Sales professional resume examples from 2026

How To Write A Sales Professional Resume

For those who enjoy working in a professional environment while developing customer relationships, a career as a sales professional could be right for you. Sales professionals sell company products or services to customers as well as oversee customer accounts and ensure you and your team meet sales goals for your company.

Key Takeaways:

• A career objective is arguably the most important thing on your resume as a sales professional.

• Don’t include every skill you possess when writing your skills section. Try and narrow down your list, so it’s easily consumable. If you don’t have as much experience in the sale industry, focus on listing your soft skills.

• If you’re new to sales or don’t have a lot of experience yet, consider adding previous jobs that build your sales, marketing, and retail experience.

What Should be Included in a Sales Professional Resume

Sales is a broad job. There are a variety of different facets and requirements when it comes to careers in sales, so it’s important to narrow down what kind of sales job you’re looking for. Once you’ve decided this, it’ll be easier to narrow your search to find jobs and careers that suit your strengths and long-term career goals. Here is what should be included in a sales resume.

1. Start with a career objective.

   A career objective is arguably the most important thing on your resume as a sales professional. As mentioned above, sales is a broad career.

   By defining what your career objectives are within one to three sentences, you’ll give the job interviewer greater insight into who you are as a professional and what your goals are in your career. This can help them decide if you are a good fit.

   Your career objective should include the following:

   • Experience. In the first sentence, you’ll want to let your potential employer understand just how much sales experience you come to the table with. Whether it’s three years or over a decade, include this within the first few words.

   • Statistics. Success as a sales professional is often determined by how well you reach the financial goals set in front of you. You may even choose to track how many sales you have made throughout the course of your career. Any hard statistics you have available are appropriate to include in this section.

   • Traits. Sales professionals should have great personalities and the ability to foster and nurture relationships with their clients. Including words that describe your personality is important in the career objective as it gives your potential employer good insight into the type of sales professional you are.

   • Skills. If there are any key skills or impressive knowledge you bring to the table, such as experience in a specific industry or working with a particular process, you can include this in your career objective, especially if it’s relevant to the job at hand.

   Some examples of career objectives may look like this,

   • Motivated and seasoned sales professional with over a decade in automotive sales focused on improving sales by building long-lasting client relationships. Having generated over $5m in sales over my career, I feel confident I can positively impact the sales team at Company.

   • As a high-energy, motivated salesperson with over three years of experience and $2m in sales, I know the importance of delivering on a company’s promise when closing a deal. Seeking a sales role where I can create long-lasting client relationships to improve customer retention at Company.

   • Personable sales professional with almost 20 years in the field. Eager for an opportunity to leverage marketing experience to provide a well-rounded customer experience at Company.

2. Highlight your work experience.

   Because sales jobs vary so widely, work experience can be incredibly significant, especially if you are looking at roles within the same industry. However, if you are looking for roles outside of an industry you’ve been a part of, don’t discount the sales roles you’ve had in other industries. Many sales skills are easily transferable, and a different perspective may be incredibly valuable.

   Start with your most recent role and include the following information, with a different section for each role.

   • Position and company name. Label each work experience by listing your position, followed by the company name. You can also choose to include the location of these companies, especially if the role you’re applying for is local to the area. This may show the potential employer that you have existing leads that may turn into new clientele.

   • Any relevant achievements. Rather than listing your job duties, list your most impressive achievements in each of these roles. For sales roles especially, be sure to include hard statistics wherever possible. For example, a 40% increase in investments, a 20% increase in overall sales, etc.

   • Important knowledge. Sales professionals often use customer relationship management (CRM) tools, among other digital tools, that make their job easier and communicate data back to relevant teams. If you have worked with some of these systems at previous jobs, include that here.

   • Training. Be sure to include any training classes you have completed or any training you have conducted in previous roles. Sales is an ever-growing space, so having individuals on your team who have experience teaching skills to others is a great asset.

3. Include education credentials and certifications.

   As a sales professional, including your education and any certifications you may have obtained is also important. Businesses may want to know what kind of knowledge you possess, especially if you are new to the field. If you have obtained a degree in business, business management, or a related field, be sure this is highlighted in this section. You should include,

   • Name of institution. Whether it’s a secondary school or high school, be sure you include the full name of the last school you attended.

   • Graduation date. Include the month, year, or just the year if you feel comfortable. You may also choose to include the location if you so wish.

