How To Become A Government Sales Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a government sales manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Bill Thorne

Government sales managers lead sales activities for government agencies. Similarly to a private sales enterprise, the sales manager is responsible for devising sales strategies and setting long-term and short-term goals to meet sales quotas and increase profits.

Working in this position, you will evaluate sales performance and put feasible sales techniques into action. Your advice will be precious when it comes to giving an opinion on products or services for sale, and you will be the one to turn to regarding successful customer service measures.

Managing schedules and budgets will be your job, too, as well as managing and guiding staff on the sales team. You will need a bachelor's degree in a marketing-related area to be able to land this position and, since it is a managerial role, extensive experience in business operations and leadership will also be important.

What general advice would you give to a government sales manager?

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.

ScoreGovernment Sales ManagerUS Average

Salary

7.7

Avg. Salary $102,971

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 39.10%

male 60.90%

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 government sales manager

Explore government sales manager education requirements

Most common government sales manager degrees

Bachelor's

69.6 %

Master's

14.2 %

Associate

10.0 %

Start to develop specific government sales manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Veterans	19.90%
Customer Satisfaction	16.47%
Database	13.51%
Enterprise Sales	9.57%
ERP	7.80%

Complete relevant government sales manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New government sales managers 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 government sales manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real government sales manager resumes.

Research government sales manager duties and responsibilities

Manage, train and recruit brokers to sell medicare advantage plans and associate products.
Manage program budgets, research, technical/system requirements, logistics, life-cycle, training and technology transfer/reliability solutions, recommending acquisitions.
Audit and monitor Medicare and Medicaid billing and payments to ensure compliance regulations are being maintain.
Create and implement processes to compliantly house and transmit confidential information for Medicaid and Medicare enrollment.

Prepare your government sales manager resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your government sales manager 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 government sales manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

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