Resume Guidelines for the Sales Industry

1. Creating a Job Description Section

The first aspect to highlight is the scope of your experience by product type or solution and industry area. Next, comes the targets, goals, and production metrics that you need to achieve.

If you are in a management role, then provide specific data about the revenue generated by your team per quarter and also how many people report to you.

Quantifying your resume with numbers shows that you can analyze sales statistics, and are motivated by performance.

Other points to mention, are networking tenure, lead generation skills, sales experience, sales strategies, and closing techniques.

Senior Management candidates should also add information about growing the business by identifying opportunities for market expansion, evaluating the financial performance from data sets, and actively researching competing companies' conduct.

2. Achievements & Awards

Sales is a performance-driven industry therefore doing a bit of bragging in your accomplishment section is definitely an appropriate course of action. Concentrate on the ‘’value-adding’’ contributions to your part, for example, growing revenue, increasing sales figures, expanding sales teams, or tapping into new markets.

Every single accomplishment statement should have a numerical value attached to it, to provide ‘’proof of work’’. Use dollar values, time frames, percentages, scores, or rankings to quantify your accomplishment statements.

3. Education & Training Requirements

A university degree in Sales Management, Business Management, Communications, or Marketing is required to become an Account Executive. For other sales roles, especially entry-level ones, a High School Diploma is the minimum entry requirement. For middle management and senior management roles, a Masters's Degree such as an MBA would increase your chances significantly. Any professional certifications like a Certification in Contract Negotiations (CCN), Certificate in Project Management (CIPM) or Certified Key Accounts Manager (CKAM) will count in your favor too.

4. Resume Hack for Sales Applicants

Make a great first impression by including a snapshot table of your client contracts signed with each job you have held, categorized by industry and deal value. View this as your resume pitch to show recruiters what you are capable of.

5. Skills to Highlight

Salesloft, Docusign, Research, Outbound Marketing, Budgets, Strategic Marketing, Research, Account Management, Brand Management, Strategic Marketing, Contract Negotiation, Integrated Marketing, Staff, Management, Hubspot, Google Analytics, Data Analysis, Salesforce, Unomy, Yesware, Gmelius, TalkDesk, UberConference, Join.me, Boomerang, Rapportive, Report Writing, Feedback Mechanisms, Analytics, Social Media, Cloud-Based Collaboration Platforms, CRM Systems, Quality Control

6. Salary Range

The salary indication is from $38k to $101k each year for sales consultants and account executives (base salaries excluding commission and incentives). Business Development Managers can expect to earn around $140k per year and Sales Directors in the region of $180 every year.