Plenty of strong salespeople want the desk, but the skills that make a great closer are not the same skills that make a great manager. The move is possible, and it is faster when you prepare for it on purpose.

Learn the numbers behind the deal

Gross, holdback, pack, aging inventory: ask your manager to walk you through a deal sheet. Understanding how the store makes money is the first thing a manager is trusted with.

Coach one person

Offer to help a new hire with their first month. Teaching a process forces you to understand it, and it shows leadership that you can lift other people’s numbers, not just your own.

Take the ugly deals

Volunteer for the difficult trade, the split deal, the customer nobody wants. Managers spend their days on exactly those situations.

Say it out loud

Tell your general manager where you want to be in two years and ask what it would take. Ambition that nobody knows about cannot be rewarded.

This is a placeholder article. Replace it with your own story from the editor.