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Sales Manager resume example

A resume for a Sales Manager needs to show the work itself: plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Day to day that means work like this: direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale; resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service. Recruiters and applicant tracking systems both read for the tasks and tools this role actually involves, so the strongest resume names them in your own experience rather than describing the job in the abstract. Below are the tasks O*NET records for this occupation, the software and tools it uses, the titles it is advertised under, and the skills worth naming if they are genuinely yours.

Also advertised as

The same job is posted under many titles. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.

  • District Sales Manager
  • Sales Director
  • Sales Vice President
  • Sales VP
  • National Sales Manager
  • Regional Sales Manager
  • Sales and Marketing Vice President
  • Sales and Marketing VP
  • Sales Supervisor
  • GAM
  • Account Manager
  • Area Sales Manager
  • Artist Relationship Manager
  • Business Development Director
  • Business Development Executive
  • Business Development Manager
  • Channel Manager
  • Client Relationship Manager

O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation in total.

What people in this job call themselves

Titles reported by people actually doing this work, which is often not the title on the job posting.

  • Sales and Marketing Vice President (Sales and Marketing VP)
  • Sales Manager
  • Sales Vice President (Sales VP)

What this work actually involves

Tasks recorded for this occupation, in O*NET's words. If your experience covers one of these, it belongs on your resume in your own words.

  • Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
  • Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
  • Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
  • Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
  • Determine price schedules and discount rates.
  • Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures.
  • Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
  • Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
  • Direct, coordinate, and review sales and service accounting and record-keeping, as well as receiving and shipping.
  • Direct clerical staff to keep records of export correspondence, bid requests, and credit collections, and to maintain current information on tariffs, licenses, and restrictions.
  • Advise dealers and distributors on policies and operating procedures to ensure functional effectiveness of business.
  • Confer or consult with department heads to plan advertising services and to secure information on equipment and customer specifications.

17 tasks are recorded in total; these are the most central.

Example bullets for this role

Built from this occupation's own tasks. The brackets stay empty on purpose: we will not invent a number for you, and a fabricated metric is the fastest way to lose an interview you had already won.

  • Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].
  • Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs, for [who or what it served], at [what volume].

Software used in this role

Recorded for this occupation by O*NET. An applicant tracking system matches the exact product name, so write the tool the way the posting writes it.

  • Act!
  • Adobe Acrobat
  • Adobe ActionScript
  • Adobe Creative Cloud software
  • Airtable
  • Apple Keynote
  • Avidian Technologies Prophet
  • Bentley MicroStation
  • Blackbaud The Raiser's Edge
  • Contact management software
  • Database software
  • Delphi Discovery
  • Delphi Technology
  • Dropbox

103 software entries are recorded in total.

Tools and equipment

The physical equipment this occupation is recorded as using. Worth naming when a posting asks for it by name.

  • Desktop computers
  • Notebook computers
  • Personal computers
  • Scanners
  • Tablet computers

Skills an ATS reads for

Worth naming only if they are genuinely yours. Keyword overlap is one input to a resume's score, not a verdict.

  • pipeline management
  • quota attainment
  • CRM
  • forecasting
  • negotiation
  • account management
  • Salesforce
  • supervise employees

What this job rates as most important

O*NET rates every skill for importance to this occupation. These are the highest rated, in order.

  1. 01Persuasion
  2. 02Active Listening
  3. 03Speaking
  4. 04Coordination
  5. 05Critical Thinking
  6. 06Negotiation
  7. 07Reading Comprehension
  8. 08Service Orientation
  9. 09Social Perceptiveness
  10. 10Active Learning

Knowledge areas

The subject knowledge this occupation draws on, rated by importance.

  • Sales and Marketing
  • Customer and Personal Service
  • English Language
  • Administration and Management
  • Education and Training
  • Communications and Media
  • Computers and Electronics
  • Mathematics

What qualifications people in this job have

From O*NET's survey of people doing this work. This is what postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.

  • 65%Bachelor's Degree
  • 13%Associate's Degree
  • 9%Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.

What level this role is pitched at

O*NET places this occupation in “Considerable Preparation Needed”. Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.

A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.

Common questions

What does a Sales Manager do?
Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Day to day that includes work like direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale and Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
What skills should a Sales Manager put on a resume?
O*NET rates Persuasion, Active Listening, Speaking, Coordination, and Critical Thinking among the most important skills for this occupation. Name the ones that are genuinely yours and show where you used them. A resume that lists skills you do not have is weaker than one that lists fewer.
What software should a Sales Manager list?
Software recorded for this occupation includes Act!, Adobe Acrobat, Adobe ActionScript, Adobe Creative Cloud software, and Airtable. Applicant tracking systems match on the exact product name, so write the tool as the posting writes it rather than describing it in general terms.
What other job titles cover Sales Manager work?
O*NET records 40 titles for this occupation, including District Sales Manager, Sales Director, Sales Vice President, and Sales VP. Searching only your own job title hides most of the openings you could apply to.
What qualifications does a Sales Manager need?
In O*NET's survey of people doing this job, 65% reported their level of education as "Bachelor's Degree". That is what current postholders reported, not a requirement any single employer sets.
Will this resume pass an ATS for a Sales Manager role?
No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer's system is configured, including ours. What you can control is that the resume parses cleanly, names the work in the words the posting uses, and does not claim anything you cannot back up.

Related roles

Occupations O*NET records as closest to this one, and worth looking at if this search is not moving.

What this page cannot tell you

  • No tool outside an employer can tell you how that employer’s ATS is configured, including ours.
  • This page makes no claim about pay, demand or how many people hold this job. O*NET does not publish that here and we will not estimate it.
  • Keyword overlap is one input to a resume’s score, not a verdict on you. A resume that names skills you do not have is worse than one that names fewer.

If this is the job you are aiming at, the guide to tailoring a resume covers how to aim one posting properly, and building and exporting a resume here is free.

Occupation data from the O*NET 29.1 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA), used under CC BY 4.0. O*NET is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. SpartanResume is not endorsed by USDOL/ETA.