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B2B sales career path, levels and ladder
Updated
5 levels, from Sales Development Representative to Head of Sales. Each one is rated on the same 41 skills — what changes between the rungs is how good you have to be at each. A B2B sales ladder from sales development rep to head of sales, covering prospecting, deals, accounts and commercial discipline.
- Level 1 of 5
Sales Development Representative job description
Builds pipeline: researches accounts and books qualified meetings.
Read the job description - Level 2 of 5
Account Executive job description
Owns small and mid-size deals end to end against a personal quota.
Read the job description - Level 3 of 5
Senior Account Executive job description
Runs complex multi-stakeholder deals and mentors newer sellers.
Read the job description - Level 4 of 5
Sales Team Lead job description
Coaches a pod, forecasts its number, and runs deal reviews.
Read the job description - Level 5 of 5
Head of Sales job description
Owns the whole number: territory design, hiring, and go-to-market.
Read the job description
B2B sales levels and job titles
Sales titles change from one company to the next. This table maps each level on this ladder to the titles you will commonly see elsewhere. For how these titles line up across departments, see the job title hierarchy.
| Level on this ladder | Common job titles |
|---|---|
| Sales Development Representative | Sales Development Representative, Business Development Representative, Enterprise Sales Development Representative |
| Account Executive | Account Executive, Sales Representative, Account Manager I |
| Senior Account Executive | Senior Account Executive, Strategic Account Executive, Senior Sales Representative, Account Manager II |
| Sales Team Lead | Sales Team Lead, Sales Team Leader, Sales Manager |
| Head of Sales | Head of Sales, Sales Director, VP of Sales |
Skills matrix
41 skills across 5 levels.
| Skill/Certification 41 | Sales Development Representative | Account Executive | Senior Account Executive | Sales Team Lead | Head of Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prospecting6 | |||||
| ProficientYou can build your own target list for your assigned territory, rank it by fit and timing, and defend that ranking with evidence when a manager challenges any single account. | ProficientYou can build your own target list for your assigned territory, rank it by fit and timing, and defend that ranking with evidence when a manager challenges any single account. | ProficientYou can build your own target list for your assigned territory, rank it by fit and timing, and defend that ranking with evidence when a manager challenges any single account. | AdvancedYou can spot patterns across won and lost accounts, adjust the targeting criteria for your segment, and show the pipeline effect of the change over a quarter. | AdvancedYou can spot patterns across won and lost accounts, adjust the targeting criteria for your segment, and show the pipeline effect of the change over a quarter. | |
| ProficientYou can sustain a personal outbound number quarter after quarter, diagnose a falling reply rate from your own data, and change the channel mix to fix it. | ProficientYou can sustain a personal outbound number quarter after quarter, diagnose a falling reply rate from your own data, and change the channel mix to fix it. | ProficientYou can sustain a personal outbound number quarter after quarter, diagnose a falling reply rate from your own data, and change the channel mix to fix it. | AdvancedYou can design sequences other sellers adopt, run a controlled test of one message or channel variable, and report which variant produced more meetings and why. | AdvancedYou can design sequences other sellers adopt, run a controlled test of one message or channel variable, and report which variant produced more meetings and why. | |
| ProficientYou can adapt tone and framing per persona and channel, hold a reply rate at or above the team benchmark, and rewrite a failing message from the replies it drew. | ProficientYou can adapt tone and framing per persona and channel, hold a reply rate at or above the team benchmark, and rewrite a failing message from the replies it drew. | ProficientYou can adapt tone and framing per persona and channel, hold a reply rate at or above the team benchmark, and rewrite a failing message from the replies it drew. | AdvancedYou can review outreach written by other sellers, name exactly why a message will not land, and supply a rewrite that measurably improves their reply rate. | AdvancedYou can review outreach written by other sellers, name exactly why a message will not land, and supply a rewrite that measurably improves their reply rate. | |
| BasicYou can run a discovery call unaided and leave with a written, mutually agreed next step and a recorded reason the deal does or does not qualify. | ProficientYou can disqualify deals early on your own evidence, uncover the business consequence behind a stated requirement, and close your qualified deals at the team-average rate. | AdvancedYou can run discovery across several stakeholders in one account, reconcile conflicting accounts of the problem, and requalify deals first qualified on the wrong basis. | AdvancedYou can run discovery across several stakeholders in one account, reconcile conflicting accounts of the problem, and requalify deals first qualified on the wrong basis. | ExpertYou can define the qualification standard the team applies, calibrate it against closed-lost analysis, and hold reviewers to it when a large deal fails the bar. | |
