4 Sales Manager Resume Examples & Templates for 2024

Sales managers are professionals who are responsible for leading and directing a sales team to meet or exceed sales targets. Their duties include setting sales goals, developing strategic sales plans, analyzing sales data, training and mentoring sales representatives, and building and maintaining client relationships. Writing a strong sales manager resume is crucial as it demonstrates your leadership abilities, sales achievements, and strategic planning skills. These are essential for attracting potential employers and, in turn, advancing your sales career.

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Sales Manager Resume Example

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Entry-Level / Junior Sales Manager Resume Example

An entry-level or junior sales manager is typically new to the field but has significant experience in sales roles. They are eager to take on leadership responsibilities and contribute to the team while developing their management skills. Here's a resume sample for an entry-level sales manager.

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Middle Sales Manager Resume Example

A middle-level sales manager has a few years of experience in the field and is proficient in leading sales teams and developing sales strategies. They have developed a good understanding of sales operations and can handle more complex sales scenarios. Here's a resume sample for a middle-level sales manager.

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Experienced / Senior Sales Manager Resume Example

An experienced or senior sales manager has extensive experience in the field and is highly skilled in managing sales operations, leading sales teams, and driving significant revenue growth. They are capable of ensuring high efficiency and effectiveness in various sales functions. Below, you can check out a senior sales manager resume sample that I’ve prepared for you:

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Resume Templates for Sales Managers

After analyzing 11 million resumes using the Zety Resume Builder, these are sales managers' top 3 resume template choices.

Cascade

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For sales managers, the Cascade resume template is a standout choice due to its dual-column layout that prioritizes clarity and organization. This minimalistic resume template excels in distinctly separating your personal information from your professional experience, making it easy for hiring managers to navigate. I appreciate how the Cascade design allows for a focused presentation of your sales achievements, leadership skills, and strategic planning abilities. Its clean style ensures your key qualifications and career highlights are showcased without unnecessary distractions, offering a clean and professional appearance.

Concept

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The Concept resume template is ideal for sales managers who prefer a modern and efficient design. What sets this template apart is its single-column layout coupled with a stylish sidebar, which effectively highlights your contact information and core competencies. The main section provides ample space to detail your work history and significant achievements in sales. I find that the Concept’s sleek and polished format helps draw attention to your skills in driving revenue growth, managing sales teams, and developing client relationships. This creative resume template ensures your job application is both professional and eye-catching.

Diamond

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From my perspective, the Diamond resume template offers a sophisticated and well-structured presentation for sales managers. Its two-column design is perfect for clearly dividing personal details and a professional summary on one side, with comprehensive sections on experience, education, and certifications on the other. The Diamond template’s use of bullet points and section dividers enhances readability and draws attention to your accomplishments in sales targets, market expansion, and team leadership. This attention-grabbing resume design ensures your resume is organized and professional, making it easy for recruiters to quickly grasp your qualifications and achievements.

How to Write a Sales Manager Resume:

1. Format Your Sales Manager Resume Properly

Here’s the thing: we make judgments based on first impressions. Research suggests it only takes 1/10 of a second to form one. This is why choosing the best format for your sales manager resume is so vital. A recruiter’s brief glance may decide about your future.

So make sure your sales manager resume:

• Looks elegant and professional
• Is easily navigable and legible
• Puts white space to good use
• Uses ATS- and reader-friendly fonts.

How? First off, go for the reverse-chronological resume format. It puts your experience and key achievements in the limelight. Also, it’s the best-established resume format and all recruiters feel comfortable reading it.

Also, be sure to match your resume to the company culture. Our resume builder offers a range of styles: from creative to elegant to minimal. And if you want to be absolutely certain your formatting stays intact on the hiring manager’s end, export your sales manager resume to PDF.

