

Feel like your sales resume has been performing poorer than it should? Learn how to sell the recruiter on your sales skills and expertise and land your dream job!
You’re just a few mouse scrolls away from finding the best sales resume writing practices.
But first—
You’ve got that sales X factor and a knack for figuring people out.
However, that may not be enough to coax that coffee-addled hiring manager to get you on board.
Your resume needs that X factor, too.
This guide will show you:
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Sales resume made with our builder—See more resume templates here.
Take a look at our dedicated guide for a sales representative resume, or check out our other sales-related guides here:
Farrah Wolfe
Sales Professional
337-201-8742
f.c.wolfe@outlookmail.com
Linkedin.com/in/farrah-c-wolfe
Professional Summary
Accomplished and energetic sales professional with 8 years of experience in the automotive industry. Thanks to excellent customer service, great people skills, and a personable attitude, maintained top sales staff member status for the past 2 years. Secured a total of 4 key accounts for Cars&Go Ltd. Looking to join BNP Drivers to exceed expectations and increase profits for all parties involved.
Work Experience
Sales Professional
Cars&Go Ltd., Tampa, FL
February 2015–present
Key responsibilities
Key achievement: Sold over 2,000 cars to individual clients and assisted in signing multiple long-term contracts for vehicle fleets with over 20 companies.
Sales Associate
RedGreenYellow&Co., New Orleans, LA
July 2013–February 2015
Key responsibilities
Education
BA in Marketing
University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL
Graduated: 2009
Key Skills
Certificates
Let’s show you how to write a great sales resume:
Sales professionals are tasked with selling a company’s services and products. Reading the customer’s needs and expectations, they provide great customer service and develop long-term relationships with key clients. Sales resumes should show excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
Now picture James, the sales manager, looking through a stack of resumes, trying to find the perfect candidate.
There are several hundreds of them, and good ol’ James isn’t getting any younger.
How do you make it convenient for him to find that what he actually needs is you?
By introducing the right tricks to format your resume in a clear and transparent manner.
Here’s what to keep in mind:
That kind of approach to resume formatting gets interviews at the drop of a hat. Read more: Best Resume Writing Tips, According to Experts
So you got the recruiter hooked by not having a gut-wrenchingly ugly resume format—right on!
But you got to keep rolling. You’ve got their curiosity, now you need to fight for their attention—and the best way to get there is through crafting a compelling profile section of your resume. You should feel right at home: it’s basically a powerful elevator pitch describing your strengths and best accomplishments.
There are two types of profiles to choose from. Experienced sales professionals should create a resume summary. In it, describe your years of experience in bright colors, talking about your greatest and most impressive career achievements. Your sales resume summary has one goal: to sweep the recruiter off their feet with your amazing sales track record that rivals Michael Scott in his sales hey-days!
And one would go like this:
RIGHT |
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Accomplished and energetic sales professional with 8 years of experience in the automotive industry. Thanks to excellent customer service, great people skills, and a personable attitude, maintained top sales staff member status for the past 2 years. Secured a total of 4 key accounts for Cars&Go Ltd. Looking to join BNP Drivers to exceed expectations and increase profits for all parties involved. |
WRONG |
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Sales Professional with 8 years of experience. Excellent customer service skills and personable attitude. Team player responsible for key accounts looking to join BNP Drivers. |
But not like that, no.
That second example is a bad joke that Jim wouldn’t even dare pull. It simply lacks significance.
So what if you’re not in their league yet?
Don’t worry—you can always use a resume objective. Instead of sales experience, focus on any transferable skills you acquired elsewhere, and the knowledge you have that would help you generate leads, pitch convincingly, and close deals.
Like in this example here:
RIGHT |
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Self-driven and personable sales associate with excellent customer service skills. Handled hundred-thousand worth financial transactions and resolved clients' issues at ease for RedGreenYellow&Co. Aiming to become a professional salesman under the Green Car Co. wings by leveraging the bachelor degree in marketing and relationship building skills. |
Regardless of whether you choose to write a sales resume summary or objective, remember to include a measurable achievement or two. And keep it short and sweet: 4 sentences should suffice!
One last tip: writing this section can often feel like a slog. If you’re uninspired, start with something easier first, like the work experience section (more on that in a minute). This one is too important to not give it your all.