| ProficientYou can convert inbound interest into qualified opportunity at or above the team rate, and say from your own records which sources convert and which return no qualified opportunity. | ProficientYou can convert inbound interest into qualified opportunity at or above the team rate, and say from your own records which sources convert and which return no qualified opportunity. | ProficientYou can convert inbound interest into qualified opportunity at or above the team rate, and say from your own records which sources convert and which return no qualified opportunity. | ProficientYou can convert inbound interest into qualified opportunity at or above the team rate, and say from your own records which sources convert and which return no qualified opportunity. | AdvancedYou can redesign the routing or response rules for your segment and show the effect on speed to first contact and on conversion to qualified opportunity. | |
| NoviceYou can ask for a referral when prompted to, and log the introduction and its outcome so the relationship is visible to other people. | BasicYou can ask satisfied customers for introductions as a habit, and generate a measurable share of your own meetings from referrals each quarter. | ProficientYou can cultivate a personal network of buyers and partners over time, and name several closed deals that began as an introduction you earned. | AdvancedYou can build a referral motion other sellers can copy, covering who to ask and when, and show the pipeline it produced beyond your own accounts. | AdvancedYou can build a referral motion other sellers can copy, covering who to ask and when, and show the pipeline it produced beyond your own accounts. | |
| Deal Management10 | |||||
| NoviceYou can deliver a standard demo script accurately, handle the setup without breaking it, and note the questions you could not answer. | ProficientYou can demo to a mixed audience, change the flow live when interest in the room moves, and close the session with a confirmed next step. | AdvancedYou can lead demos on complex or competitive deals, direct a specialist alongside you, and prepare individual attendees before the session. | AdvancedYou can lead demos on complex or competitive deals, direct a specialist alongside you, and prepare individual attendees before the session. | AdvancedYou can lead demos on complex or competitive deals, direct a specialist alongside you, and prepare individual attendees before the session. | |
| NoviceYou can record the names, roles, and titles of the contacts you have met on a deal, and say which of them is your main contact. | ProficientYou can name the likely blocker on a live deal before it blocks you, and secure access to an economic buyer without needing help from your main contact. | AdvancedYou can navigate committees spanning divisions or geographies, and show how you changed the deal plan after a reorganization or a sponsor change. | AdvancedYou can navigate committees spanning divisions or geographies, and show how you changed the deal plan after a reorganization or a sponsor change. | ExpertYou can set how the team maps and records buying committees, and use the aggregate to show where deals repeatedly stall for want of access. | |
| NoviceYou can identify a friendly contact on a deal and keep them informed at each stage without being prompted. | ProficientYou can test the power of a champion by asking them to do something real, such as arranging a meeting, and act on the answer when they cannot. | AdvancedYou can develop more than one champion on a large deal, prepare them for internal opposition, and recover the deal when one of them leaves mid-cycle. | AdvancedYou can develop more than one champion on a large deal, prepare them for internal opposition, and recover the deal when one of them leaves mid-cycle. | AdvancedYou can develop more than one champion on a large deal, prepare them for internal opposition, and recover the deal when one of them leaves mid-cycle. | |
| BasicYou can handle price, timing, and competitor objections in the moment without reaching for a script, and confirm the buyer accepts the answer. | ProficientYou can separate the stated objection from the real one by asking rather than asserting, and point to deals you saved by doing exactly that. | AdvancedYou can handle objections raised by a hostile stakeholder in front of the committee, and keep the deal moving without conceding commercially. | AdvancedYou can handle objections raised by a hostile stakeholder in front of the committee, and keep the deal moving without conceding commercially. | ExpertYou can collect the objections that recur across the team, feed them to product and marketing, and see the answers land in enablement material. | |
| NoviceYou can quote from the current price list without errors and escalate any discount or term outside the standard instead of answering it yourself. | ProficientYou can plan a negotiation before entering it, including your walk-away, tradeables and the buyer's alternatives, and hold your price at the floor when the buyer asks for a discount outside the band. | AdvancedYou can lead negotiations involving procurement or legal and structure multi-year or multi-product terms, putting the case for any price exception to its approver. | AdvancedYou can lead negotiations involving procurement or legal and structure multi-year or multi-product terms, putting the case for any price exception to its approver. | ExpertYou can set the discount bands, concession rules and approval route the organization sells under, and revise them when margin data shows they cost more than they protect. | |