Pro Tip: Looking for advice on resume length? Not sure if a one-page resume is better than a two-page resume? Get the ideal resume length with our guide: How Long Should a Resume Be? Ideal Resume Length

2. Make the Most of Every Sales Manager Resume Job Description

Listen: the hiring manager is not looking for a salesman you surely are. They’re looking for a leader you have to become. So—let your sales manager resume job description show you’re ready to lead and inspire your team.

How to prepare a sales manager job description for a resume:

• Follow the reverse-chronology resume format and put your latest position up top. Let the previous one follow it, and so on.
• Add your job title, company name, and dates.
• Try not to list more than 6 bullet points for each position.
• Describe your responsibilities in terms of professional achievements. Responsibilities + numbers = achievements.
• Put numbers where you can. Numbers speak louder than words.
• Tailor your resume to the job. Show what you’ve done that’s relevant to this particular position.

Remember—your sales manager resume must be more than a laundry list of all the stuff you’ve ever done. Show the hiring manager you’re great at doing what they need you to do. 

Also, don’t forget that generic resumes are every shredder’s favorite. Now, if you want to move into your first sales manager role, you need to follow the same rules. To cut a long story short:

• Customize your experience section to the job description
• Focus on the skills the hiring manager is after

Keep in mind that you might want to make some parts of your job description stand out more. Use bold to highlight what you’re most proud of. You can also underline, add links, and much more. With our resume builder, formatting is easy and intuitive.

When detailing your experience as a sales manager, focus on your leadership skills, sales strategies, and ability to drive revenue growth. Here are some examples of responsibilities for a sales manager resume:

Sales Manager Keywords for a Resume

• Develop and implement effective sales strategies to achieve organizational sales goals and revenue targets.
• Lead, motivate, and manage a team of sales representatives to ensure high performance and achievement of sales objectives.
• Conduct regular sales training and coaching sessions to enhance team skills and knowledge.
• Monitor and analyze sales metrics to identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key clients, stakeholders, and partners.
• Prepare and present detailed sales reports and forecasts to senior management.
• Collaborate with marketing and product development teams to align sales strategies with business objectives.
• Manage the sales pipeline, ensuring timely follow-up on leads and opportunities.
• Negotiate and close complex sales deals, ensuring customer satisfaction and long-term partnerships.
• Stay updated with industry trends, competitor activities, and market conditions to adapt sales strategies accordingly.

Plus, you can use some of the action verbs I’ve selected for you below to effectively convey your responsibilities and achievements in your sales manager role:

Sales Manager Resume Action Verbs

• Developed
• Implemented
• Led
• Motivated
• Conducted
• Monitored
• Analyzed
• Built
• Prepared
• Collaborated

If you’re still hungry for more information on how to make a job-winning experience section on your sales manager resume, read our guide: Work Experience on a Resume: Job Description Samples and Tips

3. Put the Right Sales Manager Skills on Your Resume

It’s really simple: you’ll get the job if your skills are up to par. So—you must make sure everything that makes you stand out from the crowd gets proper exposure on your sales manager resume.

So, what skills to include on a perfect sales manager resume? In short, the relevant ones. Take a good look at the job offer you’re replying to, and pick out the sales manager competencies the company is looking for. Got them? Chances are, most of them are already in your job description. Yay!

But you can still sprinkle your sales manager resume objective or summary with some more skills. Plus, put the ones you take most pride in a separate skills section. Remember, though. Relevance is key. It’s not about any skills, it’s about the ones that make you a great manager. If you’re looking for inspiration, here’s a list of some typical key skills for a sales manager resume.

Examples of Sales Manager Skills for Your Resume

• Analytical skills
• Budgeting
• Building relationships
• Coaching
• Communication skills
• Customer service skills
• Delegation
• Leadership skills
• Managing processes
• Market knowledge
• Meeting sales goals
• Motivation
• Negotiation
• Problem-solving
• Reporting
• CRM: Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sugar Sell, HubSpot Sales
• Sales planning
• Selling to customer needs
• Staffing
• Strategy
• Technical skills
• Time-management skills
• Vision

Looking for more inspiration on the best skills for managers? Here’s a guide you may find interesting: Top 10 Management Skills: List & Great Advice (Not Just for Managers)

4. Create an Education Section for Your Sales Manager Resume

Here’s the thing. You’re applying for a managerial position, you can’t be green behind the ears. You can omit the entire education section entirely, right? Wrong.

