23 Sales Manager Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

Are you an experienced sales manager who is looking for a new job leading a team in exceeding their sales goal or expanding market reach? Do you get frustrated over a lack of responses from your resume?

If the answer is yes to either question, welcome!

This guide will show you how to create a sales manager resume to detail your leadership abilities and passion for developing sales strategies, along with other vital skills and experience. We use real-world examples to show you some of the dos and don’ts of formatting your resume, as well as how to avoid some of the common pitfalls that sales managers face when building their resumes.

By the end of this guide, you will know how to:

• Properly format your resume and the benefits of using a modern template;
• Quantifying your achievements instead of just listing your responsibilities;
• Demonstrating negotiation skills, knowledge of CRM software, and other hard and soft skills;
• The importance of adding matching keywords from the job description;
• Including details of product launches and the results of those launches.

If a sales manager does not quite fit your career goals, here are some resume guides for related roles:

• Sales analyst resume
• Area sales manager resume
• Sales director resume
• Sales manager cover letter

Before we begin, let’s take a look at a real-world example of an experienced sales manager's resume to give you an idea of how your resume will look.

Sales manager resume example

Right away, we get a clear sense of Andrew’s experience and talents. He correctly uses the Header section and adds two top skills that recruiters look for, and the summary has a mix of hard and soft skills.

Notice how he takes full advantage of the Achievement section. He lists his sales achievements as well as several key metrics in a neatly formatted side section. A nice way to show you can quantify your sales metrics in more than just your past work experience.

Here’s what this applicant does well in their resume:

• Demonstrates quantifiable achievements: Highlights significant accomplishments, such as leading a team to achieve a 40% year-over-year increase in sales revenue and securing deals worth over $5M, providing clear evidence of their ability to drive results.
• Showcases leadership and strategic planning skills: Details about launching training programs, implementing CRM systems, and spearheading market expansion initiatives illustrate strong leadership and strategic planning capabilities.
• Emphasizes industry-specific skills and certifications: Includes relevant skills like strategic planning, market analysis, and CRM systems, alongside certifications in advanced sales strategies and leadership, underscoring their expertise and commitment to professional development.

How to format a sales manager resume

Formatting is your first priority when building a professional resume. Hiring teams expect resumes to be formatted in a certain way, and those that aren’t may be disregarded.

The accepted format for all resumes is the same as most standard document settings, so there is nothing you need to change if working with a new document.  

When choosing your fonts, you can stick with the classics, like Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier. Or you can use a newer font to give your resume a more modern look. The best way to guarantee your resume is properly formatted is to use one of Enhancv's resume templates.

Each template includes all of the sections you need for your resume as well as popular fonts, like Rubik, Lato, Montserrat, Raleway, Exo 2, and Volkhov. They also include several additional sections that you can use to list those relatable skills that aren’t mentioned in the job description.

Some additional information to keep in mind about formatting:

• Your resume should be no longer than two pages
• List all work and education in a reverse chronological order
• Send your resume in a PDF format

One more word about formatting before we get into the meat and potatoes of your resume. Do you choose a single or two-column format?

Our example from earlier uses a two-column format as it allows for more information on a single page. This format is ideal for anyone with more than five years of work experience. A single-column format is more suited for recent graduates and those with only a few years of work experience.

If you use a two-column format and want to separate them using a background color, you can use a dark contrasting color. Avoid bright or neon colors or using gradients. Change the font color to white so that it stands out against the background color.

Never use colored fonts excessively.

If you have a resume for a sales manager completed, run it through our resume checker to see how well it does and for suggestions on improving it.  

Now let’s get into adding some details to your resume, starting with your past work experience.

How to write your sales manager resume experience

The resume experience section is where you will include your past sales manager jobs and any other relatable work experience. Each entry will include:

• Job title
• Company name and location
• Industry type or company description
• Dates of employment
• 4-7 detailed bullet points

As a manager, you most likely have 5, 10, or even 20 years of experience managing teams and generating new sales. It is your job to go through your past work experience and include only the jobs and skill sets that are required for the new position.

This means you don’t have to include any job where you did not develop sales initiatives, generate new customer leads, or analyze sales market trends. A targeted resume is the best way to increase your chances of getting an invitation to interview. We’ll talk more about how to do this a little later on.

When adding past work experience, keep in mind your two-page resume limit.

