What does a district sales manager do?
A district sales manager is responsible for supervising the sales team and monitoring the sales performance of the assigned district. District sales managers must have extensive knowledge about the current market trends, adjust strategies and practices as needed to improve sales operations and increase revenues. A district sales manager should also have excellent communication, leadership, and decision-making skills to provide effective techniques in attracting customers to avail of the company's offers and services, while also considering the staff's welfare.
District sales manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real district sales manager resumes:
- Prospect and cold-cal commercial locations, building relationships with distributors and manufacturer representatives to leverage internal leads.
- Manage a team of sales executives to establish and maintain professional relationships with healthcare professionals in their prospective territories.
- Maintain expert knowledge of all Medicare products.
- Track sales and CRM functions using Salesforce.com.
- Introduce new line of Euro design tilt-turn windows to the market.
- Create cocktail lists, wine lists and drink features for accounts.
- Coordinate for supplier surveys, charity events, and wine festivals.
- Coordinate with FSM team to drive software usage in all territories across the country.
- Travel as needed into vacant territories to fulfill FSM duties in accordance to district overall cadence.
- Work in logistics area determining freight rates, creating purchase orders, and formulating spreadsheets for customer relationship management.
- Utilize cross-selling opportunities to increase market share.
- Coordinate logistics for timely shipments of material to customers.
- Represent a complete line of paper and janitorial supplies to wholesale distributors, service established accounts and develop new business partners.
- Write proposals and complete RFP's.
- Log and administer research / analyst in Salesforce.com.
District sales manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 16% of District Sales Managers are proficient in Customer Service, Patients, and Home Health. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of District Sales Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Customer Service, 16%
Maintained effective communication and interface with key departments within the corporate office including customer service, manufacturing, accounting and marketing.
- Patients, 10%
Combine product distribution efforts with tactical execution of detailed educational training presentations to physicians and patients.
- Home Health, 8%
Directed highly specialized business development activities for North America's leading provider of home health and home infusion services.
- Product Knowledge, 5%
Developed Curriculum and conducted regional training and dealer specific training seminars aimed to enhance both technical and applications TSD product knowledge.
- Rehabilitation, 5%
Created, implemented, and managed Partnership Agreements with national rehabilitation chains, increasing annual sales by $80M.
- Territory Sales, 4%
Direct sales responsibility for primary two state territory plus management responsibility for two Territory Sales Managers in a five state district.
Common skills that a district sales manager uses to do their job include "customer service," "patients," and "home health." You can find details on the most important district sales manager responsibilities below.
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a district sales manager to carry out their responsibilities is analytical skills. This skill is important for the role because "sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising geographic areas and demographic groups, and determine the most effective sales strategies." Additionally, a district sales manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "worked with database marketing group to target new home owners with direct mail and direct sales campaigns. "
Communication skills. Many district sales manager duties rely on communication skills. "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly.," so a district sales manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways district sales manager responsibilities rely on communication skills: "support and advise the management team on customer service, loss prevention, merchandising functions and communications. "
Customer-service skills. district sales managers are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to district sales manager responsibilities, because "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." A district sales manager resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "managed direct sales, customer service, pr, and brand awareness to promote new business with dsd customers and distributors. "
Leadership skills. For certain district sales manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "leadership skills." The day-to-day duties of a district sales manager rely on this skill, as "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what district sales managers do: "work with mobility leadership teams to direct sales goals and ensure maximum sales contribution from customer-facing retail sellers. "
The three companies that hire the most district sales managers are:
- Spencer's525 district sales managers jobs
- Encompass Health147 district sales managers jobs
- Performance Food Group49 district sales managers jobs
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Compare different district sales managers
District sales manager vs. Product manager/sales
A sales product manager is responsible for monitoring the sales performance of a specific product and ensuring that the marketing strategies adhere to market standards and client requirements. Sales product managers work closely with the marketing and public relations team to enhance the product's brand image on various market platforms to reach the target audience. They also conduct data and statistical analysis to identify business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase the company's profitability.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between district sales managers and product manager/sales. For instance, district sales manager responsibilities require skills such as "patients," "home health," "rehabilitation," and "territory sales." Whereas a product manager/sales is skilled in "product sales," "product management," "cycle management," and "product development." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Product managers/sales really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $108,541. Comparatively, district sales managers tend to make the most money in the pharmaceutical industry with an average salary of $100,497.product managers/sales tend to reach similar levels of education than district sales managers. In fact, product managers/sales are 1.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.District sales manager vs. Regional sales and marketing manager
A regional sales and marketing manager's role is to oversee a company's marketing operations, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Their responsibilities include performing research and analysis to identify new business opportunities, gathering and analyzing data to determine the strengths and weaknesses of current programs and procedures, setting goals and budgets, assessing the performance of the workforce, and monitoring the progress of the different company branches within the region. Furthermore, as a regional sales and marketing manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the employees to reach goals, all while implementing the company's policies and regulations.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, district sales manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "customer service," "patients," "home health," and "rehabilitation." Meanwhile, a regional sales and marketing manager has duties that require skills in areas such as "digital marketing," "regional sales," "c-level," and "business plan." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Regional sales and marketing managers earn a higher average salary than district sales managers. But regional sales and marketing managers earn the highest pay in the automotive industry, with an average salary of $100,223. Additionally, district sales managers earn the highest salaries in the pharmaceutical with average pay of $100,497 annually.regional sales and marketing managers earn similar levels of education than district sales managers in general. They're 3.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for district sales managers in the next 3-5 years?
Bill Thorne
Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation
District sales manager vs. National accounts sales manager
A national accounts sales manager is responsible for maintaining healthy business relationships with clients by managing and monitoring the performance of their accounts. National accounts sales managers establish reasonable sales targets and develop techniques that would maximize sales staff productivity and efficiency. They conduct data and statistical analysis with the current market trends to identify business opportunities that would generate more revenue resources and increase profitability. A national accounts sales manager negotiates contracts and agreements with clients and ensures their brand consistency in the market.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from district sales manager resumes include skills like "customer service," "patients," "home health," and "rehabilitation," whereas a national accounts sales manager is more likely to list skills in "national accounts," "healthcare," "product development," and "r."
National accounts sales managers make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $103,530. On the other hand, district sales managers are paid the highest salary in the pharmaceutical industry, with average annual pay of $100,497.Most national accounts sales managers achieve a similar degree level compared to district sales managers. For example, they're 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.District sales manager vs. Sales account manager
The account sales manager is in charge of the retention of their customer relationship. They have to supervise the portfolio of existing clients, develop new business with them, and seek new sales opportunities. Account sales managers act as liaisons between the company and customer as well as build strong, long-lasting relationships by providing an improved customer experience. It is their responsibility to negotiate contracts and close deals to maximize sales profits. Also, they forecast track sales results and prepare reports on account status.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between district sales managers and sales account managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a district sales manager might have more use for skills like "home health," "rehabilitation," "territory sales," and "sales performance." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of sales account managers require skills like "powerpoint," "work ethic," "sales territory," and "excellent interpersonal. "
Sales account managers enjoy the best pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $68,777. For comparison, district sales managers earn the highest salary in the pharmaceutical industry.In general, sales account managers hold similar degree levels compared to district sales managers. Sales account managers are 1.1% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of district sales manager
Updated January 8, 2025
