What does a sales manager do?
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
Sales manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales manager resumes:
- Achieve proficiency in multitasking by performing multiple duties and managing differing responsibilities periodically.
- Manage discount contracts, write up of add-ons, renewals, transfers of equities.
- Manage and support one of the largest portfolios within the division and the largest in the Americas.
- Manage website, updating product listings, enhancing SEO positioning, and maintaining overall site appearance and functionality.
- Launch and manage the Americas outsourcing lead generation and qualification process.
- Set all promotional activity, introduce new items and manage distributors in select markets.
- Rank #1 DSM 10 of 10 years out of 13 divisions.
- Utilize Delphi to maintain database of all business contacts.
- Focuse on consultative selling of hardware and software solutions to the SMB community.
- Negotiate RFP's yearly, plan and execute marketing strategies and competitive analysis.
- Specialize in IM software, SAAS, high volume and color multifunction equipment sales.
- Identify shortfalls in hotels business transient segmentation where miss opportunities to submit RFP's.
- Coordinate new accounts with central and local reservations departments to assure proper rate loading procedure.
- Monitor and track reservations daily through the GDS system to ensure accuracy and proper coding.
- Develop departmental marketing plan and develop action plans to increase room volume sales and ADR.
Sales manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 12% of Sales Managers are proficient in Product Knowledge, Customer Satisfaction, and Sales Performance. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.
We break down the percentage of Sales Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Product Knowledge, 12%
Provide resourceful industry and product knowledge to clients while surpassing customer expectations and building relationships through attention to detail.
- Customer Satisfaction, 7%
Established best practices relating to purchasing, customer service, and quality assurance standards accelerating cost controls and customer satisfaction index.
- Sales Performance, 6%
Worked directly with customers to deliver excellent service on various home electronic products and consistently maintained a high ranking sales performance.
- CRM, 5%
Utilized information technology expertise to develop and maintain web presence, create marketing opportunities, CRM management, and increase productivity.
- Sales Process, 4%
Assumed accountability for achieving defined revenue targets through personal involvement and understanding of every aspect of the sales process.
- Work Ethic, 4%
Managed own business by successfully understanding the importance of high quality customer service relationships and a solid work ethic.
"product knowledge," "customer satisfaction," and "sales performance" are among the most common skills that sales managers use at work. You can find even more sales manager responsibilities below, including:
Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a 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 sales manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "spearheaded region's initiative in promoting digital service, wireless office systems and data services through the direct sales channel. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling sales manager duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." According to a sales manager resume, here's how sales managers can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "direct sale and over the phone customer interactions while leveraging my communication skills and service focus. "
Customer-service skills. sales managers are also known for customer-service skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to sales manager responsibilities, because "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." A sales manager resume example shows how customer-service skills is used in the workplace: "direct sales and business development functions including development of annual offerings, coaching and mentoring, and customer relationship development. "
Leadership skills. A big part of what sales managers do relies on "leadership skills." You can see how essential it is to sales manager responsibilities because "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales manager tasks: "direct sales team and provide leadership to achieve maximum profitability and growth. "
The three companies that hire the most sales managers are:
- Oracle847 sales managers jobs
- Carter's256 sales managers jobs
- Aaron's216 sales managers jobs
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Compare different sales managers
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.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a sales manager are more likely to require skills like "sales performance," "work ethic," "multitasking," and "hr." On the other hand, a job as a product manager/sales requires skills like "customer service," "product sales," "product management," and "cycle management." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that product managers/sales earn slightly differ from sales managers. In particular, product managers/sales are 2.5% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a sales manager. Additionally, they're 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales manager vs. Business development sales manager
A business development sales manager is in charge of securing sales by reaching out to clients through calls, correspondence, or appointments. Their responsibilities often revolve around performing research and analysis to identify new leads and sales opportunities, offering different products and services, and creating proposals and price quotes for potential clients. A business development sales manager may also tailor payment plans, process billing, participate in various marketing initiatives, and produce progress reports. Furthermore, it is essential to ensure customer satisfaction and build positive relationships to strengthen the company's client base.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real sales manager resumes. While sales manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "customer satisfaction," "work ethic," "multitasking," and "sales floor," business development sales managers use skills like "customer service," "healthcare," "salesforce," and "relationship building."
In general, business development sales managers achieve similar levels of education than sales managers. They're 4.5% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for 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
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.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, sales managers are more likely to have skills like "sales performance," "work ethic," "multitasking," and "sales associates." But a national accounts sales manager is more likely to have skills like "national accounts," "healthcare," "product development," and "revenue growth."
Most national accounts sales managers achieve a similar degree level compared to sales managers. For example, they're 1.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.1% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales manager vs. Account executive/sales manager
An Account Executive/Sales Manager manages client accounts, building positive client relationships in the process. Part of their job is to secure sales, which requires them to conduct research and analysis to find new business and client opportunities, generate leads, offer products and services to clients through calls and correspondence, arrange appointments, and process payments. There are instances where they must assist clients by resolving issues and concerns, ensuring client satisfaction. Moreover, they are also responsible for developing sales plans and strategies while implementing the company's policies and regulations among staff.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between sales managers and account executive/sales managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a sales manager might have more use for skills like "customer satisfaction," "crm," "work ethic," and "multitasking." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of account executive/sales managers require skills like "account executives," "customer service," "revenue growth," and "real estate. "
In general, account executive/sales managers hold similar degree levels compared to sales managers. Account executive/sales managers are 0.8% more likely to earn their Master's Degree and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of sales manager
Updated January 8, 2025
