What does a sales promotion manager do?
Sales promotion manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales promotion manager resumes:
- Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.
- Prepare presentation using PowerPoint for submission to CEO.
- Create collateral materials, newsletters, direct mail and Powerpoint presentations.
- Provide weekly sales numbers, ROI forms, and expenses reports to management.
- Partner with agencies to build programming for key selling seasons, including customize POS, and geographical plans.
- Ensure all POS and cash reporting are correct before, during, and after store hours of operation.
- Maintain detailed database of over 2K target market consumers, analyzing demographics and ROI of each promotional program.
- Travel domestically and internationally to meet with customers, representatives and distributors as well as run customer evaluations at their facility.
- Create a comprehensive program for new representatives internationally, incorporating instruction & assessment utilizing eLearning and live in-classroom / lab-base training.
Sales promotion manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Sales Promotion Managers are proficient in Product Knowledge, Sales Promotions, and Trade Shows. They’re also known for soft skills such as Customer-service skills, Leadership skills, and Analytical skills.
We break down the percentage of Sales Promotion Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Product Knowledge, 23%
Provided product demonstrations and informed over 50K customers on product knowledge and benefits of fuses in the electrical industry.
- Sales Promotions, 9%
Coordinated and assisted dealers with local sales and marketing programs designed to support and localized national sales promotions.
- Trade Shows, 5%
Managed communications and new product planning, advertising, trade shows, trade publicity, sales promotion and field sales support.
- Promotional Materials, 4%
Developed on-site attendee, exhibitor and media products research and incorporated that research into sales support and promotional materials.
- POS, 4%
Partnered with agencies to build programming for key selling seasons, including customized POS, and geographical plans.
- Promotional Campaigns, 4%
Planned and implemented promotional campaigns for major gospel/contemporary Christian label launched in 1996.
Most sales promotion managers use their skills in "product knowledge," "sales promotions," and "trade shows" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential sales promotion manager responsibilities here:
Customer-service skills. One of the key soft skills for a sales promotion manager to have is customer-service skills. You can see how this relates to what sales promotion managers do because "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." Additionally, a sales promotion manager resume shows how sales promotion managers use customer-service skills: "developed creative promotions, which attracted new customers, improved product line image, and grew sales. "
Leadership skills. Many sales promotion manager duties rely on leadership skills. "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals.," so a sales promotion manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways sales promotion manager responsibilities rely on leadership skills: "provide day to day leadership to sales associates to achieve sales objectives with overall responsibility for hitting weekly and monthly goals. "
Analytical skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sales promotion managers is analytical skills. This skill is critical to many everyday sales promotion manager duties, as "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." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "managed customer relationships, budgets and database. "
Communication skills. A big part of what sales promotion managers do relies on "communication skills." You can see how essential it is to sales promotion manager responsibilities because "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical sales promotion manager tasks: "promoted to manage strategic planning, development, communication and execution of sales promotions. "
The three companies that hire the most sales promotion managers are:
- Mannington Mills2 sales promotion managers jobs
- Informa Plc1 sales promotion managers jobs
- Heartland Food Products Group1 sales promotion managers jobs
Compare different sales promotion managers
Sales promotion manager vs. Sales/marketing
Among the responsibilities of working in sales and marketing is to reach out to clients to achieve sales targets and secure customer satisfaction. It is also essential to come up and develop strategies to obtain sales and find new opportunities that will strengthen the client base and improve the company's brand and image. Furthermore, working in sales and marketing requires coordination with team members and superiors, so it is vital to have an active line of coordination and communication.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sales promotion manager responsibilities require skills like "sales promotions," "promotional materials," "promotional campaigns," and "promotional events." Meanwhile a typical sales/marketing has skills in areas such as "customer service," "digital marketing," "instagram," and "real estate." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Sales/marketing tend to make the most money working in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $49,506. In contrast, sales promotion managers make the biggest average salary, $78,014, in the retail industry.sales/marketing tend to reach similar levels of education than sales promotion managers. In fact, sales/marketing are 0.1% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Sales promotion manager vs. Distribution sales manager
A distribution sales manager is tasked to find whole and retail sellers to distribute goods and services. Alongside distribution, the manager's tasks include monitoring all sales, orders, product performance, and retailer feedback to further improve the product. The distribution manager must also have skills in email marketing, B2B correspondence, engage with potential clients and customers, and ensuring all orders are fulfilled on time and without delays.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that sales promotion manager responsibilities requires skills like "promotional materials," "promotional campaigns," "press releases," and "promotional events." But a distribution sales manager might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "customer service," "customer complaints," "route sales," and "market trends."
Distribution sales managers earn a lower average salary than sales promotion managers. But distribution sales managers earn the highest pay in the technology industry, with an average salary of $88,153. Additionally, sales promotion managers earn the highest salaries in the retail with average pay of $78,014 annually.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Distribution sales managers tend to reach similar levels of education than sales promotion managers. In fact, they're 2.0% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for sales promotion 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 promotion 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.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a sales promotion manager is likely to be skilled in "sales promotions," "promotional materials," "promotional campaigns," and "press releases," while a typical product manager/sales is skilled in "customer service," "product management," "cycle management," and "project management."
Product managers/sales make a very good living in the education industry with an average annual salary of $108,541. On the other hand, sales promotion managers are paid the highest salary in the retail industry, with average annual pay of $78,014.product managers/sales typically earn similar educational levels compared to sales promotion managers. Specifically, they're 1.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Sales promotion manager vs. Corporate sales manager
The job of a corporate sales manager is to direct and supervise an organization's sales operations to ensure that profits are maximized and sales targets are met. The day-to-day duties of a corporate sales manager include overseeing the recruitment and training of new sales staff, monitoring team performance and sales goals, and evaluating employee output and individual sales goals. In addition, you must work closely with the marketing department to ensure that common objectives are consistent and clear.
Types of sales promotion manager
Updated January 8, 2025
