Today’s job market is extremely competitive, especially in particular segments. Those looking to secure sales manager positions always want to craft a compelling resume that yields them an upper hand in a highly coveted profession. However, many believe that the main aspects of a successful resume are focused primarily on past responsibilities and acquired experience. While those are certainly essential components, a resume should be more exhibitive than that, narrating a story of achievement, leadership, growth, and an individual’s intangible qualities.
We have helped hundreds of people seeking a sales manager position put together a resume that has successfully secured their desired role. While countless sources will provide brief, generic, bulleted lists, we choose to take a different approach. For a particularly effective and impactful sales manager resume, it is important to understand not just the structure, but the reasoning behind why certain techniques are applied.
So, if you are interested in putting together a regional sales manager resume or any other form of sales manager position, join us in exploring how to put together a document that will attract the attention of a hiring manager who will be eager to interview you.
The Sales Manager Position
Before learning to put together a sales manager resume, it’s worth taking a moment to understand that the role of a sales manager in a dynamic business environment is as crucial as it is influential. Unlike an individual sales rep whose focus is deal-closing, a sales manager must be influential and strategic in his or her approach to working with clients by understanding both market dynamics and human psychology.
To that end, anyone considering an application for such a position will be looking for indicators that the candidate possesses those qualities. Since the resume is the vehicle for delivering such information to hiring managers, the resume must clearly and expertly convey such expertise.
Resume Structure
There is a traditionally accepted range of resume structures, but for a sales manager resume, the following structure is the most effective:
- Contact Information
- Summary/Objective
- Professional Experience
- Skills And Knowledge
- Education History
- Additional Information
Let’s dive into each of these sections with some sales manager resume examples of their formatting and why such an approach is most effective.
Contact Information
While the contact information is the most straightforward of all of the resume’s sections, it must be the most clear and prominent as it will be what the hiring manager comes back to should he or she choose to contact the applicant for the role. The contact section is the first impression that a hiring manager gets of an applicant, and, as the saying goes, you only get one chance to make the first of those. It is critical to remember that this is a professional document, so everything about this section must be presented concisely yet completely, without any distractions.
The contact section should include the applicant’s full name, address, phone number, email, and, if available, a LinkedIn profile. Here is an example of what the contact information section should look like:
Michael John Davis
321 Autumn Drive, Boston, MA, 02215
(555) 765-4321
LinkedIn.com/michaeldavis
The email address provided must be basic and professional. Humorous or silly names immediately cause a hiring party to take the candidate less seriously. After all, how will clients be able to do so, if the candidate is unwilling to?
A LinkedIn profile reference for sales managers is also more common than ever because it illustrates that the candidate is willing to communicate online in a professional manner and contextualize their past achievements and career.
Summary/Objective
The next goal of the resume is to convey who the applicant is professionally and what they hope to achieve in their sales manager resume. This section is short but significant, as it will be a determinant factor in whether the hiring manager wants to continue learning about the applicant’s background.
Whether this section focuses on a summary or an objective depends on how new the applicant is to the sales management field. Someone with multiple years of experience should utilize this section to emphasize leadership and specific results (productivity boosts, revenue increases, etc.), while someone moving from another field or new to sales management should take this section as a chance to define their objective, aspirations, and skills they believe to be valuable in the field.
Let’s look at an example of a summary:
“Result-motivated sales manager with over 10 years of experience in leading a team, boosting and exceeding sales targets by 25% annually. Experienced high-impact strategy developer, mentor to junior sales staff, and advocate of continuous improvement.”
On the other hand, an objective would sound more like:
“Ambitious sales professional with over 2 years of experience in retail, looking to transition into a sales management role. Excellent at building relationships, fostering teamwork, and eager to help in revenue growth.”
A helpful tip for making the summary more compelling is to include revenue growth figures and percentages of productivity increases. This reinforces one’s career summary by supporting it with measurable metrics.
Read More :- Resume Summary Examples
Professional Experience
A resume’s most impactful section is the documentation of work experience history, professional background, and notable accomplishments. Many applicants fall into the trap of supplying a list of job responsibilities, but the focus should instead be on how those duties positively contributed to their employer’s success. If possible, user revenue figures, percentages, and other quantifiable metrics to illustrate success.
The manner of professional experience description is also pivotal. For instance, it helps to start every included point with a decisive action verb, as well as include details that illustrate not just what duties were performed but how well they were executed. Consider the following two statements:
Don’t Write:
“Was responsible for team member training.”
Do Write:
“Organized and led training sessions which bolstered team efficiency by 30%”
Many applicants will have several prior positions to include in this section. Each should feature the name of the company, its location, the title of the role, and the dates of employment. After that, each job included should contain a list of bulleted lines that outline relevant responsibilities and accomplishments, emphasizing those that illustrate the applicant’s ability to think strategically, lead others, accomplish, and exceed goals.
Here is an example of what one particular employment history inclusion would look like:
Sales Manager
1234 Company, Boston, MA
May 2015 – Present
- Increased sales by 30% in a year by personalizing client outreach and leveraging data-driven tracking of leads.
- Formed customer retention strategies leading to a 20% increase in repeat business.
- Managed a 7-person sales representative team, with weekly assessments, boosting productivity by 15%.
Skills And Knowledge
There are two types of skills: hard and soft. A good balance of both should be included in the skills section of the sales manager’s resume. An ideal candidate for this role is a person who possesses a healthy balance of both.
