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What is a sales team manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted expert
Bill Thorne
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A sales team manager is in charge of leading a sales team by providing training, mentorship, and providing guidance. To do this, you must create sales plans, analyze data, assign sales territory, and build your team. As stated earlier, you are in charge of managing the organization's sales plan by designing a business plan that will cover revenue, sales, and expenses. In each of your projects, you must strive to meet the sales plan and also ensure the individual setting of sales targets with the sales team. This sales target will be different from the overall sales plan made by the sales team manager.

You are also to supervise the activities and performance of your sales manager to meet their sales target. As a sales team manager, this will enable you to set goals and give a result report to the overall manager when necessary. You will also need to coordinate with the marketing department on lead generation and also facilitate the training of your salespeople through motivation, product knowledge education, and counseling.

The ability to plan and execute sales strategies, the capacity to communicate well both in written and verbal form, strong leadership skills, outstanding customer care service, and the ability to manage and direct the sales team are all basic skills and qualities required for this position. The mean salary of a sales team manager is $81,000 yearly or $28.93 per hour. A bachelor's degree in Business or other related fields is the education requirement to qualify for this position.

What general advice would you give to a sales team manager?

Bill ThorneBill Thorne LinkedIn profile

Executive Director of the NRF Foundation and Senior Vice President of Communication and Public Affairs of NRF, National Retail Federation

Retail is the largest private-sector employer in the country, directly employing 32 million people and supporting 52 million jobs overall - roughly one-quarter of the U.S. workforce. While COVID-19 has presented new and unexpected challenges, retailers have continued to showcase the industry's resilience and adaptability time and again. The safety and security of customers and employees remains our greatest priority. It is no doubt that the professional environment has changed this year, but retail continues to offer a plethora of career opportunities for graduates and seasoned veterans alike.
ScoreSales Team ManagerUS Average
Salary
5.1

Avg. Salary $65,856

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level
6.4

Growth rate 5%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity
2.7
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.24%

Asian 4.07%

Black or African American 3.24%

Hispanic or Latino 9.82%

Unknown 4.41%

White 78.23%

Gender

female 36.34%

male 63.66%

Age - 46
Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 46
Stress level
6.4

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level
8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance
4.4

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Sales team manager career paths

Key steps to become a sales team manager

  1. Explore sales team manager education requirements

    Most common sales team manager degrees

    Bachelor's

    68.0 %

    Associate

    14.9 %

    High School Diploma

    7.6 %
  2. Start to develop specific sales team manager skills

    SkillsPercentages
    GRASS16.19%
    Sales Associates9.19%
    Sales Floor9.07%
    Customer Care8.60%
    Customer Traffic6.59%
  3. Complete relevant sales team manager training and internships

    Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New sales team managers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a sales team manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real sales team manager resumes.
  4. Research sales team manager duties and responsibilities

    • Leverage other sales office resources and administrative/support staff to achieve personal and team relate revenue goals.
    • Upgrade OS, network POS and CRM, maintain all PC's and office technologies.
    • Implement sales force automation (CRM), an inside outbound call center for appointment development.
    • Provide leadership by developing and empowering associates, recognizing and rewarding diversity and communicating openly with the team.
  5. Prepare your sales team manager resume

    When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your sales team manager resume.

    You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a sales team manager resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

    Choose from 10+ customizable sales team manager resume templates

    Build a professional sales team manager resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your sales team manager resume.
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    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
    Sales Team Manager Resume
  6. Apply for sales team manager jobs

    Now it's time to start searching for a sales team manager job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

    1. Browse job boards for relevant postings
    2. Consult your professional network
    3. Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
    4. Watch out for job scams

How did you land your first sales team manager job

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Average sales team manager salary

The average sales team manager salary in the United States is $65,856 per year or $32 per hour. Sales team manager salaries range between $34,000 and $126,000 per year.

Average sales team manager salary
$65,856 Yearly
$31.66 hourly

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Sales team manager reviews

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A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2022
Pros

I have leadership skills I always hire employees who like to work in a team I like to see sales increase and love to see the best customer service is given


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A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2020
Pros

Educating employees and getting everyone on the same mindset about what it takes for a company to succeed.


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A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020
Pros

Motivating people and helping to create success in each person's day. Honor God serve people in rich people's lives, pursue excellence in service.

Cons

Not enough time in each day to get everything accomplished.


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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.

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