Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Associate director of sales skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Adry S. Clark Ph.D.,

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical associate director of sales skills. We ranked the top skills for associate directors of sales based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 27.9% of associate director of sales resumes contained customer service as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills an associate director of sales needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 associate director of sales skills for your resume and career

1. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how associate directors of sales use customer service:

Directed the customer service department, ensuring quality for over 250 calls and 300 emails per day.
Managed international travel programs from the ground floor conception, including sales, financing and customer service.

2. Portfolio

Here's how associate directors of sales use portfolio:

Delivered innovations across product portfolio and business processes.
Created and Implemented strategic and tactical action plans resulting in portfolio sales that ranked #1 in the Region in 2013.

3. CRM

CRM stands for Customer relationship management and it is a complete process through which a business or organization monitors and administers its interactions with the customers. A process in which large amounts of data are collected through marketing via a company's website, polls, surveys, and other social media applications. The basic goal of CRM is to target the right audience for their product, and then fulfill their needs, to increase the sales and revenue of the company.

Here's how associate directors of sales use crm:

Manage system integration and user acceptance testing, and all aspects of CRM implementation.
Managed 1st and 2nd line help desk for Commercial Data and Veeva CRM support.

4. Booking

Here's how associate directors of sales use booking:

Restructured Tour and Travel department to create more efficient booking procedures resulting in faster booking turn around times and increased business.
Assist DOSM with yearly marketing plan and budget, solicitation ofAssociation & Government market with a $850.000 dollar booking goal.2

5. Training Programs

Here's how associate directors of sales use training programs:

Created tailored training programs with integrated testing, ensuring sales representative product knowledge and strategic sales planning.
Created curriculum and all training programs for Initial Sales, Advanced Sales, Management, and Compliance.

6. Sales Process

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales process:

Redefined the rolls of the sales administrators to be more hands-on and involved in the sales process and clients.
Managed entire new business sales process.

7. Sales Leadership

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales leadership:

Managed sales leadership and strategic development for Kids Single Serve Beverages (KSSB), Powdered and Liquid Concentrates categories.
Provided project progress status updated to the Project Management Office and Sales Leadership.

8. Sales Operations

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales operations:

Coordinated sales operations, ensuring proper balance of territories with a focus on high potential clients and optimal resource allocation.
Worked cross functionally with finance, legal, and sales operations to close 13 new national contracts.

9. Business Development

Business development is the ideas or initiatives that work to make business work better. Selling, advertising, product development, supply chain management, and vendor management are only a few of the divisions involved with it. There is still a lot of networking, negotiating, forming alliances, and trying to save money. The goals set for business development guide and coordinate with all of these various operations and sectors.

Here's how associate directors of sales use business development:

Key account management/business development/profit retention for an 8 state territory including Eastern Canada.
Direct all business development and community engagement relating to the sales department.

10. Sales Training

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales training:

Partnered with Global Sales Training on institutional and account management curricula.
Managed Institutional Sales Training budget effectively without overspend.

11. Business Plan

Here's how associate directors of sales use business plan:

Formulated a business plan for a non-dollar trading operation.
Developed Residual based business plan and multiple referral clients.

12. Sales Strategies

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales strategies:

Collaborate effectively with 6 individually distinct hotels within region by successfully creating account and sales strategies across all outlined market segments.
Planned sales strategies by mapping available technological resources against customer demographics and demand projections.

13. Account Management

The process of strengthening the relationship between a company and client is called account management. Effective account management has two key objectives, one is to retain loyal customers and the second one is to help the company grow by creating connections with new customers.

Here's how associate directors of sales use account management:

Direct report responsibility for the Midwest sales office while maintaining key account management achieving sales productivity for hotel and stakeholder partnerships.
Conducted group-wide initiatives and seminars such as account management fundamentals, promotion, job satisfaction and diversity.

14. Sales Professionals

Here's how associate directors of sales use sales professionals:

Led sales team of nine sales professionals responsible for $20 million in revenue.
Managed high-performing team of 60 inside and field-based sales professionals promoting print and digital products to higher education institutions.

15. Direct Reports

Here's how associate directors of sales use direct reports:

Motivated, inspired and led team of three direct reports and a dozen cross functional team members.
Developed goals, campaigns and budgets for Direct Reports.

What skills help Associate Directors Of Sales find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on associate director of sales resumes?

Adry S. Clark Ph.D.

Director, Western Oregon University

The skills that stand out on resumes fall into two categories: 1) Skills required to do the job and 2) Skills almost all employers look for. The most important aspect of resumes is to make sure it reflects exactly what the employer needs. Study the job description, identify key skills, and have them reflected on your resume. Think about transferrable skills, not the specific roles you've had.

Most employers look for skills such as communication (written/oral), flexibility, proactivity, problem-solving, project management, and technical. Make sure to cultivate those skills in whatever role you have, and have examples that demonstrate those skills.

What soft skills should all Associate directors of sales possess?

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Executive Director, Center for Professional Selling, Frank and Floy Smith Holloway Endowed Professorship in Marketing, President, University Sales Center Alliance 2019-2021, Baylor University

Since sales professionals have a lot of information available to them today via customer relationship management (CRM) systems, the sales manager's "supervisory" role is less important (especially for experienced sellers). Consequently, the sales manager needs to be more of a coach and enabler of high performance. Having confidence balanced with humility allows the sales manager to engage more effectively with their salespeople.
One of the critical soft skills for sales managers going forward will be the ability to connect members of the sales team to others in the organization - in other words, the sales manager of the future needs to have strong skills in network building for others. Sellers have access to data which helps them build success.
They also need access to the right people to turn to when they need specific expertise or assistance.

What hard/technical skills are most important for Associate directors of sales?

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Executive Director, Center for Professional Selling, Frank and Floy Smith Holloway Endowed Professorship in Marketing, President, University Sales Center Alliance 2019-2021, Baylor University

One of the growing technical skill requirements for sales managers is in the area of data analytics. Our performance and customer systems provide a myriad of data, and the role of the sales manager is to be a sense-maker of that mound of data. What are the implications for changes in strategy or behavior evident in last quarter's activity? How can the sales manager help a specific seller "see" where the data suggest new approaches?

What associate director of sales skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Kerri Orders

Assistant Professor of Business, Aquinas College

In terms of a gap year, I recommend that international business students acquire tangible skills, relevant experience and/or certifications which will enhance their success in their desired area of interest. For example, a gap year could consist of gaining technical or digital training overseas, which would also further the students' cultural intelligence and language proficiency. These types of enriching gap year experiences will assist students to distinguish themselves in a highly competitive market. Furthermore, students should focus on broadening and maintaining their global network during a gap year in order to be ready for the job market once the gap year is concluded.

What type of skills will young Associate directors of sales need?

Michael Mikitka

Executive Vice President, MHI – Material Handling Industry

Courses and internships are essential. While the required depth of knowledge may vary from one position to another, employers are generally looking for candidates with strong "people-related" skills, those who are willing to continue to learn, and those with the ability to be flexible and adapt.

By "people-related" skills, I mean the abilities associated with effective communication (listen and express ideas and direction) and the skills related to working independently and a team.

As for the interest to continually learn... from a technology, data, and equipment perspective, today's supply chain looks very different than it did 10-years ago. The willingness and ability to continually learn are essential for anyone in a leadership role.

As for flexibility and adapting...supply chain/logistics is as much about responding to disruption and demand as it is planning for it. There is a predictable demand (i.e., seasonal...everyone knows when back-to-school shopping begins). Then there is the unpredictable demand (i.e., power-outages, wildfires, pandemic) that impact market and the ability to operate. Candidates that express flexibility and problem-solving skills will be much sought-after.

Do you want to know more?

List of associate director of sales skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for an associate director of sales resume and required skills for an associate director of sales to have include:

Customer Service
Portfolio
CRM
Booking
Training Programs
Sales Process
Sales Leadership
Sales Operations
Business Development
Sales Training
Business Plan
Sales Strategies
Account Management
Sales Professionals
Direct Reports

Business Relationships
Delphi
Call Planning
Lead Management
Resorts
Trade Shows
Group Sales
DOS
Sales Growth
Sales Revenue
POS
Client Relationships
Executive Committee
ADR
Product Development

RFP
Group Business
Sales Associates
Travel Industry
Strategic Direction
ROI
Sales Channels
Room Hotel
Executive Management
Dosm
Diabetes
C-Level
Channel Marketing
KPI
Market Segments

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse executive management jobs