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Sales agent skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
3 min read
Quoted experts
Frederik Beuk,
Dr. Matteo Cantarello Ph.D.
Sales agent example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical sales agent skills. We ranked the top skills for sales agents based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.9% of sales agent resumes contained customer service as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a sales agent needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 sales agent skills for your resume and career

1. Customer Service

Customer service is the process of offering assistance to all the current and potential customers -- answering questions, fixing problems, and providing excellent service. The main goal of customer service is to build a strong relationship with the customers so that they keep coming back for more business.

Here's how sales agents use customer service:
  • Mastered customer conflict resolution and satisfaction management to provide a professional level of customer service to new and existing clients.
  • Provided friendly and efficient customer service, internally and externally while following the specific Ticket Office customer service guidelines.

2. Customer Satisfaction

Here's how sales agents use customer satisfaction:
  • Provide complete customer satisfaction using personalized services, which results in building long-term customer relationships, referrals, and repeat business.
  • Perform required administrative functions, including completing and submitting all orders, requests, follow-up for customer satisfaction and attending meetings.

3. Life Insurance

Here's how sales agents use life insurance:
  • Analyzed life insurance needs and financial goals for individuals and business owners and provided customized solutions that addressed their specific needs.
  • Persuaded key decision makers in small to mid-level organizations to deduct health/life insurance premiums products through payroll deductions.

4. Insurance Products

Here's how sales agents use insurance products:
  • Assisted customers with supplemental insurance products and delivered presentations to business owners and human resources representatives for corporate insurance programs.
  • Produced sales of supplemental insurance products; educated consumers on products and researched solutions for specific needs.

5. Work Ethic

Here's how sales agents use work ethic:
  • Maintained a professional work ethic in all interaction with other team members, Banking Agents and Store Managers and attending product/technical training
  • Work in a structured, fast paced environment where strong work ethic and a positive attitude are a must.

6. Cold Calls

Cold calling is a kind of business solicitation from customers who didn't express interest in their product and services before. In this technique, a salesman conducts a call with potential customers with whom they haven't had a prior interaction. Cold calling can include phone calls or telemarketing. However, in-person visits like door-to-door marketing are also a type of cold calling

Here's how sales agents use cold calls:
  • Developed new leads utilizing different prospecting techniques, cold calling, door-to-door introductions, group presentations and individual appointments.
  • Engaged in cold calling and prospecting to identify business opportunities; maintained existing business through exceptional relationship-building skills.

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7. Business Relationships

Here's how sales agents use business relationships:
  • Developed and established new business-to-business relationships.
  • Focus on contacting old customer base in our operating region to re-establish business relationships regarding their telecommunications needs & requirements.

8. Develop Leads

Here's how sales agents use develop leads:
  • Develop leads and referrals, listening to and assessing clients' needs, then aggressively searching to locate appropriate properties.
  • Develop leads and deliver high impact sales presentations to executives of various companies in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.

9. Outbound Calls

An outbound call is made by the call center representative to the customers on behalf of the company. Such calls help increase sales and generate revenue for the organization.

Here's how sales agents use outbound calls:
  • Provided customer service for outbound calls
  • Performed outbound calls to ensure the customer our installation supervisors have approved any dig jobs or special permissions to complete installations.

10. Inbound Calls

Here's how sales agents use inbound calls:
  • Handle inbound calls by professionally representing and selling company appliance parts while providing excellent customer service to each customer.
  • Serviced inbound calls providing answers to customers regarding fare and schedule information.

11. Customer Issues

Here's how sales agents use customer issues:
  • Involve with making sales calls with representatives monitoring sales activities, resolving customer issues/opportunities, and employee retention/sourcing.
  • Interacted with other departments to actively resolve customer issues in a one-call resolution.

12. Health Insurance

Here's how sales agents use health insurance:
  • Develop working familiarity with federal and state health insurance rules/regulations, and routinely reviewed procedures to ensure compliance with same.
  • Provided professional advice and consultation to clients associated with estate & retirement planning and health insurance.

13. Product Knowledge

Product knowledge is the skill of having better information and knowledge about the product you are selling. Product knowledge is essential for the employees of the companies so they can communicate and inform the customers about the product. Having great product knowledge is essential for a better sales pitch and to give the customer a better and complete idea of the product that will influence him to buy the product eventually.

Here's how sales agents use product knowledge:
  • Demonstrated keen product knowledge of offerings and understanding of all business requirements for safe, profitable, and regulatory compliant operations.
  • Promoted to Senior Sales Representative after successfully completing comprehensive sales training, including product knowledge, salesmanship & software systems.

14. Real Estate

Real estate is land that has buildings on it. This kind of property consists of permanent improvements either natural or man-made, which include, houses, fences, bridges, water trees, and minerals. There are 4 types of real estate namely; residential real estate, commercial real estate, industrial real estate, and vacant land.

Here's how sales agents use real estate:
  • Licensed commercial real estate agent specializing in retail brokerage services, including landlord representation, tenant representation and disposition.
  • Perform comparative market analysis to determine the estimated sales value of residential real estate.

15. Customer Inquiries

Here's how sales agents use customer inquiries:
  • Investigate and direct customer inquiries or complaints to appropriate management staff members and follow up to ensure satisfactory resolution.
  • Respond to customer inquiries and make recommendations regarding coverage for new and existing insurance policies.
top-skills

What skills help Sales Agents find jobs?

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

What sales agent skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

Digital Literacy and AI are obviously on everybody's mind. The benefit for early career professionals is that these are skills they can use to differentiate themselves from more established professionals. Embrace these tools. At the same time, being an authentic storyteller that helps buyers envision the potential of your solutions can be an extremely powerful skill.

What technical skills for a sales agent stand out to employers?

Dr. Matteo Cantarello Ph.D.

Visiting Assistant Professor of Hispanic Studies, William & Mary

Programming has become an asset within the humanities, too. Even though hires of digital humanists are still limited in number (at least within my discipline), they are probably destined to increase in the near future. Also, flexibility and versatility with respect to teaching are also highly marketable. Any candidate who has experience with in-person, hybrid, and online courses and who has degrees, titles, and certificates that demonstrate that is extremely appreciated on the academic job market.

What soft skills should all sales agents possess?

John Cicala Ph.D.John Cicala Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Associate Professor of Digital Marketing, University of North Alabama

The ability to write for reading and not to write as if they are simply transcribing an internal conversation with the paper or whatever media is being used to communicate. They should also possess the ability to interact and to converse with others in person and to actively listen.

List of sales agent skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a sales agent resume and required skills for a sales agent to have include:

  • Customer Service
  • Customer Satisfaction
  • Life Insurance
  • Insurance Products
  • Work Ethic
  • Cold Calls
  • Business Relationships
  • Develop Leads
  • Outbound Calls
  • Inbound Calls
  • Customer Issues
  • Health Insurance
  • Product Knowledge
  • Real Estate
  • Customer Inquiries
  • Sales Quota
  • Administrative Tasks
  • Sales Techniques
  • Medicare
  • Upselling
  • Lead Management
  • Sales Floor
  • Sales Process
  • Outbound Sales
  • Sales
  • Credit Card
  • Customer Relationships
  • Financial Products
  • Quality Customer Service
  • Insurance Policies
  • Inbound Sales
  • Exceptional Guest
  • Telephone Calls
  • Customer Complaints
  • Sales Presentations
  • Door Sales
  • Computer System
  • Strong Negotiation
  • Rental Agreements
  • Sales Strategies
  • Customer Accounts
  • Customer Calls
  • Travel Industry
  • Develop Trust
  • Professional Selling
  • Call Handling

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.