How To Write A Resume For A Salesperson (With Example)

Updated 26 January 2023

Salespeople require strong communication, persuasion, interpersonal skills and advanced knowledge of products and services. Crafting a resume that highlights these skills can increase your chances of success when applying for sales jobs. Knowing the proper format, structure and best practices of writing a resume can be helpful for sales professionals. In this article, we discuss how to write a resume for a salesperson, share some tips on how to write a professional resume and review an example of a salesperson resume.

What Is The Importance Of A Resume For A Salesperson?

The resume for a salesperson helps recruiters and hiring managers to learn about the skills, educational qualifications and experience of the candidate. A resume can be an effective way to showcase all your strengths and expertise and help recruiters decide whether you are suitable for the job. You can discuss your professional achievements and your contribution to the growth of the company on your resume. Sales professionals without any experience can highlight their academic achievements and internship experience to convey their potential. A well-written resume can help recruiters and hiring managers to notice your job application among many candidates.

What To Include In A Salesperson's Resume?

During the hiring process, employers often assess the education, training, technical skills and practical experience of a candidate. Employers may want to know about your achievements and your career progression. Highlight the right skills and keywords from the job description and customise your resume as per the job and company you are applying for. Sales professionals can include the following things in their resume:

Showcase your skills and previous work experience
Mention your responsibilities and contribution to the last organisation
Highlight the types of products and customers that you managed successfully
Mention big projects of your career, if any
Add the length of your average sales cycle in the previous position
Include qualities that can contribute to a company's sales and meet the sales quota

How To Write A Resume For A Salesperson?

Crafting a professional resume requires knowing the format and different components of a resume. Here is how sales professionals can write their resumes:

1. Include your contact information

Start by adding your contact details at the top of the resumes. Contact details help recruiters quickly find relevant information about you. Make sure to write your first and last name in a larger font than the rest of the text of your resume. Add your email address and phone number beneath your name. You can also create subheadings like contact detail, objective and skills for different sections of your resume so that employers can easily locate them.

2. Write a professional objective

Adding a professional objective to your resume can make a positive first impression on the recruiter. You can write a brief objective of two or three sentences highlighting your skills, experience and achievements as a sales professional. Many sales professionals include their sales accomplishments, expertise, years of experience and training in this section. A comprehensive professional summary can summarise your potential and qualifications in the sales department. Here is a good example of a professional objective for a sales resume:

“A skilled and self-motivated sales graduate with over three years of experience as a sales professional. Excellent at building customer relations and establishing product market in new territories. Increased sales revenue by 20% in 2018."

3. Add educational details

It is necessary to write your educational information to showcase your field of expertise. Adding your academic details and assignments can help the recruiter understand whether you have fundamental knowledge in the sales industry. You can also mention your grades or marks beneath every degree. When writing your educational qualifications, make sure to add your academic details in reverse chronological order. You can choose to omit high school educational details if you have relevant university degrees and internships details to add. Add courses that are relevant to the position.

4. Include work experience

This section of your resume shows your experience in the sales industry. Here, you can include details about your professional work experience and other relevant experience in your career. Mention your work experience clearly by stating your employer, role and responsibilities. You can use bullet points to write your responsibilities and achievements. Candidates without any sales experience can add information about internships and assignments in this section.

5. Highlight skills of salesmen

Study the job description carefully and add relevant skills that contain similar keywords. Here are some skills that you can include in your resume:

Having knowledge of the product. Gaining knowledge about the product can help you interact with customers and answer their queries. By learning and gaining information about a product, you can improve your performance and success scores.
Setting goals and achieving them. Express your ability to set realistic goals and how you achieve them. This can show recruiters that you are self-driven and motivated.
Using written and verbal communication. Salesmen convince their customers to buy a specific product or service. By adding these skills to your resume, you can convince the recruiters that you have strong communication skills to increase sales.
Utilising time management skills. Highlight your ability to manage your time and schedule and undertake multiple tasks simultaneously. Hiring managers often look for candidates with agility and the ability to think quickly in difficult situations.

6. Proofread and format your resume

Before finalising your resume, spend some time proofreading, editing and formatting it. Make sure that all information is accurate and your contact details are correct. Look for grammatical or spelling errors and ensure consistent formatting of all sections. You can also ask a friend or colleague to review your resume and give you suggestions on how to improve it.

Salesperson Resume Format

Here is a professional template for a sales professional resume that you can use while crafting your resume:

Header

[Write your full name]
[Write your phone number]
[Write your email address]
[Write your mailing address]

Professional objective

[A brief description showing your skills, experience and achievements in the sales department.]

Skills

[Skill 1]
[Skill 2]
[Skill 3]
[Skill 4]

Work history

[Job title 1]
[Name of the organisation]
[Location]
[Duration of employment]

[Responsibility or accomplishment 1]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 2]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 3]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 4]

[Job title 2]
[Name of the organisation]
[Location]
[Dates of employment]

[Responsibility or accomplishment 1]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 2]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 3]
[Responsibility or accomplishment 4]

Education qualifications

[Degree 1]
[Name of the institution]
[Location]
[Year of graduation]

[Academic achievement]
[Academic achievement]

[Degree 2]
[Name of the institution]
[Location]
[Year of graduation]

[Academic achievement]
[Academic achievement]

Example Of A Salesperson Resume

Here is an example that follows the above format of sales resume:

Aditya Gupta
+91-9876543210
adityagupta@email.com

Professional objective

A skilled and dedicated sales professional with over seven years of experience as a top sales performer in the retail industry. Proven track record of achieving extraordinary success and exceeding sales goals in fast-paced environments. Looking for ways to increase sales by engaging consumers and helping businesses develop strong relationships with their customers.