consultants Transition.
Hase, S. and Busch, C., 2018. Sales Management. In The Quintessence of Sales (pp. 77-122).
Springer, Cham.
Shreffler, M.B., Schmidt, S.H. and Weiner, J., 2018. Sales Training in Career Preparation: An
Examination of Sales Curricula in Sport Management Education. Sport management
education journal, 12(1), pp.15-25.
Johnson, J.S. and Matthes, J.M., 2018. Sales-to-Marketing Job Transitions. Journal of
Marketing, 82(4), pp.32-48.