Let’s take a look at some real-world examples of sales manager work experience:

Here we have an example of what not to do. It uses some relevant keywords and describes several duties common to a sales manager but doesn’t detail their achievements. It reads more like an assistant to someone than a manager who can create positive results.

Remember, the company you are applying to already knows the job duties for the position. What they want to see is how you used your experience and skills to increase profits, improve customer retention, and develop new sales or team-building strategies.

We can easily improve this section by adding a few more details:

You can see how this example draws a clear picture of their experience as a sales manager with actionable numbers and industry-specific keywords, like “championed product development” and “up-selling methods and cross-sell opportunities.”

Here’s what else this example does well:

• Includes a company description that points to the type of industry: “education technology start-up”
• Details leadership abilities: “Spearheaded training for 800+ new hires”
• Uses numbers and percentages to quantify their achievements: “Reduced the cost of weekly sales calls by $2,500+ YoY”

We’ll talk more about the importance of including keywords from the job description in a little bit. First, let’s go over quantifying your past work experience.

How to quantify impact on your resume

One of the biggest challenges sales managers face when including relevant work experience is how to show actionable results instead of just listing the job duties. HR teams are well aware of what sales managers do every day. What they want to see is how your knowledge and skills increased profits, reduced costs, and inspired sales teams to greatness.

Here are some additional examples from actual sales managers' resumes that do a great job of using numbers and percentages:

• Sales growth: “Created and implemented new sales strategies that boosted annual growth by 60% ahead of the company’s top 10 competitors.”
• Market expansion: “Performed valuation analysis on over 50 accounts and secured an average of 10 new customers yearly with a 30% increase in revenue.”
• Revenue and profit increase: “Negotiated and gained two principal accounts with more than $750,000 in sales profits in 2020.”
• Customer acquisition and retention: “Developed and implemented a customer retention strategy that resulted in a 25% increase in repeat business and a 15% increase in customer satisfaction scores.”
• Team performance: “Coordinated and mentored a 20-person team that delivered $200k in revenue, growth, and profitability for 10+ Fortune 500 companies.”
• Cost reduction: “Implemented a new billing system, resulting in a 30% reduction in billing errors and a 20% increase in on-time payments.”
• Product launches: “Created and implemented Project Push, which increased sales at Wal-Mart and other retailers by $1.2M.”
• Technology integration: “Increased internet sales by 60% over 8 months through piloting microsites, as well as consistent training on new software among the sales team.”

This is what recruiters want to see from potential sales managers.

Do you need to quantify every bullet point? No. Just focus on those metrics that can benefit from quantification.

How do I write a sales manager resume with no experience

Every great sales manager once had to face the excitement and apprehension of applying for their first sales manager role. If this is you, you’re already taking positive steps towards increasing your chances of getting an interview.

To become a sales manager, most organizations will want a minimum of 3-5 years of experience. Your task is to go through your past jobs and include the ones that showcase the skills needed for the job.

Include any job where you:

• Developed sales strategies
• Analysed sales reports and metrics
• Supervised a team of sales agents
• Generated customer growth
• Negotiated sales contracts
• Managed customer relationships

When listing your past work experience, one of the goals is to show your career progression, like so:

This will show HR teams that you have a strategic career plan and take decisive action to accomplish your goals. All good things for a sales manager to have.

The next section of your resume is where you will add your personal, business, and any technical skills that are necessary for the job.

How to list your hard skills and soft skills on your resume

A well-formatted resume will have multiple sections where you can add your diverse skill set and include relevant abilities, like analyzing sales reports and market trends, product knowledge, excellent interpersonal skills, and a passion for selling.

Hard skills include technical and business skills that you learn and develop through post-secondary education and on-the-job experience. Soft skills are what sales managers need to sell their products effectively and inspire teams of agents to be top salespeople.

When listing your hard and soft skills, be sure to include those skills that are listed in the job post first.

Use Enhancv Strengths and Passion section to feature your soft skills.

One of the benefits of using a two-column format is you can place the skills section on the side.

This section does well with two-column formats and looks much better with a smaller width.

A few words about applicant tracking systems and adding skills

When listing your resume experience and hard and soft skills, you want to tailor these sections to the job description. You never want to send the same resume to every job you apply for. It would be like throwing a handful of darts blindfolded while spinning around.

