Sales Manager Resume Example

As a sales manager, you’ll be leading many talented and educated professionals with outstanding analytical, communication, and leadership skills, in addition to putting your sales experience to the test.

But to find a good job as a sales manager, you need a resume that advertises your sales skills and convinces employers that you’re the right person for the job.

To help you get started, we’ve included five writing tips, along with a sales manager resume template.

1. Write a great sales manager resume summary

As an experienced salesperson, you know that first impressions are essential to keeping people interested and eventually closing a sale. Your resume is no different.

Your resume introduction is the first section hiring managers will see on your resume, so it’s important to hook them right from the start.

To do this, we recommend using a strong resume summary that communicates to the hiring manager how you’re a good fit for the position by listing your relevant experience, skills, qualifications, and career highlights.

Here’s an example of a well-crafted sales manager resume summary:

Sales Manager with over 9+ years of experience in training and supervising sales staff, and planning and implementing sales strategies nationwide. Successfully managed 5 marketing campaigns worth $1 – $3 million USD, while leading a team of 20 creative and technical sales staff. Seeking to bring my proven record of team leading and launching successful marketing campaigns into a senior sales management position.

Notice how in the first sentence of the resume summary, the applicant provides their exact length of sales experience and area of expertise:

Sales Manager with over 9+ years of experience in training and supervising sales staff, and planning and implementing sales strategies nationwide

Afterward, the application immediately follows up by also highlighting a career achievement:

Successfully managed 5 marketing campaigns worth $1 – $3 million USD, while leading a team of 20 creative and technical sales staff

Lastly, the applicant lists qualifications that are directly applicable to the position they’re applying for:

Seeking to bring my proven record in launching successful marketing campaigns and team leading into filling a senior sales management position.

These three sections make up a successful, convincing resume summary.

2. Quantify your sales experience

From making sales to balancing budgets, sales managers deal with hard numbers every day. Your resume should reflect that by including examples of your accomplishments backed up with hard numbers.

Including hard numbers gives hiring managers a real-life reference point for your achievements, and also demonstrates that you’ve been able to achieve concrete results.

Here’s an example of quantified work experience on a sales manager resume:

Sales manager for 5 marketing campaigns worth $1M to $3M; implementing strategic marketing and sales goals, and leading a team of 20 creative and technical sales staff

The above sales manager’s hard numbers provide a reference of the overall monetary worth of their past marketing campaigns (range of $1M to $3M) and the number of employees they managed (20 creative and technical sales staff).

Knowing the marketing campaign’s monetary worth and the size of the team the candidate managed are both important to the hiring manager because they provide proof of the sales manager’s competence and overall management skills.

3. Include action verbs in your experience section

In addition to including hard numbers, you should start each bullet point in your resume off with a strong action verb. Using action verbs on your sales manager resume helps display that you have initiative, leadership skills, and most importantly “take action” while on the job.

For example, the candidate in the sample resume uses action verbs suited for a sales manager, such as “strategize,” “implement,” and “supervise”.

Using action verbs makes your previous accomplishments look much stronger to a hiring manager, compared to using phrases such as “duties include” and “responsible for.”

Here’s an example of 30 excellent actions verbs for your sales manager resume:

4. Scan the sales manager job description for industry-specific keywords

When employers post job descriptions online, they normally include industry-specific keywords in the posting that they’ll want to see on applicants’ resumes.

Industry-specific keywords are especially important for larger employers, who use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to automatically scan your resume for these keywords before forwarding it to the hiring manager.

If you want to ensure that your resume is actually read by the hiring manager, you’ll need to write an ATS-friendly resume by including those industry-specific keywords (also referred to as ATS keywords) when detailing your experience, skills, and qualifications.

Here’s an example of a sales manager job posting, complete with the ATS keywords underlined:

5. Include your sales manager skills

Sales managers need to manage campaigns, help promote products, all while managing personnel daily. To be a successful sales manager, you’ll need a wide range of sales skills to be successful at the job.

Listing skills on your resume is a great way to quickly showcase to the hiring manager which sales expertise and skills you possess that’ll help you get the job done.

You should make sure to list both hard and soft skills on your resume to show that you’re a balanced candidate. When considering what hard skills to include, you should list the technical skills required for your job, such as the specific software tools that aid in data analysis needed to develop new sales strategies.

Sales managers will also need various soft skills, such as strong people skills and having the ability to negotiate while actively listening to clients and customer needs.

Here’s an example of 20 great hard and soft skills for your sales manager resume: