How To Become A Corporate Sales Director: What It Is and Career Path

What is a corporate sales director and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Bill Thorne

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a corporate sales director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $70.85 an hour? That's $147,378 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 23,800 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a corporate sales director?

Bill Thorne

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.

ScoreCorporate Sales DirectorUS Average

Salary

8.8

Avg. Salary $147,378

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

2.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 38.02%

male 61.98%

Age - 46

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46

Stress level

6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a corporate sales director

Explore corporate sales director education requirements

Most common corporate sales director degrees

Bachelor's

70.8 %

Associate

13.0 %

Master's

11.6 %

Start to develop specific corporate sales director skills

Skills	Percentages
Relationship Building	11.45%
CRM	10.22%
Revenue Growth	8.49%
Business Relationships	7.51%
Sales Efforts	7.03%

Complete relevant corporate sales director training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New corporate sales directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a corporate sales director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real corporate sales director resumes.

Research corporate sales director duties and responsibilities

Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.
Create initiatives and in house CRM program to guide the staff's sales plan.
Partner with marketing and operations to develop a cross-sell/up-sell tool in the CRM system.
Launch sales initiative for start-up company with unique delivery method for continuing medical education programs targeting physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Get corporate sales director experience

Generally, it takes 6-8 years to become a corporate sales director. The most common roles before becoming a corporate sales director include director of sales, sales manager team lead and director of sales and marketing.

Prepare your corporate sales director resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your corporate sales director resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a corporate sales director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable corporate sales director resume templates

Build a professional corporate sales director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your corporate sales director resume.