Sales Cover Letter Example

Employers are always looking for sales professionals who understand how to close a deal while delivering an all-around exceptional customer experience.

If you want to impress a hiring manager and secure an interview, you’ll need to showcase that you have the right skills and experience to get the job done in your sales cover letter.

However, learning how to write a sales cover letter can be difficult. To help you get started writing and land your next job, we’ve included three professional writing tips and a sales cover letter template below.

1. Open your sales cover letter with a strong introduction

Show employers that you’re the perfect person to promote their products and services by starting your cover letter in a way that captures their attention.

A strong introduction on your sales cover letter will showcase your passion for the position, sales skill level, and knack for persuasive speaking.

Here are three tips for writing a strong sales cover letter introduction:

1. Prior to applying, research the company to learn about their brand and products. Demonstrating knowledge of the company’s available services in your cover letter shows employers you’re serious about the job and take initiative.
2. Lead with an impressive accomplishment so employers can visualize how your talents fit in with their business.
3. Write your sales cover letter in an active voice and use action verbs to make your achievements sound more impactful.

Here’s an example of a strong introduction for a sales cover letter:

As a frequent and longtime user of Greenplanet Software, I was thrilled to see an opening on LinkedIn for the Senior Sales Representative position at your Seattle headquarters. Having an excellent record for promoting products and services, and previously being awarded top sales associate of my region in 2020, I am confident that I would be a perfect fit for this role.

2. Highlight your sales skills

Employers rely heavily on their salespeople to communicate the value of their products or services to potential customers and bring in revenue. To convince them you’re the right person for the job, your cover letter needs to highlight your relevant sales skills.

Sales jobs are customer-centric, so in order to fully showcase your expertise, you should include a mix of hard and soft skills on your cover letter.

Here are some of the best sales skills to highlight in your cover letter:

• Market research and strategy
• Product knowledge
• Sales presentations and planning
• Communication skills
• Active listening skills
• Teamwork
• People skills
• Customer and client relationships
• Interpersonal skills
• Negotiation tactics
• Time management skills
• Organizational skills
• Problem-solving and critical thinking
• Familiarity with clerical procedures like data entry, and file management
• Point of sale systems like TokenWorks Magnetic Card Reader, The General Store, and iQmetrix RQ4 Retail Management System

However, you can’t simply list skills on a cover letter for a sales job. Instead, you’ll need to provide real-life examples in your cover letter that exhibit your skills, to give employers a clear sense of what you can contribute.

For example, in our sales cover letter, the application mentions that they “consistently gained respect from both staff and management through effective communication and liaison” and “exceeded targets while making strong efforts to foster profitable relationships with customers and strategic associates alike.”

Gaining respect from colleagues and management for effective communication shows that you possess great teamwork and communication skills, while exceeding targets and fostering relationships that are good for business communicates to the hiring manager that you take initiative and have great people skills.

Including details like these in your cover letter help illustrate how you put your sales skills to work to accomplish things at work.

3. Provide quantified examples of your achievements

The purpose of a cover letter is to support and provide further context for the information in your resume. An excellent way to do this is by listing examples of your previous accomplishments in the body paragraphs of your cover letter.

When listing accomplishments on your sales cover letter, you’ll want to show employers that you’re results-driven by using hard numbers to quantify your achievements.

Here’s an example of how to quantify your accomplishments on a sales cover letter:

For example, working as a Sales Assistant with TRP Insurance Inc., I ranked within the top 10 salespeople company-wide for 2 years in a row, and in my first year, I successfully expanded our customer account base by 18% through networking and client referrals. I was also awarded an “Outstanding Achievement’’ for increasing customer retention by 20% through developing and implementing a new customer loyalty program in 2020.

In the example paragraph above, the hiring will immediately notice these three quantified achievements:

Ranked within top 10 salespeople company-wide for 2 years

Expanded customer account base by 18% through networking and client referrals

Increased customer retention by 20% through developing and implementing a new customer loyalty program

4. Sales cover letter template

Finally, here’s a sales cover letter template that you can easily copy and paste into Microsoft Word or Google Docs:

[Today’s Date]

[Hiring Manager’s Name]

123 Company Address

Company’s City, State, Zip Code

(xxx) xxx-xxxx

hiring.manager@gmail.com

Dear [Mr./Ms./Mrs.] [Hiring Manager’s Surname],

I’m thrilled to see your listing for the [Sales Position] at [Company Name] on [Website Name]. As a dedicated [Sales Associate/Manager] with [# Years] of experience doing [Sales Work Tasks] in order to meet sales goals, customer demands, and increase company profits, I’m confident that I would be a valuable asset to your team.

Your job listing mentions a need for someone knowledgeable in [Specific Sales Expertise], which is an area I have extensive experience in. I’m currently employed at [Company Name], where I’ve honed my skills doing:

• List a sales achievement with hard numbers showing how it helped meet/exceed company sales goals
• Discuss how you helped meet customer demands, or attract new clients and maintain old accounts
• List the total monetary worth of the clientele you managed, or number products you sold annually
• Mention how your hard work and dedication helped increase brand awareness and product range
• Whenever possible, give real-life examples of the great people and interpersonal skills you possess

I’m confident that my proven track record of excellent work ethic, attention to detail, and knack for [Specific Sales Skill] will make me an asset at [Company Name], and allow me to contribute to the sales team’s success.

I look forward to discussing the [Sales Associate/Manager] position and my qualifications with you in more detail. I’m available to talk at your soonest convenience. I’ll be in touch next week to follow up, just to make sure you’ve received my application.

Sincerely,

Your name