Study the job description closely and look for job-related keywords and any specific software the company uses. Applicant tracking systems are becoming more prevalent today to help recruiters siphon through the hundreds of resumes they receive for a single position.

They enter job-related keywords to find those resumes that include the skills they need. You can improve your chances of getting a higher score by matching the listed skills and duties word for word.

If the job description says “CRM Specialist,” your resume should say “CRM Specialist.”

And don’t always believe all of the scare tactics from influencers, Youtubers, and content creators (oh my!). Like with any advice you get from other people, take it with a grain of salt and do what you feel is best. This is your sales manager's resume.

Now let’s get into adding your education.

How to list your certifications and education on your resume

The education section is required. Even if you graduated twenty years ago, you still need to list your post-secondary education. And if you did graduate twenty years ago, you’ll also want to show any more recent continuing education or certifications earned.

In this section, all you need to include is the degree name, school name and location, and enrollment or graduation date:

We live in a technological world that is always changing. That means we have to learn new technologies and procedures when they arrive. The best way to stay current with sales and marketing trends and technologies is through certifications.

Recruiters look for these certifications the most:

There are a couple of places you can add your certifications. Enhancv Certificate section, or you can add it to the header:

This is an easy way to showcase any certification you have.

How to write your sales manager resume summary or objective

The final required section for your sales manager resume is the summary/objective section. The way you write this section will depend on how much experience you have.

A resume summary is a personalized statement that summarizes your career so far and why you are the perfect candidate for the job. It includes relevant keywords and quantifies your achievements in 3-4 concise sentences.

A resume objective is for those who only have a few years of work experience or graduated recently. It lists their career objectives and the value they bring to the position. Since sales managers typically have 5+ years of experience, we will focus on the resume summary.

Let’s take a look at a resume summary for a sales manager. Can you tell which industry they have experience in?

This is a decent attempt at a proper summary but misses several key components. Namely the industry type and quantifying their achievements. A recruiter should be able to read this and be able to tell how many years of experience they have, which industry they have experience in, and how their actions produced positive results.

There is no need to include your education in the resume summary. Doing this takes up precious space that could be used to show actionable results.

Let’s try to improve it:

By adding a little more details, we have taken this resume summary from dull and uninteresting to exciting and engaging. This example does a great job in:

• Using numbers and percentages to show actionable results
• Includes the exact years of experience instead of using generic terms
• Identifies the industry type

Why is the industry type important? Different industries require unique techniques for selling products and services. A sales manager with 6 years of experience selling energy products may struggle to adapt to selling music or beauty products.

Now that we have covered all of the main sections of your resume, It’s time to go over how you can add additional skills that aren’t listed in the job description but are necessary for an experienced sales manager.

Additional sections for a sales manager resume

Many sales executives and managers struggle with what to put on their resume.

Some additional sections that sales managers can use to detail their diverse skill sets include:

• Spoken language: This is essential if the job calls for candidates to be multi-lingual.
• Testimonials: You can use customer testimonials to show how you improved their experience.
• Personal interests: Use this section if your personal beliefs align with the company’s mission statement or purpose.
• Publications: Include any market trend articles, sales strategy books, or other publications that focus on sales and marketing.

Enhancv resume templates include several custom sections that you can add to your resume, including a section to show what you are passionate about:

There’s is one other section that we need to discuss that can add considerable value to your resume: Awards and recognition.

Including awards and recognitions on your sales manager resume

One of the best ways to showcase exceptional skills in sales is through awards and recognitions from your peers.

There are several different types of sales awards that a company can give to their top performers:

• President’s Award
• Chairman’s Circle Award
• Pinnacle Award
• Summit Award
• Silver, Gold, or Platinum Sales Club Award

Companies can create individual and team sales award for sales growth, achievements, best team player, top sales within a category, and other types of awards.

This section can fit perfectly as a side column in a two-column format, like so:

Key takeaways

Now that we have reached the end of our sales manager resume-building journey, it’s time to put what you learned to work. As you add details to each section, remember to pay special attention to:

• Using the proper format and keeping your resume to no more than two pages;
• The job description so you can tailor the resume summary, experience, and skills sections;
• Quantifying sales metrics to highlight your achievements in growing sales and expanding market reach;
• How to include relevant hard and soft skills using keywords from the job description.