Hard skills are proficiency in areas that have been learned such as experience with sales tools including CRM (customer relationship management software), HubSpot, and Salesforce, as well as strategic planning, budgeting, and forecasting skills. Such technical proficiency is vital in a modern-day sales environment, so it is important to showcase it with some context.
For example, rather than stating that an application “successfully uses Salesforce” the following statement helps to emphasize and detail this hard skill more:
“Utilized Salesforce analytics to discover underused market opportunities, bringing in an additional $1.2 million in new business revenue in a single quarter.”
Soft skills include problem-solving prowess, leadership, and negotiation skills, knowing how to motivate a team, conflict resolution, and fostering collaborative relationships. Many companies also look for listening as a soft skill, as that is one of the most understated, yet coveted soft skills, especially in the sales sphere.
For example, rather than saying that one possesses “team development” skills, a more appropriate skills section listing would be:
“Enhanced team development skill by implementing comprehensive coaching programs that increased team performance metrics by 25% over 3 years.”
It is important to remember that the resume itself is a type of sales pitch, attending to sell the applicant as a qualified candidate who is the best choice for a sales management position. Therefore, those skills that are most relevant to the position should take center stage. One of the primary headliners should, therefore be leadership. The applicant should describe how he or she has utilized these skills.
Education History
In some fields, the education section can be loaded with credentials of educational accomplishments. However, for the field of management or sales, it is typically brief. It is also, however, immensely valuable for validating the above-stated skills and objectives. Applicants do not need to list every former educational institution they attended, just the highest level achieved. The listing should include the name of said institution, as well as the date the applicant graduated and whether it was with honors.
Many who are looking to land a sales management position complete advanced courses or earn certifications in business, sales, or management. These should be included as well, as they enhance the applicant’s education profile. For those who have been in sales for some time, the education section should be concise, since professional experience will be weighed more prominently.
An example of how an education component on a sales manager’s resume would be listed is as follows:
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Graduated: May 2017 with honors
Additional Information
Sales is a highly competitive profession, so the more credentials an applicant possesses to validate his or her knowledge base, the more of an asset the additional information section can be on a resume.
Most applicants use this section to list and elaborate on certifications and other forms of specialized knowledge and professional growth that set them apart from others looking to fill the sales manager role. Some valuable certifications may include Salesforce Certified Sales Consultant and Certified Sales Leadership Professional (CSLP). The inclusion of these certifications shows that an applicant is willing and eager to advance their professional skills in sales management-relevant areas, especially if they align with the position’s description.
Common Sales Manager Resume Mistakes To Avoid
Now that we have covered all of the sections of a resume and what should be included in them, it is important to highlight some things that should be avoided. These common mistakes have been identified on sales manager resumes throughout years of research, so it is important to be aware of them and their ability to undermine a good application.
Hiring managers see a lot of resumes, so they can’t thoroughly review each one. It is therefore those that catch their eyes that draw them to look deeper. For that reason, it is important to avoid making resumes too generic. A resume should be customized accordingly for each position, with key phrases and keywords that are denoted in the job description.
As noted earlier, it is important to not be vague when focusing on past responsibilities. Many applicants highlight the results, but it is the resumes that show quantifiable measurements of achievements that stand out the most. In that same mindset, it is important to add context to achievements by helping the reader understand why the accomplishments were so significant to the organization.
With that said, an information overload should also be avoided. Those reading a resume are certainly interested in relevant details that show an applicant would be a good fit for the role, but they do not want a comprehensive listing of every task performed, especially if these aren’t directly related to the position of a sales manager. Therefore, sticking to key achievements and relevant skills for the position is preferable to overloading the resume with information.
Things Hiring Managers Are Looking For
When putting a sales manager’s resume together, it’s important to keep in mind the various dimensions that are expected of an applicant for the position. Consider that sales managers don’t just track numbers. They build and grow teams that perform at high levels, so the job requires exceptional prowess for developing people and teams in several respects:
- A resume should exhibit one’s ability to identify potential in newcomers as well as seasoned sales professionals.
- It must communicate the ability to coach a range of people in the field on a spectrum of experience levels and personalities.
- It also must demonstrate the ability to build and support a sales culture rooted in high performance.
Then there is the component of business strategy. A sales manager must understand the downstream impacts of decisions by:
- Having the ability to track and understand market trends to identify potential areas for sales growth.
- Strategically allocating and deploying resources.
- Working collaboratively across departments in an organization.
Sales managers must make their decisions based on analysis of acquired data, and be willing to adapt to changes (technological, financial, etc.) A resume should demonstrate the ability to:
- Make data-driven decisions
- Leverage modern sales tools and methods to increase revenue
- Be fiscally responsible in terms of budget management
- Keep profitability at the forefront of any decisions
Another key ingredient of a successful sales manager’s resume is the ability to show that they are willing and able to look beyond internal metrics and consider the customer’s perspective by focusing on the customer experience and building long-term relationships to secure future financial success.
Conclusion
Once the resume is put together, it is vital not to just send it out before taking the time to thoroughly review it and refine it when necessary. It helps to read the resume out loud, reword vague or awkward statements, and even have a fresh set of eyes of a trusted peer to look over it and catch things that might have been missed. Keeping achievements clear and any cited numbers consistent, with all quantifiable results being able to be verifiable and clearly contextualized.
The sales manager’s resume must tell a story of growth, achievement, and leadership of the candidate. The presentation of relevant information about one’s desired role and unique work experience is vital. By following these sales manager resume construction principles, applicants can provide hiring managers with a solid, concrete, powerful resume, giving them a leg up on their competition in the competitive sphere of sales.
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