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What is a local sales manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted expert
Bill Thorne

A local sales manager is responsible for overseeing the sales operation of a company in a particular area. Your job responsibilities include maintaining and increasing the sales of your company's products, establishing and maintaining your customer's base, servicing your existing customers' needs, overseeing the sales team's activities and performance, developing sales strategies, and setting targets. Your job also includes understanding ideal customers and how they relate to the products, collecting customer feedback and market research, monitoring your team's performance and motivating them to reach targets, reporting to senior managers, and keeping up to date with products and competitors.

As a local sales manager, you need a bachelor's degree in business, marketing, or a related field. You should have experience in planning sales strategies and managing a sales team. You should also have excellent sales and negotiating skills and a good business sense. Your average annual salary will be $65,002.

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

Bill ThorneBill Thorne LinkedIn profile

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.
ScoreLocal Sales ManagerUS Average
Salary
6.6

Avg. Salary $84,983

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 34.95%

male 65.05%

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

Local sales manager career paths

Key steps to become a local sales manager

  1. Explore local sales manager education requirements

    Most common local sales manager degrees

    Bachelor's

    82.2 %

    Associate

    9.4 %

    Master's

    5.8 %
  2. Start to develop specific local sales manager skills

    SkillsPercentages
    Account Management10.75%
    Customer Satisfaction10.71%
    Sales Process10.16%
    Account Executives7.94%
    Media Sales7.61%
  3. Complete relevant local sales manager training and internships

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

    • Participate in annual seminars from managing AE's to training on new computer systems for sales, programming and production.
    • Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.
    • Oversee day-to-day administration of CRM system.
    • Monitor sales activity within Salesforce CRM tool.
  5. Prepare your local sales manager resume

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

    Choose from 10+ customizable local sales manager resume templates

    Build a professional local sales manager 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 local sales manager resume.
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    Local Sales Manager Resume
  6. Apply for local sales manager jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a local sales manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first local sales manager job

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Average local sales manager salary

The average local sales manager salary in the United States is $84,983 per year or $41 per hour. Local sales manager salaries range between $60,000 and $118,000 per year.

Average local sales manager salary
$84,983 Yearly
$40.86 hourly

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How do local sales managers rate their job?

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Local sales manager reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020
Pros

Motivating people and helping to create success in each person's day. Honor God serve people in rich people's lives, pursue excellence in service.

Cons

Not enough time in each day to get everything accomplished.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Mar 2020
Pros

Semi-flexible work hours. You have a sales goal and customers to call on in order to achieve said goal, so you have some flexibility of your schedule.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2020
Cons

I like everything

Pros

Coming in contact with people, motivating staff, making the numbers, profitability for everyone


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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
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.

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