Read more: How to Write a Job-Winning Resume Introduction: Guide & Examples
When making a resume in our builder, drag & drop bullet points, skills, and auto-fill the boring stuff. Spell check? Check. Start building a professional resume template here for free.
When you’re done, Zety’s resume builder will score your resume and tell you exactly how to make it better.
Research shows that 20% of all salespeople make 80% of all sales.
So—
To snag that job, you have to prove you’re a fierce salesman and part of that 20%. An organized, well-written work experience section is your best tool for the job.
I’ve won your attention and interest, so now it’s time for the desire and action. With the below inside sales resume examples, you’ll never want to write anything but in the experience section. See for yourself:
RIGHT |
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Sales Professional Cars&Go Ltd., Tampa, FL February 2015–present Key responsibilities
Key achievement: Sold over 2,000 cars to individual clients and assisted in signing multiple long-term contracts for vehicle fleets with over 20 companies. |
WRONG |
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Sales Professional Cars&Go Ltd., Tampa, FL February 2015–present
|
Ouch!This is a bad-lead type of nightmare.
A sales manager reading a sales resume knows what you do. So change the responsibilities to accomplishments real quick if you see them!
For juniors, responsibilities are out of the question, too. Instead, write what you’ve accomplished in the previous jobs that sells your transferable skill set.
Let’s look at the entry-level sales associate resume example:
Sales Associate
RedGreenYellow&Co., New Orleans, LA
July 2013–February 2015
Key responsibilities
Big time!
Excelled, resolved, handled… and numbers? Power words and quantified results work like magic on junior sales resumes.
Read more: What Is Relevant Experience for a Resume? Deciding How Many Jobs to Include
If you’ve been told this part doesn’t matter and is essentially an instant skip, you’ve been told wrong because that’s baloney. There’s a catch, though:
If you’re really well experienced, say 5 years in the industry or more, you can state your degree, school name, year of graduation, and move on.
Just like in this example here:
RIGHT |
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BA in Marketing University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL Graduated: 2009 |
Otherwise, peppering in some extra info from your college years can be the right move to fill in some gaps.
Here’s what you could include if you’re writing an entry-level resume education section:
See the above rules in action:
RIGHT |
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BA in Marketing University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL Graduated: 2009
GPA: 3.9; Excelled in Personal Selling and Consumer Behavior courses Other relevant coursework: Market research, Marketing Statistics, Customer Relationship Management, and Business to Business Sales and Marketing. |
If you have virtually no experience in retail sales or as a sales associate, swap the positions of the work experience andeducation sections. The idea is to start with your best foot forward, and in that case, your school years are your biggest advantage.
Read more: How to Write a Resume with No Work Experience and Land a Job
The skillset of a superior and effective salesperson has to be incredibly versatile, there’s no two ways about it.
But your skills section can’t just say “Everything” (even if that’s true!).
Follow these steps to select the best sales resume skills:
Congrats, in less than 5 minutes not only did you pass the watchful eye of the dreaded resume ATS, you also impressed the hiring manager who simply cannot believe he stumbled upon a one in a million candidate like you!
Here’s a sample list of sales skills for your reference:
Next, see how to incorporate sales skills on a resume:
Closed-Won!
Read more: 99+ Best Skills to Use on a Resume: Skills List, Examples, and Expert Tips
If you’ve been reading carefully and dutifully implementing the tips we’ve shown you so far, you have a decent resume on your hands—not bad!
Shall we make it even better? I think so!
Time to show your passionate side and prove there’s even more to you than your excellent skills and experience.
The easiest way to do that is through including additional resume sections. Here are some ideas:
As an example, have a look at how you can include certificates in your sales resume:
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Certificates
|
Read more: What to Put on a Resume: Expert Guide
Yes—because 45% of recruiters won’t bother looking at your resume without one.
Follow these tips, and you’ll knock one out in no time:
And, much like the resume, the length of a great cover letter should definitely not exceed one page.
Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to send a follow-up email after submitting your job application. It shows you care about this position and are actually invested in getting a shot at working for that company.
Plus, a great cover letter that matches your resume will give you an advantage over other candidates. You can write it in our cover letter builder here. Here's what it may look like:
See more cover letter templates and start writing.
That’s it! A perfect sales resume!
Did you have any trouble creating a sales skills list for your resume? Did your sales resume summary give you any trouble? Our team is here to answer your questions, just let us know in the comments!
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