Don’t skip any section. Ever. As a seasoned pro, you’re free to limit your sales manager resume education section to the necessary minimum, though.

List your:

• Degree
• Major/minor
• School name
• Graduation date

Add only your highest degree of education on your resume. There’s no need to dive any deeper.

Need more information on how to list education on your resume? Head straight to our guide: Education Resume Section: Examples for Different Scenarios

5. Add Other Sections for the Best Sales Manager Resume

At this point, we can easily say your sales manager resume has everything a good resume needs. It’s done. Or is it? Remember—on average, you must beat 250+ candidates. So, let them be the average. For you, it’s time to add value. How?

By including extra sections, such as:

• Awards
• Courses
• Professional certifications
• Conferences
• Volunteer work
• Industry blog
• Language skills
• Interests and activities

Prove your worth to the hiring manager, and show you’re a perfect cultural fit ready to drive change!

Not sure what extra sections to add to your sales manager resume? Take a look at our guide: What to Include on a Job-Winning Resume

6. Write a Sales Manager Resume Summary or Objective

If your resume looks good enough—you’ll win 7 seconds of the recruiter’s attention. This is how much (or little) time they’ll spend scanning your sales manager resume.

The trick is to make your resume riveting. How? By topping it with the juiciest opening section. One that will make the other candidates look like they’re applying for a job at a lemonade stand. Before we move on, let’s take a look at the differences between a resume summary and objective.

• A sales manager resume summary is a brief rundown of your relevant experience and key achievements. It’s perfect for experienced candidates for sales manager positions.
• A sales manager resume objective focuses on your skills and shows why you’re a perfect fit for the position. It works best for candidates who want to switch careers, step up the career ladder, or get a place at an entry-level sales management training program for freshers.

Read more: Resume Profile Examples for Any Profession

7. Attach a Cover Letter to Your Sales Manager Resume

Yes, it’s true: Only 40% of hiring managers care about cover letters, according to our HR statistics report. But—less than half of the candidates send them.

So ask yourself this question—would you rather get the job and overdeliver along the way, or get rejected because you underdelivered Well, let’s take it a step further. Would you rather inspire a team of overachievers or struggle with a bunch of sluggards?

See how it works? A well-written sales manager cover letter can double your chances, plus it shows you care. This is what’s being tested with the “cover letters optional” blurb in the job ad.

A great cover letter that matches the style of your sales manager resume will give you an edge over the other candidates. Plus, you get the extra change to underline your awesome sales manager skills.

Don’t know how to go about writing a cover letter? Here’s a guide that will help you out: Cover Letter Writing in 8 Simple Steps [Proven Template]

Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:

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See more cover letter templates and start writing.

Looking for related jobs in sales? See one of our dedicated guides:

• Retail Resume Sample
• Sales Resume Sample
• Sales Representative Resume Sample
• Retail Manager Resume Sample
• Merchandiser Resume Sample
• Retail Sales Associate Resume Sample
• Salesforce Resume Sample
• Ecommerce Resume Sample
• Sales Assistant Resume Sample
• Best Examples of Resumes for Any Job

About Zety’s Editorial Process

This article has been reviewed by our editorial team to make sure it follows Zety's editorial guidelines. We’re committed to sharing our expertise and giving you trustworthy career advice tailored to your needs. High-quality content is what brings over 40 million readers to our site every year. But we don't stop there. Our team conducts original research to understand the job market better, and we pride ourselves on being quoted by top universities and prime media outlets from around the world.

Sources

• https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/how-many-seconds-to-a-first-impression
• https://www.theladders.com/static/images/basicSite/pdfs/TheLadders-EyeTracking-StudyC2.pdf
• https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1523422313488753