| NoviceYou can assemble a proposal from approved templates with the scope, pricing, and dates correct, and have it reviewed before it goes out. | ProficientYou can build a quantified business case from numbers the customer supplied, agree the assumptions with them in writing, and get it through their finance review. | AdvancedYou can write proposals for deals spanning several workstreams or legal entities, and shape them so the document works unaccompanied in a board paper. | AdvancedYou can write proposals for deals spanning several workstreams or legal entities, and shape them so the document works unaccompanied in a board paper. | AdvancedYou can write proposals for deals spanning several workstreams or legal entities, and shape them so the document works unaccompanied in a board paper. | |
| ProficientYou can arrive at a pipeline review needing no cleanup: your dates, values, and next steps match the CRM record when a reviewer checks them without asking you. | ProficientYou can arrive at a pipeline review needing no cleanup: your dates, values, and next steps match the CRM record when a reviewer checks them without asking you. | AdvancedYou can spot the data problems across a pipeline you do not own, chase the specific records that distort the number, and explain why they matter. | AdvancedYou can spot the data problems across a pipeline you do not own, chase the specific records that distort the number, and explain why they matter. | AdvancedYou can spot the data problems across a pipeline you do not own, chase the specific records that distort the number, and explain why they matter. | |
| BasicYou can establish which alternatives a buyer is evaluating, including doing nothing, and adapt your positioning to that specific set. | ProficientYou can reframe the evaluation criteria in your favor before a requirements document is written, and point to deals won that way. | AdvancedYou can lead displacement deals, plan against the likely counter-moves of a specific incumbent, and brief the team on what worked and what did not. | AdvancedYou can lead displacement deals, plan against the likely counter-moves of a specific incumbent, and brief the team on what worked and what did not. | ExpertYou can own the competitive narrative for a segment, keep it current from live deal evidence, and retire claims that no longer hold up. | |
| BasicYou can match a prospect's stated need to the product features that address it, with a solutions colleague reviewing the match before you share it. | ProficientYou can recommend a product configuration for a typical deal and say which of the buyer's requirements it does not meet. | AdvancedYou can shape a solution for a complex deal across several products or custom scope, and state what the product cannot do for it. | AdvancedYou can shape a solution for a complex deal across several products or custom scope, and state what the product cannot do for it. | ExpertYou can set what sales may promise about product capability and fit, agreed with product and legal, and revise it when a deal shows a claim failed. | |
| NoviceYou can name the steps between a buyer's verbal yes and a signed order, such as order form, approvals and signature. | ProficientYou can ask for the decision once the buyer's stated conditions are met, and agree dates for signature and start. | AdvancedYou can close a deal with several approvers by agreeing a dated close plan with the buyer, and clear the approvals on your own side before it slips. | AdvancedYou can close a deal with several approvers by agreeing a dated close plan with the buyer, and clear the approvals on your own side before it slips. | ExpertYou can set the team's closing standard, including which closing tactics are not allowed, and review deals that stalled after a verbal yes. | |
| Account Management4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can complete a handover pack to the agreed template, asking the customer for missing details instead of guessing, with a colleague checking it before the call. | ProficientYou can run the handover for accounts with several stakeholders and non-standard scope, and stay involved until delivery confirms it has what it needs. | ProficientYou can run the handover for accounts with several stakeholders and non-standard scope, and stay involved until delivery confirms it has what it needs. | AdvancedYou can hand over accounts where scope was contested or the buyer was difficult, naming the risks delivery should watch, and improve the template when the same gap recurs. | AdvancedYou can hand over accounts where scope was contested or the buyer was difficult, naming the risks delivery should watch, and improve the template when the same gap recurs. | |
| NoviceYou can keep in touch with named contacts, recording what was said and passing on anything a customer says that sounds like a problem. | ProficientYou can keep a named contact among both the people who decide and the people who use the product, and describe how each account makes its decisions. | AdvancedYou can hold senior relationships in complex accounts and restart contact with one that has had no senior meeting for six months, bringing in internal colleagues so it does not depend on you alone. | AdvancedYou can hold senior relationships in complex accounts and restart contact with one that has had no senior meeting for six months, bringing in internal colleagues so it does not depend on you alone. | AdvancedYou can hold senior relationships in complex accounts and restart contact with one that has had no senior meeting for six months, bringing in internal colleagues so it does not depend on you alone. | |
