You’ve already proven you can close a deal, meet your quotas, and generate new leads. Now it’s time to move up the sales ladder and start overseeing your very own sales team. You know you’re up to the challenge, but how to help recruiters and hiring managers grasp your star sales potential? Your first step is writing a compelling sales manager resume.
Consider your resume a sales pitch for your career. You would never approach a potential new client with a lukewarm, poorly thought out sales pitch. Apply the same energy to resume writing. Many people, across numerous industries, see their resumes as nothing more than a cut and dry transcript of their job history. That’s a big mistake.
A great resume is much closer to an advertisement than boring paperwork. You want to grab the reader’s attention immediately and never let go. Recruiters read dozens of resumes, if not more, on a daily basis. Realistically, that means your resume has maybe five seconds maximum to engage readers.
Putting together a fantastic new sales manager resume may seem intimidating at first, but we’re here to help! Read on to learn a few of the most important elements you should incorporate into your sales resume. Also, be sure to create a free profile on Hired, where you’ll be directly connected with hiring managers!
A New and Improved Work Experience Section for your Sales Manager Resume
To start, forget everything you think you know about resume writing. Well, maybe not everything, but chances are you’ve developed a few bad resume writing habits over the years.
To be clear, that’s not your fault! What worked on a resume five years ago isn’t what recruiters are looking for today. The world of business moves at a fast clip, and it’s important that your resume keeps pace.
Let’s not waste any time. The largest and most influential section of your resume is the work experience area. For decades people have used this portion to list basic descriptions of their daily job duties and responsibilities. It’s time for a change. Let’s jump into some specifics.
Display your Successes for All to See
Don’t just tell the reader that you’re “responsible for sales operations or lead prospecting.” Any hiring manager worth his or her salt already knows what your current and prior positions entailed. They’re much more interested in your job performance.
Take a moment and reflect on some of your proudest achievements on the job. Remember, your resume is all about selling yourself, and there’s no better way to do that than drawing immediate attention to your accomplishments.
If you feel like you could use some help writing a new resume, Leet Resumes will write yours for free!
Quantify your Sales Wins
We’ve already touched on how the average resume has just a few seconds to capture the reader’s attention. Well, the best way to show your sales successes quickly is by using numbers and statistics.
Considering your line of work, this shouldn’t be too difficult. How many units or products did you sell last quarter? How many clients have you closed deals with since starting at your current job? Perhaps you smashed your projected sales goals recently by over 100%. All of that should be included in the work experience section!
The more specifics and numbers you provide the better.
Don’t Be Shy about Promotions
The same goes for promotions, particularly if you’ve stayed with one employer for a long time. Both promotions and a long tenure at one place tell recruiters you’re dependable. Companies don’t want to hire someone who will be gone within a few weeks or months.
Use Reverse Chronological Order
As far as formatting your work experience section, your career should be detailed in reverse chronological order. Your current, or most recent, position will be the first job listed at the top of the section, followed by your second most recent job and so on.
Company Description Formatting
For each position you want to list on your resume, start with the company’s name, location, and the period of time in which you were employed there.
Directly under that line write down a short one sentence description of the company. For instance, if you worked as a salesperson for a web design firm, you would write “Privately owned web design company providing graphic work, full-service website building and SEO services.”
After that line, write down the exact job title you held at the company.
Now that you’ve described in detail the company and your position, it’s time to use those numbers and accomplishments we touched on earlier. Write up four to five bullet points for each position showing off some of your biggest sales wins.
Action Verbs are Invaluable
A helpful “cheat code” for these bullet points is to always start with an action verb. Recruiters want to interview go-getters, and by starting each sentence with “improved, increased, acquired, managed, etc” you’re telling readers right away that you’ve been excelling at your job.
Lying or Exaggerating is a No-go
It’s also important to mention that it’s never a good idea to lie, or even purposely omit relevant career information on a resume. Even if you felt like a supervisor at one of your old jobs, if that wasn’t your official title – don’t say you were a manager! Employers can and often do perform due diligence before moving forward with a candidate.
Similarly, don’t lie about or omit any gaps in your work history. People tend to believe periods of unemployment are an absolute death knell for their careers, but that’s not the case nowadays.
Layoffs, parental leave, and sabbaticals are a part of life, and most recruiters will understand that. Just be prepared to explain and place as positive a spin as possible on your employment gaps if they come up during an interview.
Finding it difficult to make sense of your career history? Leet Resumes can always write your resume for free. They’ve written thousands of resumes, and yours can be next!
Sum it All Up
Another major new addition you’re going to want to add to your resume is a “professional summary.” Consisting of two to four lines, this section should go right above the work experience portion of your CV. Two lines is the absolute minimum, while lines three and four are only necessary for highly experienced candidates.
Each line will feature a few words and phrases better describing your future career goals, current sales skill set, and any awards or accomplishments you’re especially proud of.
Line one: Name a few positions you’d like to accept for your next job. Such as “Senior Marketing Manager.” It’s important to understand that this section is for showing the jobs you believe you’re ready to tackle. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t actually held a senior position yet. Don’t confuse this with deception; forecasting your future isn’t lying about your past.
Line two: Here you’ll name a few of your most refined sales skills. Some examples may be Sales Data Analysis, Business Growth, etc.
Line three (optional): Write down any sales achievements you’ve earned.
Line four (optional): Write down any sales awards and promotions you’ve received.
More than One Way to Succeed as a Sales Manager – But it Takes a Great Resume!
Advancing and succeeding over the long haul in the sales world takes a lot of work. If you’re still on the lookout for an extra advantage over other candidates, complete your free profile on Hired today and let employers find you!
Related:
Chapter 1: Interested in a Sales or Customer-Facing Role? Here’s Your Resume Guide (with Template)
Chapter 2: Interested in Sales Development? Jumpstart Your Sales Career with a Great SDR Resume
Chapter 3: Your Dream Account Executive Job Starts with the Right Resume
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Guest blog contributor Marc Cenedella is Founder at Leet Resumes, the largest free resume writing service in the world. He’s also the author of seven Amazon Careers #1 Best Sellers on resume writing, interviews, and job search.
Source: Talent Acquisition - hired.com
