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North american sales manager skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

5 min read

Quoted experts

Adry S. Clark Ph.D.,

Andrea Dixon Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical north american sales manager skills. We ranked the top skills for north american sales managers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 14.1% of north american sales manager resumes contained product development as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a north american sales manager needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 north american sales manager skills for your resume and career

1. Product Development

Product development is the complete procedure of creating a product from concept until release of the final product. Product development has many stages after which a product is released into the market. Identifying the need, creating the opportunity, conceptualizing a product, and providing a solution, all are different stages of product development.

Here's how north american sales managers use product development:

Participated and contributed internationally with the parent company on new product development, strategic planning, sales and marketing initiatives.
Manage product development, customization, verify specification compliance and life cycle testing programs.

2. Revenue Growth

Here's how north american sales managers use revenue growth:

Advanced rapidly based upon the consistently successful revenue growth, profit improvements and market positioning.
Assembled regional inputs and dynamics into a cohesive global account plan, resulting in account revenue growth of $8 million.

3. Sales Strategy

Here's how north american sales managers use sales strategy:

Developed channel sales strategy and expanded into new verticals and technology offerings for leading $4M virtual continuing education provider.
Created sales strategy at the leading regional independent sustainability certified green energy company offering renewable wind electricity and solar options.

4. OEM

OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer and is a term for a company that produces and markets the parts of equipment for another company after having received the go-ahead to do so. The company can also produce devices from the combination of parts from different companies while in partnership with these companies. This is common in the computer hardware industry and is popular in the automobile and computer industries.

Here's how north american sales managers use oem:

Coordinated manufacturing and shipping logistics between overseas factories and stateside OEM customers.
Maintained existing distributor and OEM relationships.

5. R

R is a free software environment and a language used by programmers for statistical computing. The R programming language is famously used for data analysis by data scientists.

Here's how north american sales managers use r:

Utilized CRM tracking system for customer base tracking and process of sale tracking.1 Hamm R sum

6. Trade Shows

Here's how north american sales managers use trade shows:

Orchestrated marketing efforts through trade shows, literature development and international representative network, increasing brand name recognition throughout industry.
Collaborated with Marketing, planned and executed exhibition strategies for international trade shows.

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7. 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 north american sales managers use account management:

Directed local and remote functions including: Project Management, Engineering, Customer service and Account management.
Account management and new sales development throughout the United States & Canada.

8. Sales Process

Here's how north american sales managers use sales process:

Developed extensive marketing materials to support the sales process, resulting in strong brand recognition and strong, consistent sales growth.
Recruited to this start-up company to establish sales processes and launch for firm s core product, a Tablet PC.

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 north american sales managers use business development:

Developed sales/engineering teams to execute new North American business development and local manufacturing plan.
Led business development and direct sales to broadcast equipment and consumer electronics manufacturers.

10. Product Line

Product line is a collection of similar or related products that may be under a single brand manufactured by the same company. It may include different varieties of a specific product of a brand which comes in different categories. In other cases, the product line may differ in some characteristics despite being from the same manufacturer.

Here's how north american sales managers use product line:

Developed channel opportunity strategy for product lines, including ranking of opportunities within each channel for targeted market strategy.
Updated product line to maintain market competitiveness.

11. Sales Support

Sales support refers to a variety of functions that help sales reps focus on selling and closing deals. Sales support performs a variety of tasks that result in faster sales cycles, lower costs, and higher revenue. Sales support tasks include interviewing and tracking sales leads, matching offers to sales packages, monitoring sales and sales team performance, collecting sales data, providing training and customer service, and managing customers.

Here's how north american sales managers use sales support:

Provided expert sales support to industrial-grade lumber division.
Convinced owners to dramatically increase demo inventory and hire Inside Sales Support (ISS) person reporting to me.

12. Sales Targets

Here's how north american sales managers use sales targets:

Exceed annual sales targets by an average of 12% on a yearly basis.
Developed and achieved forecasts and sales targets for accounts in the territory.

13. Distribution Network

Here's how north american sales managers use distribution network:

Hired and managed direct employees as well as manufacturer representatives to establish a distribution network across North America.
Evaluate existing Distribution network and restructure as required.

14. Sales Organization

Sales organization is part of a firm or company's entire business organization, which is focused on the distribution of goods. The sales organization is responsible for the efficient allocation of goods and services to the client. This is also defined as the group of individuals working together to market a product and sell to consumers or clients. And the sales organization is tasked with planning and controlling activities to include recruitment, orientation, and training of employees and the assigning to their tasks, supervision, and motivation to perform well.

Here's how north american sales managers use sales organization:

Established a sales organization to coordinate direct and indirect sales of Operational Support System software for the North American telecommunications market.
Resolved product knowledge gaps in the inside sales organization by developing standardized scripting and increasing training efforts.

15. Direct Sales

Here's how north american sales managers use direct sales:

Spearheaded new consumer direct sales channel development for end user products (not customarily a channel pursued by organization).
Supported the distribution chain of dealers in North America as well as twelve direct sales representatives.

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What skills help North American Sales Managers find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on north american sales manager 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 north american sales managers 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 north american sales managers?

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 north american sales manager 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 north american sales managers 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.

What technical skills for a north american sales manager stand out to employers?

Todd Lee Goen

Instructor & Internship Director, Christopher Newport University

Technical skills are often industry and/or position specific. Applicants should highlight any technical skills related to the position advertisement and those that add value to the position/organization. Most importantly, requirements for technical skills change with time and technological advances. This means employers value workers capable of adapting to change and continually improving and acquiring new technical skills. Thus, it's usually more important to demonstrate you are capable of learning and developing technical skills than it is to have a specific skill set upon hire (although this is not true for some positions/industries).
That said, technical skills related to online presentations, virtual meetings, virtual networking, remote working and the like are hot commodities right now. While most organizations were in the process of adopting many of these technologies and ways of doing business pre-pandemic, the pandemic accelerated the process. Organizations are making it work, but they often don't know best practices or the most efficient means of working in the largely virtual, pandemic environment. Post-pandemic, many of the remote/virtual changes the pandemic brought will stay in some form. Technical skills that support this type of workplace will make applicants stand out to many employers because they need/want to do virtual/remote business better.

Do you want to know more?

List of north american sales manager skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a north american sales manager resume and required skills for a north american sales manager to have include:

Product Development
Revenue Growth
Sales Strategy
OEM
R
Trade Shows
Account Management
Sales Process
Business Development
Product Line
Sales Support
Sales Targets
Distribution Network
Sales Organization
Direct Sales

Direct Reports
Sales Growth
Sales Forecasts
Sales Tools
Contract Negotiations
Business Plan
Sales Channels
Enterprise Sales
Product Training
Sales Revenue
Sales Efforts
Aerospace
HR
ISO
Press Releases

Process Improvement
Market Analysis
Indirect Sales
Sales Objectives
VAR
Americas
Distribution Channels
ERP
RFP
US Market
C-Level
Sales Budget
Gross Profit
Pricing Strategy
Channel Marketing

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

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