| NoviceYou can track renewal dates, prepare the paperwork on time, and report the warning signs you notice. | BasicYou can run a straightforward renewal from first conversation to signature, checking usage and open issues beforehand and starting early enough to avoid a lapse. | ProficientYou can see renewal risk months ahead from usage, sponsor changes and support history, and put a plan in place that changes the outcome. | AdvancedYou can turn around an account that has decided to leave, or agree a clean exit, and report the real reasons for churn to the business. | AdvancedYou can turn around an account that has decided to leave, or agree a clean exit, and report the real reasons for churn to the business. | |
| NoviceYou can notice when a customer nears a usage limit or mentions a need another product covers, and pass it to the account owner. | ProficientYou can find growth in an account nobody had flagged and close it without straining the relationship, and say when an account should not be sold more. | AdvancedYou can expand into parts of a large customer where you have no sponsor, structuring terms so the original contract stays intact. | AdvancedYou can expand into parts of a large customer where you have no sponsor, structuring terms so the original contract stays intact. | AdvancedYou can expand into parts of a large customer where you have no sponsor, structuring terms so the original contract stays intact. | |
| Commercial3 | |||||
| BasicYou can write a plan for your own patch naming target accounts, why each was chosen and the next step, and revisit it often. | ProficientYou can rank the accounts in your own patch by real potential rather than company size, and set aside accounts that will not repay the effort. | AdvancedYou can plan a handful of large accounts with a written view of buying centers, competitors and sequence, and review other sellers' plans to sharpen them. | AdvancedYou can plan a handful of large accounts with a written view of buying centers, competitors and sequence, and review other sellers' plans to sharpen them. | ExpertYou can set how planning is done across the sales organization and how plans are held to account, reshaping coverage when the market moves instead of at year end. | |
| NoviceYou can explain the term, notice period and payment days of a standard agreement in plain words, and take unfamiliar clauses to legal. | BasicYou can run a deal on standard paper and prepare the redlines legal expects, agreeing only the changes your authority allows. | ProficientYou can negotiate the usual commercial terms yourself, separating harmless customer edits from risky ones, and involve legal while it can still change the outcome. | AdvancedYou can work through customer paper and heavily amended terms, and advise other sellers on a clause, with its commercial effect, before they concede it. | AdvancedYou can work through customer paper and heavily amended terms, and advise other sellers on a clause, with its commercial effect, before they concede it. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your opportunities current with a realistic value and close date, and move a deal as soon as it slips. | BasicYou can produce your own forecast for a period, stating what must happen for each deal to close and separating hoped-for deals from committed ones. | ProficientYou can commit a number and land within the team's agreed forecast tolerance of it, calling lost deals early and naming the specific reason when you miss. | AdvancedYou can forecast for a team or a tangled set of deals, and challenge sellers whose numbers do not match the evidence in their pipeline. | ExpertYou can set how the organization forecasts, including what a commitment means and the evidence behind it, and explain variance plainly. | |
| Sales Leadership4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can sit in on another seller's call and give specific feedback on what you heard, describing what happened rather than what you would have done. | NoviceYou can sit in on another seller's call and give specific feedback on what you heard, describing what happened rather than what you would have done. | ProficientYou can coach a seller through a live deal, agree next actions with them, and follow up on whether those actions happened. | AdvancedYou can coach a seller on a large, stuck or politically awkward deal, telling them what they may not want to hear and building their judgment beyond this deal. | ExpertYou can set how deal reviews run across the organization and develop the people who run them, showing the change in how deals are won. | |
| NoviceYou can update or remove sales material that conflicts with the current product or price list, collect the questions new sellers keep asking, and help run an onboarding session someone else designed. | NoviceYou can update or remove sales material that conflicts with the current product or price list, collect the questions new sellers keep asking, and help run an onboarding session someone else designed. | BasicYou can produce enablement material, such as an objection guide, checking it against what the product does and trying it with a seller before publishing. | ProficientYou can design and run a new seller's onboarding, deciding what they need in which order and checking they are ready to sell. | ExpertYou can decide what the organization invests in to ramp sellers faster, and show the effect on ramp time and performance. | |
| NoviceYou can gather what quota setting needs, such as account counts, past performance and territory boundaries, and check the data against the source system before anyone builds on it. | NoviceYou can gather what quota setting needs, such as account counts, past performance and territory boundaries, and check the data against the source system before anyone builds on it. | NoviceYou can gather what quota setting needs, such as account counts, past performance and territory boundaries, and check the data against the source system before anyone builds on it. | ProficientYou can design quotas and territories for a team so workloads are comparable and totals reach the plan, and name the assumptions that would break the model. | ExpertYou can set the organization's approach to quota, territory and compensation shape within what finance can fund, and redesign it when it rewards behavior the business does not want. | |
| NoviceYou can take part in a candidate interview by asking the questions assigned to you and writing down what the candidate said. | NoviceYou can take part in a candidate interview by asking the questions assigned to you and writing down what the candidate said. | ProficientYou can give a manager written input on a seller's performance, with call and deal evidence, or on a candidate's fit against the hiring criteria. | AdvancedYou can run hiring for a seller role from profile to offer, and set a performance plan with targets for a seller who is behind. | ExpertYou can set the hiring profile, ramp targets and performance standard for the sales organization, and decide when a seller exits. | |
| Delivery4 | |||||
| NoviceYou can keep your own tasks and deadlines in a current to-do list, and tell your manager as soon as work you own will be late. | BasicYou can organize a small piece of work into steps, put them in a sensible order, and finish it by the date you agreed, raising problems before they cause a delay. | ProficientYou can coordinate a small team's work on a shared goal: who does what by when, what has to wait for what, and a revised plan when things change. | AdvancedYou can keep several people's work in step across teams, agree priorities and hand-offs with them, and keep one shared task list that all of them actually use. | ExpertYou can set the everyday habits for how work is organized and followed up across the organization, and teams you do not lead adopt the routines you introduce. | |
| NoviceYou can estimate how long a task will take once the approach is clear, and you say promptly when the estimate turns out to be wrong. | BasicYou can estimate your own work with reasonable accuracy and keep a steady enough pace that other people can plan around you. | ProficientYou can estimate a whole project including its risks and unknowns, split it into stages, and defend the estimate when it is challenged. | AdvancedYou can estimate work that spans several teams, name the assumptions behind each figure, and rework the plan when those assumptions break. | ExpertYou can forecast work and staffing quarters ahead, and set the estimating method other teams use. | |
| BasicYou can stay responsible after you hand work over: you check it did what it was meant to, fix your own mistakes, and give updates before anyone asks. | ProficientYou can pick up a problem that has no obvious owner and make yourself accountable for it, including the parts nobody enjoys. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | AdvancedYou can hold accountability for outcomes delivered mostly by other people, taking the blame when it fails and passing on the credit when it works. | ExpertYou can report the organization's most exposed outcomes to its leaders as they stand, including bad news, and answer for them. | |
| BasicYou can choose checks that suit the task in front of you, catch your own mistakes before anyone else sees them, and confirm the result works once people start using it. | ProficientYou can define what good enough means for a project, put checks in place to show it has been met, and hold work back when it falls short. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | AdvancedYou can set how quality is checked on complex work shared by several teams, and you spot the problems that only appear where their pieces meet. | ExpertYou can raise the quality bar across the organization by building the tools and habits that make the careful way the easy way. | |
| Craft3 | |||||
| BasicYou can work out what is wrong in work you did not create, and you fix the underlying cause instead of working around the symptom. | ProficientYou can break a large, ambiguous problem into pieces and weigh the options for each against the evidence. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | AdvancedYou can make the call on a problem outside your expertise and explain its cost, time and risk. | ExpertYou can crack problems the organization has repeatedly failed to solve, and your approach becomes how others tackle that whole kind of problem. | |
| NoviceYou can apply the basics of your field to the work you are given, and ask an expert when a task goes beyond what you have learned. | BasicYou can work confidently with the tools and methods your team uses daily, and you can explain how your work serves the team's goals. | ProficientYou can advise the team on your area and apply new developments in the field where they pay off. | AdvancedYou can bring in good practice from outside the organization and make it work here, and your judgment clearly improves the work you touch. | ExpertYou can influence how the field is practiced beyond this organization, and your expertise settles questions that have stood open for years. | |
| ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | ProficientYou can pick up an unfamiliar area fast enough to be useful in it, and you turn what you learned into something others can reuse. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | AdvancedYou can judge which new ideas are worth the team's time and which are not, and you make room for the people around you to learn too. | ExpertYou can set what the organization invests its learning time in, and the material and practice you create outlive your involvement. | |
| Communication4 | |||||
| BasicYou can explain your work so your team can act on it, and play a request back in your own words before you act on it. | ProficientYou can explain a complex topic to people with very different backgrounds, adjusting the detail to the audience without talking down to them. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | AdvancedYou can bring disagreeing groups to agreement on the facts and the next steps, and help colleagues frame a difficult or sensitive message. | ExpertYou can set how the organization communicates by creating the forums and norms that teams use to share information. | |
| BasicYou can work well with people in other roles, share context and credit, and take criticism of your work without defending territory. | ProficientYou can build working relationships beyond your own team and get things done through people who do not report to you. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | AdvancedYou can align teams with competing priorities on a common goal, surfacing the conflict early instead of letting it harden into resentment. | ExpertYou can remove the barriers that stop teams working together by putting in place routines and forums they use across the organization. | |
| BasicYou can document your own work well enough for a colleague to follow it unaided, such as a how-to guide or a handover, and keep it current as things change. | ProficientYou can write for a defined audience, whether a proposal, a policy, a report, or a decision record, and make the reasoning as clear as the conclusion. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | AdvancedYou can own the documents behind a large piece of work, coordinating contributions so that people who were not involved can carry it on. | ExpertYou can set the writing standard the organization works to, and documents you wrote are still in use long after you have moved on. | |
| NoviceYou can keep your manager and immediate team informed of your progress, and you raise an issue before someone else discovers it. | BasicYou can identify who is affected by your work and keep them updated at a level of detail and a frequency that suits them. | ProficientYou can win support for a proposal, reset expectations when the plan changes, and turn down a request with a reason the other side accepts. | AdvancedYou can hold senior and external relationships, negotiate between competing demands, and deliver unwelcome news without losing trust. | ExpertYou can represent the organization in its most important relationships and set how it engages with everyone who depends on it. | |
| Leadership3 | |||||
| NoviceYou can act on direction well, seek feedback on how you work, and be open about what you need help with. | BasicYou can spot a problem and propose a way forward unprompted, and you take a small leading role such as running a working group. | ProficientYou can lead one piece of work shared by several people, on your own team and beyond, and make calls that they act on. | AdvancedYou can lead across team boundaries, build the credibility that makes people follow you by choice, and create room for others to lead. | ExpertYou can set direction for the whole organization, make hard calls under real uncertainty, and carry the decisions nobody else wants to own. | |
| NoviceYou can share what you have just learned with your peers and help a newer colleague find their way around. | BasicYou can help someone new settle into your team's work, answer their questions patiently, and give feedback specific enough to act on. | ProficientYou can mentor someone over months, tell them the uncomfortable thing they need to hear, and adapt how you teach to how they learn. | AdvancedYou can develop other mentors, coach people through career decisions rather than tasks, and lift the capability of a whole team. | ExpertYou can shape how the organization grows its people, and those you developed are themselves named by others as strong in their field. | |
| NoviceYou can explain why the work you were given matters and who it is for. | BasicYou can connect your team's work to its goals and question a task that does not appear to serve them. | ProficientYou can look a year ahead in your area, name what will matter by then, and turn that into work people can pick up now. | AdvancedYou can set direction for an area, choose deliberately what not to do, and defend that choice when it is challenged. | ExpertYou can shape the organization's strategy, and the bets you argued for are visible in where it ended up. | |
Use this ladder with your own team
For managers and HR teams: create a free account, then add B2B sales from Departments → Add from template in one click: all 41 skills, with the mastery expected at each of your 5 career levels.