   • Name of degree. Include what degree you obtained as well as any additional academic awards or certifications.

4. Include a short skills section.

   Although you may feel tempted to include any and all skills you have on your resume, it’s important to stay away from this. Be sure to include a small skills section with a short list of your most impressive skills. These skills can be split into soft and hard skills, depending on the amount of experience you have as a sales professional. Consider the following:

   • Negotiation. Negotiation is one of the most valuable tools you can bring to the table as a sales professional. This can be difficult, especially when disputes arise in business relationships. If you are able to negotiate effectively, you can persuade your client to make a sale while still maintaining a good relationship.

   • Interpersonal communication. Interpersonal communication refers to the exchange of information between two or more people. It’s imperative you can communicate effectively as a salesperson to accurately convey value and key benefits in whatever it is you are trying to sell to your client.

   • CRM knowledge. Customer relationship management (CRM) tools are used in virtually all businesses today to manage all company relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers. Having knowledge of a tool like Salesforce, Hubspot CRM, NetSuite, Zendesk, or others is a great skill to bring to your new company.

   • Lead generation skills. The ability to gather relevant leads for your business development reps or marketing team is important to foster business growth. Lead generation skills include knowledge of your industry, competitive knowledge, the ability to categorize relevant leads, and knowledge of how to nurture them effectively.

   • Presentation skills. As a sales professional, the ability to present an idea, product, or service is of utmost importance. Being a confident and persuasive presenter allows you to adequately present your product or service in the best way possible and gives your clients the relevant information to make an informed decision.

   • Time management. Sales professionals often have a lot of deliverables, goals, and clients to manage. They may travel, have to respond to emails, participate in presentations, attend events, and more. Being able to manage your time effectively is a crucial skill for sales professionals.

   Your skills may vary depending on your overall expertise as a sales professional. If you are new to the industry, consider your soft skills when writing this section. A more seasoned sales professional will often have a mixture of both soft and hard skills to include on their sales professional resume.

5. Format your resume properly

   All resumes, no matter which job you’re applying for, should include the following information in clear text at the top of your document.

   • Name. This should be bold at the top of your resume in legible text. Be sure to use the name you’d like to be referred to.

   • Address. Include your address so that the employer knows whether or not you are local to the restaurant.

   • Phone number or email. Depending on how you prefer to be contacted, include both your phone number and email address or just one.

Five key Resume Tips for Writing a Sales Professional Resume

1. Don’t be afraid to brag

   Sales is a game where you need to be noticed. This can be a difficult gig to navigate, especially if you’re too humble. As a sales professional, you must brag about yourself and your accomplishments, even if it feels a little funny at first. Don’t discount your skills or undermine your qualifications. Articulate them well and make the most impressive ones stand out.

2. Use as many hard statistics as you can find

   As mentioned above, sales is often a numbers game. It will help your potential employer to understand how successful you have been in the past if you can provide concrete evidence as to how you’ve helped prior companies. Using hard data, whether it be in dollar amounts or percentages, can help them quantify your success easily.

   Be sure to include how often you hit your sales goals, as this is an important benchmark many employers use to navigate candidates. If possible, include the amount of money you’ve made in sales to add another impressive layer to your resume.

3. Don’t add too many details to each work experience paragraph

   When writing about your work experience, you’ll want to make sure you list your accomplishments rather than your work duties. To that end, don’t clutter your accomplishments with every single detail of how you got there. Instead, give them the basics and plan to cover the details during your face-to-face interview.

   Too many details can make a resume feel cluttered. The general rule of thumb is to keep your resume at one page or two at the most. When you remove some of the unnecessary details you can cover in later interviews, you can make your resume feel cleaner and give the recruiter or hiring manager just the impressive tidbits.

4. Include sales, marketing, and retail experience

   If you’re new to sales or don’t have a lot of experience yet, consider adding previous jobs that build your sales, marketing, and retail experience. Marketing translates directly to good salesmanship. Retail experience shows you are successful in customer service and, therefore, can be successful in building client relationships.

5. Remember, your resume is their first impression of your salesmanship

   Your resume is often one of the first things your potential employer will see of you. This gives them a first impression of who you are and what you can do for their company. By ensuring your resume is clean and concise while highlighting your most impressive accomplishments, the company will see the benefit in your sales skills.