Question

Topic: Career/Training

Transition From Sales To Brand Management

Posted by mwfsek on 6/10/2014 at 3:30 AM ET 250 Points
I am having a 10 years of experience with oil supermajors,downstream, in the sales domain, transitioning from sales engineer, key account manager, channel manager to regional manager. i have a first class degree in Chemical Engineering.

i am planning to go for top 25 B schools, and already over with my GMAT.....post mba plans are to get into Brand Management, getting out of the sales domain was the main lever in getting attracted towards B school at this mid career juncture.

How realistic are my goals, are such switches possible, or is it just a rarity.

Looking for all your insights to make an informed decision.
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 6/10/2014 at 6:44 AM Accepted
    All things are possible. However, what will your MBA do for your new employer? You also need to know that there is growing opinion that MBAs are now worth less in terms of career prospects than they were 10 years ago. Read more here: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=are+mba's+worth+it
  • Posted by telemoxie on 6/10/2014 at 9:13 AM Accepted
    I have switched several times in my career between sales and marketing. Personally, I have always made more money and had more fun in sales. I don't know your situation, but before offering any serious advice, I would like to ask you what it is you don't like about selling.

    Unfortunately, many organizations give salespeople a hard time. Capital people are often jealous of sales commissions. Financial managers sometimes delay and complicate and reduce commissions. Continuous changes in management make it difficult for salespeople to think long-term.

    I'm on disability and unable to work. But upon reflection, if I could go back to work, I go back into sales and not in the marketing.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/10/2014 at 12:50 PM Accepted
    I've spent the bulk of my career in Brand Management and Marketing, though I've also done a few training stints in Sales and worked closely with some awesome salespeople and sales managers.

    My observation is that the skills required to be successful in Sales are largely different from those required for Marketing. So question #1 is which discipline you feel your skills match best.

    I am also an engineer by training, and I've found that rigorous engineering thinking is particularly beneficial in Marketing, which is becoming increasingly quantitative.

    All that said, the change you are contemplating at this stage of your career doesn't have a lot of successful precedent. The large CPG companies, where Brand Management is standard, usually hire young MBAs with limited experience.

    You probably need to think about where you might want to end up after you get your MBA before you start.
  • Posted by mwfsek on 6/10/2014 at 2:14 PM Author
    thx mgoodman for the insight......can you plz shed some light, from your exp in the said domain, what might be the possible post mba roles, which I can zone in on.....preferably in marketing, or will a move to bussiness dev / strategy consulting make a more logical connect....a bit confused.
  • Posted by mgoodman on 6/10/2014 at 5:22 PM Moderator
    Well, the companies that really value brand management are predominantly B2C, and with no background/experience in B2C you will have a tough time convincing them that you're ready to hit the ground running in their environment. Even if they'd give you a shot, you'd have to start as an assistant brand manager until you learned the job.

    Business development/strategic planning would be a bit easier, but the question I would have (and presumably they would have too) is what you bring to the party skill-wise. All your experience is in Sales, and most of the skills required to be successful in Sales, really don't apply to strategic planning.

    As for the consulting aspect, what a consultant usually brings to the party is proven success in whatever subject he/she is being hired to do. How will you demonstrate that?

    I'd love to be more encouraging, but it's hard to see how this could work for you. Suggestion: Prepare a "sales presentation" to persuade a prospective employer to hire you in the new post-MBA role. Use the skills you have acquired through your experience in Sales to anticipate and address the likely objections. See if you can convince yourself that you can make the shift successfully.

  • Posted by saul.dobney on 6/13/2014 at 3:43 AM Accepted
    For younger people an MBA can help them get into a specialist area of business. For people who already have commercial experience I'd see an MBA as helping make a step into general management. For instance you may be able to cross into a general sales and marketing manager role (with brand managers reporting to you), or a business unit management position.
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