Close the Deal With a Winning Sales Manager Resume

The perfect sales manager resume closes the deal and earns you an interview. We want to help you design a hiring-manager-approved resume that will do just that. We'll cover what hiring managers want to see, writing tips, and resume formatting.

You can search the web and find endless resume advice. Where do you start and who can you trust? And are you willing to leave the fate of your career in the hands of a random blog on the web?

We've helped over 100,000 people design their resumes and secure jobs at companies like Google, Apple, and Dropbox. Let's cut your resume writing time in half and maximize your chances of landing your dream job.

What Makes a Great Sales Manager Resume

A strong sales manager resume shows a hiring manager how much value you can bring to the team. Your resume needs to show the impact you had at previous companies and how your experience will benefit the new team.

An effective resume is more than a list of sales numbers you were able to achieve throughout your career. It’s as much leading and developing your team as it is about hitting sales goals.

Prove You’re an Experienced Sales Manager

First and foremost, hiring managers and recruiters are seeking someone who can sell. They want a sales manager who can join the company and bring a fresh approach to their sales team.

Hiring managers prefer candidates who combine a natural ability to sell with a proven track record. They love to see resumes that are focused on the bottom line — closing sales.

Providing hard evidence of your previous success will communicate your value to hiring managers. You should include sales metrics throughout your resume to drive this point home. Here are some examples:

• Expanded client accounts by 20% in one year, totalling $2 million in new annual revenue
• Optimized sales processes to reduce lead response time by 50% and lift sales close rate by 10 percentage points

However, having the ability to sell their product isn’t the only quality hiring managers are looking for. They’re looking for a well-rounded professional to lead the sales team.

Highlight Your Leadership Qualities

Hiring managers are drawn to candidates who can effectively communicate leadership qualities on their resume. They seek a sales manager who can coach, motivate, and inspire the sales team.

Hiring managers want a sales manager who can lead by example. They want someone who can delegate responsibilities, stay calm under pressure, and effectively manage the entire team.

Try to remember times when you took on projects or responsibilities that were outside of your scope. Have you worked on any projects that had a substantial impact on your team and other divisions of the company? Include this experience on your resume to show hiring managers you’re the right candidate for the job.

Show You’re Invested in the Professional Development of Others

One component of being a great leader includes facilitating the professional development of your team. Hiring managers want someone who will take charge and make the entire sales team better.

It’s fantastic if you’re a successful salesperson. It’s even better if you can pass your knowledge to the rest of your team.

Go through your job history and write down any instances when you mentored teammates or helped junior sales associates improve their selling abilities. This can include setting up training, sales coaching sessions, or leading monthly feedback check-ins.

Incorporate callouts that are supported by data into examples like these:

• Developed sales training seminars for 15 sales associates, increasing product demonstration conversion rate by 10%
• Set monthly sales goals and mentored team resulting in a 95% sales goal success rate 

All of these components will strengthen your resume and have hiring managers wanting to read more. Now, let’s take a look at which sections you need to include on your resume.

Sales Manager Resume Sections

A sales manager resume includes the basic sections you'd find in most occupations. You'll need to include the following: contact information, resume summary, work experience, skills, and education.

Contact Information

The purpose of this section is to give hiring managers the needed details to contact you. You don’t need to put too much thought into this section as it’s relatively straight-forward.

We recommend leaving social media links out of this section since they don’t provide much value for sales managers.

What to include:

• Name
• Job title
• City and state
• Email
• Phone number

Example:

• Sam Goodwin | Sales Manager | New York City, New York
• Sgoodwin@gmail.com | 888-431-2368 | Portfolio Link

Resume Summary

Your resume summary — or resume objective — combines your career highlights, strengths, and qualifications. It’s the first thing hiring managers will read, so make it count. It must be engaging and leave a great first impression.

Here, you have an opportunity to set yourself apart from every other candidate. Explain how your professional experience will benefit the team and bring a fresh point of view.

