CastleIsland profile picture
CastleIsland profile picture

CastleIsland

Associate Account Director

Tycoon
Politicker
Big Shot
+8

Title Nuances

I recently started a job as a Regional Sales Manager aka RSM, but essentially that means I am an individual contributor focused on larger accounts in a dedicated region. There are people out there (not in tech) that might think this means I manage people. Why does this title exist? (I'm not complaining but it is a hit misleading) 
🎯 Career Development
🐱 Off-Topic
☁️ Software Tech
13

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TennisandSales
Politicker
5
Head Of Sales
hahah titles are all shit.
i know an Associate Vice President of US sales..........he has zero reports and is just an account executive. closes all the deals. but has a super legit title.

I also know ppl that are team leads that are really directors of sales.
it doesnt mean anything.

I guess the RSM title exists because you manage all the sales for that region. 🤷‍♂️
CuriousFox
WR Officer
5
🦊
Why do so many different titles exist for one role? I don't know. It means nothing anymore.
HVACexpert
Politicker
3
sales engineer
RSM is a popular title used by manufacturers in my industry that manage the relationship between manufacturer and the manufacturer reps in their region.

Titles are nice because they cary a level of respect depending on what it is, but don’t lose sight of the forest through the trees. Go perform, get that money, and those titles you REALLY want will come to fruition.
Pachacuti
Politicker
3
They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy
You manage the sales in your region. What’s misleading?
Gasty
Notable Contributor
2
War Room Community Manager
I guess the word "Manager"
Maximas
Tycoon
2
Senior Sales Executive
Did you try to report this to your upper management to see what would they say about it?
CastleIsland
Tycoon
2
Associate Account Director
Next step is VP i guess
Maximas
Tycoon
3
Senior Sales Executive
Give it a shot then and try to speak with him with the concern you have and I guess he would probably have a good answer for you including changing your title to your actual job description!!!
Gasty
Notable Contributor
2
War Room Community Manager
You're 100% right.
RSMs generally manage an entire geo/region for an organization's sales, and are responsible for a TEAM of salespeople within that region.

One reason can be that "RSM" might have a heavier / more powerful ring to it, than an "Account Executive".

Another reason cab be (which isn't very surprising) that many orgz / CROs are not well-read (dumb!)
Sunbunny31
Politicker
2
Sr Sales Executive 🐰
Titles can be very misleading. The nice thing for you is you can leverage the title to your benefit in your sales process. There is a level of respect you can benefit from in some cases. I wouldn’t worry overmuch about the title, and good luck to you in your role.
Justatitle
Big Shot
2
Account Executive
You are starting to see the light. Welcome to my namesake
DungeonsNDemos
Big Shot
2
Rolling 20's all day
all words are made up :)

But yeah titles are misleading like half the time anyways.
ChumpChange
Politicker
2
Channel Manager
If you're not in a Fortune 500... titles don't mean a damn thing. You'll be amazed how many clients hit me with the CEO, COO, CTO, and CFO titles to puff their chests. Then when I ask for the company size... it's between 10-20. SMH.
FoodForSales
Politicker
1
AE
titles are all over the place. I have seen places where everyone is a VP and they manage nobody.
Fenderbaum
Politicker
1
Retired Choirboy🪕
...
GingerBarbarian
Opinionated
1
Lead Sales
Most professional titles are borderline masturbatory.

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