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What does a sales team manager do?

Updated January 8, 2025
7 min read
Quoted expert
Bill Thorne
What does a sales team manager do

A sales team manager is responsible for monitoring the sales performance and goals of an organization by strategizing on efficient techniques to sell goods and services to customers. Sales team managers identify business opportunities by analyzing the current market trends that would increase the company's revenues and profitability. They also provide training for the sales team members to maximize their efficiency and increase productivity. A sales team manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in developing sales plans to achieve sales targets.

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Sales team manager responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real sales team manager resumes:

  • 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.
  • Develop and implement proven growth strategies to continually drive sales and effectively improve and track marketing efforts in a very-weak economy.
  • Create marketing content for pages and promotional initiatives, newsletter design and implementation, create designed and produce PowerPoint presentations.

Sales team manager skills and personality traits

We calculated that 16% of Sales Team Managers are proficient in GRASS, Sales Associates, and Sales Floor. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Customer-service skills.

We break down the percentage of Sales Team Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • GRASS, 16%

    Collaborate with store manager to organize national sales events and grass roots events.

  • Sales Associates, 9%

    Manage and develop all sales associates and customer service representatives.

  • Sales Floor, 9%

    Set sales floors to company standard & promotional/advertisement calendar.

  • Customer Care, 9%

    Ensured associates approached and greeted customers and offered relentless customer care.

  • Customer Traffic, 7%

    Developed weekly employee schedules matching staffing needs to customer traffic and sales (workload planning).

  • Customer Issues, 6%

    Coached and developed representatives to exceed company expectations by meeting metrics and resolving customer issues.

"grass," "sales associates," and "sales floor" are among the most common skills that sales team managers use at work. You can find even more sales team manager responsibilities below, including:

Analytical skills. The most essential soft skill for a sales team 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 team manager resume shows how their duties depend on analytical skills: "maintained database records, focused marketing campaigns and proactive use of crm applications. "

Communication skills. Many sales team manager duties rely on communication skills. "sales managers need to work with colleagues and customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly.," so a sales team manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways sales team manager responsibilities rely on communication skills: "conducted call monitoring and call calibration sessions to improve the agents communication and effectiveness when talking with prospective and current customers. "

Customer-service skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of sales team managers is customer-service skills. This skill is critical to many everyday sales team manager duties, as "when helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "initiated direct sales interactions with current at&t; customers. "

Leadership skills. For certain sales team manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "leadership skills." The day-to-day duties of a sales team manager rely on this skill, as "sales managers must be able to evaluate how their sales staff performs and must develop strategies for meeting sales goals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what sales team managers do: "designed a new motivational training program leveraged by managers and senior leadership to increase employee satisfaction and reduce turnover. "

All sales team manager skills

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Compare different sales team managers

Sales team 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.

If we compare the average sales team manager annual salary with that of a product manager/sales, we find that product managers/sales typically earn a $42,636 higher salary than sales team managers make annually.Even though sales team managers and product managers/sales are distinct careers, a few of the skills required for both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require sales associates, sales floor, and customer satisfaction in the day-to-day roles and responsibilities.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, sales team manager responsibilities require skills like "grass," "customer care," "customer traffic," and "customer issues." Meanwhile a typical product manager/sales has skills in areas such as "customer service," "product sales," "pos," and "product management." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Product managers/sales tend to reach similar levels of education than sales team managers. In fact, product managers/sales are 3.3% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

Sales team manager vs. Sales manager/sales trainer

A sales trainer or manager provides training for the sales staff. The target of the training is to improve the sales figures and meet target sales. Sales trainers collect data that allows them to understand the effectiveness of the existing sales strategies. They also set clear goals and priorities, get rid of demands that do not drive revenue, and allow their teams to focus on activities aligned with the significant goals. It is also their responsibility to research and develop marketing opportunities.

A career as a sales manager/sales trainer brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a sales team manager. In fact, sales managers/sales trainer salary is $24,854 higher than the salary of sales team managers per year.While the salary may differ for these jobs, they share a few skills needed to perform their duties. Based on resume data, both sales team managers and sales managers/sales trainer have skills such as "sales associates," "sales floor," and "customer issues. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, sales team manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "grass," "customer care," "customer traffic," and "sales events." Meanwhile, a sales manager/sales trainer has duties that require skills in areas such as "powerpoint," "project management," "training materials," and "sales management." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

In general, sales managers/sales trainer achieve similar levels of education than sales team managers. They're 2.9% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 0.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for sales team managers in the next 3-5 years?

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

COVID-19 has accelerated the trends we've seen over the past few years as retailers reimagine the customer experience, blending online and offline channels. Mobile apps provide in-store wayfinding and augmented reality to allow customers to quickly search products and identify their exact locations in the store. Additionally, many retailers offer Buy Online, Pick-up In-Store (BOPIS), or curbside pickup options so that customers can pay and checkout with minimal or no contact. We expect retailers will continue to use a variety of tools to help shoppers find the items they need and want.

Sales team manager vs. Commercial sales manager

Commercial sales managers have various duties and responsibilities. These include managing marketing campaigns via phone, direct mail, and the internet, supervising the sales executive teams to develop and maintaining good relations with healthcare professionals, and managing client relationships and identifying opportunities for new business. Additional duties include evaluating supply chain and logistics infrastructure, negotiating contract terms, and bidding on new projects. Commercial sales managers are also responsible for overseeing the company's business growth, identifying areas that can be developed, and generating quotes for prospective customers.

On average, commercial sales managers earn higher salaries than sales team managers, with a $24,270 difference per year.sales team managers and commercial sales managers both have job responsibilities that require similar skill sets. These similarities include skills such as "sales associates," "customer issues," and "customer satisfaction," but they differ when it comes to other required skills.

The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, sales team managers are more likely to have skills like "grass," "sales floor," "customer care," and "customer traffic." But a commercial sales manager is more likely to have skills like "customer service," "sales targets," "work ethic," and "project management."

When it comes to education, commercial sales managers tend to earn similar degree levels compared to sales team managers. In fact, they're 0.7% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Sales team manager vs. Department sales manager

The department sales manager is a person in charge of working with a company's marketing, advertising, and sales department. The service's sales manager ensures that the company receives better marketing. This person works alongside the sales team to determine the right strategy to sustain a profit in the company's products or services. The service sales manager also monitors and evaluates product performance and provides suggestions on how the product or service can be improved and improved.

Department sales managers average a lower salary than the annual salary of sales team managers. The difference is about $8,720 per year.According to resumes from sales team managers and department sales managers, some of the skills necessary to complete the responsibilities of each role are similar. These skills include "sales associates," "sales floor," and "customer issues. "

Even though a few skill sets overlap between sales team managers and department sales managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a sales team manager might have more use for skills like "grass," "customer care," "customer traffic," and "stm." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of department sales managers require skills like "strong customer service," "store operations," "retail sales," and "cycle counts. "

Department sales managers reach similar levels of education compared to sales team managers, in general. The difference is that they're 0.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.2% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of sales team manager

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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