The Hidden Dilemma of Growth: Limited Promotion Opportunities

Name: The Hidden Dilemma of Growth: Limited Promotion Opportunities
Uploaded: 2023-11-18T15:15:03+00:00
Duration: 34 s
Channel: Jason M. Lemkin
Description: In this segment, Jason M. Lemkin explains a paradox that fast‑growing sales organizations face: as the company scales quickly, the number of promotion…

18 Nov 2023 · 1 min

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In this segment, Jason M. Lemkin explains a paradox that fast‑growing sales organizations face: as the company scales quickly, the number of promotion slots (e.g., SDR → AE, AE → manager/director) does not keep pace with the influx of high‑performing reps. While early growth allows managers to promote top SDRs to AE roles easily, rapid hiring soon creates a bottleneck—there are simply not enough higher‑level positions for all the talented salespeople who desire advancement. Lemkin argues that the only compelling reason for a strong rep to leave a great sales team is a promotion, so this scarcity can lead to retention challenges. He highlights the need for leaders to anticipate the promotion ceiling and devise strategies before the promotion chart becomes saturated.

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it's so risky to leave and go somewhere else for less money with a worse boss. The only reason a great rep should leave if you have a great sales team is for a promotion. And eventually you will find if you grow fast enough, there just isn't enough room. Everyone wants to be promoted if you're growing quickly. Everyone wants to go from SDR to AE, and many folks will want to go from AE to manager or director. And at some point, ironically, the, the faster you grow, the less room you have on the promotion chart because you're hiring so many people. And in the beginning you'll find, wow, I'll just promote my best SDR to AE, and that works great when you're slowing. But what do you do when you have 20 great STRs. Like, you, you run out of slots.