Include notable information like your years of experience, relevant skills, and career highlights. The hiring manager should immediately realize the value you offer and how you can make an impact.

Example:

• Driven sales manager with seven years of experience in the automotive and SaaS industries. Optimized sales strategies to increase annual sales by 50%. Lead a team of 10 sales associates that closed $7 million in sales in one year for a SaaS company. Seeking an opportunity to lead and develop a growing sales team.

Work Experience

A strong work experience section is the key to a resume hiring managers love. It provides all the proof hiring managers need to determine if they should hire you.

Start by reading through the job description. Figure out what type of sales manager they’re interested in and relate your experience to the job description.

Find keywords in the description and incorporate them into your work experience bullet points. Each callout should include an action verb and the results from your work. Provide data and sales metrics whenever possible to show hiring managers you have an analytical mindset.

If you haven’t held a managerial role yet, show how you've made the most out of each position. Provide examples of times when you went above and beyond and took on leadership roles outside of your scope.

This will tell hiring managers you’re ready to take on more responsibility in this role. It's an opportunity to put your selling skills to work and show hiring managers you’re the right person for the job.

What to include:

• Job title
• Company
• Dates employed
• 3-4 bullet points highlighting your contributions

Example:

SaaS Company | Regional Sales Manager | April 2018 – May 2020

• Monitored sales metrics and optimized sales strategies to increase sales by 20% in two months
• Set weekly sales goals and managed the professional development of 15 sales associates
• Managed relationships with 50 regional accounts worth more than $2,000,000 in revenue

Technical Skills and Soft Skills

A sales manager skills section provides an all-in-one place for hiring managers to scan your capabilities. Sales managers should use a combination of hard skills and soft skills.

Some hard skills can include familiarity with different sales software, analytical skills, or sales forecasting. You can also describe what type of sales strategies you’ve used — like attending trade shows, leading webinars, or giving product demos. Soft skills can include things like leadership abilities, coaching, or communication skills.

You don’t want to get filtered out by the applicant tracking system (ATS). So again, read through the job description and make sure your skills are relevant to the job.

Example:

• Analytical skills
• Trade shows
• Direct sales
• Retail sales
• Webinars
• Sales strategy
• Sales training
• HubSpot
• Salesforce

Education

Hiring managers are typically more concerned with your sales track record and work experience. But, the education section is still a necessary component of your resume. Your education shows you’ve built a strong foundation before entering the workforce.

What to include:

• Name of institution
• Degree obtained
• Dates attended

Example:

• Stanford University | Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration | 2010 – 2014

Resume Formatting

Resume formatting is just as important as the resume's content. It gives your application a professional feel and helps optimize readability.

A poorly formatted resume may be ignored by hiring managers. A polished resume will immediately catch the attention of hiring managers and encourage them to read further.

There are several components you need to consider when formatting your resume:

• Resume style: Choose a reverse-chronological resume format — the most widely accepted format. It walks through your experience starting with your most recent role and moving backwards in time.
• Margins: Margins should be big enough so you can print your resume, but small enough so your resume doesn’t take up too many pages.
• Font: A clean and modern font will make your resume look more professional.
• Font size: The font size should be readable on digital screens and in print. Don’t make hiring managers strain to read your resume.
• Spacing: Leave enough space between your lines so that your resume doesn’t feel crowded.
• White space: The appropriate amount of white space effectively separates each section. Again, you don’t want your resume to feel crowded.
• Color: You can incorporate color in your resume, but don’t overdo it. Stick to one or two colors and make sure they aren’t distracting.
• Resume length: Your resume should typically be one page. You can extend to two pages if you have extensive experience and are applying to a high-level position.

See what your resume should look like with these sales manager resume samples. Follow this example and the writing tips above, and you'll have a resume hiring managers will love.

Save Time Writing Your Resume

Your dream sales manager position is within reach, but time is of the essence. The sooner you revamp your resume, the sooner you can start applying to sales manager positions.

Our resume builder can help cut your resume writing in half. Take a look at some of our resume templates to give yourself a head start in your job search.