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Sales Manager Resume Examples

Sales managers are an important part of any company that needs to sell a product or service. Without a sales manager, reaching sales goals and implementing sales plans would be difficult. Good sales managers lead teams to high sales numbers and constant productivity. If you think you’re a good fit for this role, here’s what you need to know about writing a sales manager resume.

Elements To Highlight In A Sales Manager Resume

A sales manager is more than someone who looks after the sales staff. Sales managers create sales strategies and marketing strategies, analyze the competition and ensure all the sales targets are met. Sales managers need to have great communication skills to meet each new sales goal with a sales team.

Sales Manager Resume Sample

The Structure Of A Sales Manager Resume

How you structure your sales manager resume will depend on the resume format you choose. Some resumes highlight work experience, while others focus on skills. Combination resumes focus on both. Whichever you choose, there are five sections you always need to include in a resume:

Contact Information

Your contact information is at the top of your resume. This makes it easy for recruiters to contact you. If you put the contact information somewhere else, it will get buried with all the other information. If you have more information than will fit on a one-page resume, be sure to include your LinkedIn link in this contact information section. This way, a recruiter can access it.

Resume Summary

A resume summary is a short paragraph that outlines your important achievements. It should only be 2-3 sentences. Anything you can’t fit into the resume summary should go in the cover letter. For a sales manager resume, some good points to mention are any technical skills and any experience in the salesforce.

Skills

The skills section of your resume is where you display your talents. The sales manager skills you mention will let the recruiters know what you can bring to the table as a sales professional. Take a look at these bullet points for inspiration on skills to mention:

  • Management software knowledge
  • Customer relationship management (CRM)
  • Being a team player
  • Project management
  • Financial skills
  • Problem-solving
  • Active listening
  • Research skills
  • Account management skills
  • Social media knowledge
  • Communication skills
  • Prospecting skills
  • Forecasting
  • Merchandising

Work Experience

For the work experience section of your resume, list the last 10 years of professional experience. Start by listing your most recent job. Any kind of sales experience should be listed no matter how minor. Whether it’s retail sales or marketing, mention any experience with selling products and services. Include 2-4 bullet points for each job listing. Include metrics to convey your sales skill level.

Education

The education section is where you list any bachelor’s degree or honors you’ve earned. Degrees in business administration and marketing are highly valuable in high-level sales roles. List any business courses or technical degrees as well. But place your most important credentials at the top.

Do's and Don'ts

  • Use a professional font. Arial, Times New Roman and Calibri are classic fonts that elevate a professional resume. The font size should be between 10.5 and 12. This way, the words will be big enough to read without being too large.
  • Mention relevant experience in being a leader. Many people overlook impressive leadership roles, such as being captain of a college debate team. Such experiences don’t seem like much because they aren’t professional, but experiences that show that you can successfully handle team members are a major plus.
  • Use a resume template or resume builder for inspiration. You can find a lot of great examples of sales management resumes at ResumeNerd.
  • Submit your resume without double-checking your contact information. If you add your old email address and phone number, the hiring managers won’t be able to contact you.
  • Make your resume too long. Your resume should be tailored to the job posting so you can stand out, but it should still only contain the most relevant information.
  • Include an unprofessional email address. If your email address has inappropriate language or references, make a new one and use it during your job search.

FAQ: Sales Manager Resume Examples

The best resume summary is one that summarizes the best parts of your education, skills and experience in 2-3 sentences. For a sales management position, the sales summary should focus on your leadership skills and years of experience. Creativity and competitiveness should be mentioned or implied since those are the qualities of any good salesperson. Look at resume templates for sales management positions for some inspiration.

Sales management is usually a high-level position. If you don’t have experience as a sales representative or in a management role, you can focus on your education history instead. Notable certifications and awards can help boost your resume. Mentioning references and connections to professionals in the sales industry helps, too.

Each company looks for different elements in their sales managers even though the role itself seems the same. The sales manager job descriptions for each company should give you some good insight on how to personalize the resume. A personalized resume is especially important for regional sales managers because they oversee specific areas. Include keywords from the job description in your resume to help you get through applicant tracking systems (ATS).