Sales Representative Resume Sample
Mandy Welsh
Address: 11 1/2 Thacher Street, Boston, MA
Phone: (617) 227-0736
Email: [email protected]
Current job: Sales Representative at SolarCity
Objective
To obtain employment as a sales representative at one of the state’s largest cosmetic companies and to advance my career by working at an establishment that offers numerous opportunities for professional growth.
Skills
- Ability to rapidly establish and expand strong market presence and achieve solid sales growth
- Attended various sales seminars
- Highly motivated and driven, with the ability to achieve aggressively high goals
- Outstanding ability to build solid rapport with customers and internal suppliers
- Highly skilled and well organized in providing customer service, order processing, and cashier management
- Possess an active, energetic, and lively personality, with the ability to engage customer interest and attention
- Outstanding written and oral communication skills
- Proficiency in MS word, MS access, Power Point and other computer applications
- Highly innovative, resourceful, and proactive
- Remarkable ability to convince, persuade and close successful deals
- Extremely effective networking techniques and outstanding interpersonal skills
- Solid expertise in sales, business development processes, and marketing
- Excellent ability to demonstrate, promote, and sell
- Capable of working in a team or individually
Experience
Specialty Gas Sales Representative, 2020 – Present
SolarCity, Boston, MA
Duties and Responsibilities
- Manage company’s largest region with full sales cycle responsibility, from initial contact to closing, follow-through, and servicing
- Deliver a considerable market share increase through building relationships and providing value-added service
- Spearhead customer equipment consignment program as an incentive to maximize customer retention
- Introduce initiative to establish an equipment leasing program that would provide long-term monthly residual income
- Contribute to development of specialty gas catalog; conceptualize catalog’s cover design
- Lead representative in securing a key account with a significantly high margin
- Establish over 100 new accounts, including 50 key customers
Pharmaceutical Sales Representative, 2017 – 2020
Merck, Boston, MA
Duties and Responsibilities
- Responsible for allocation, budget volume, marketing, and promotions of a wide range of pharmaceutical products
- Sold the pharmaceutical products to medical stores
- Arranged and represented trade reviews for main accounts
- Expanded and controlled both new and existing accounts
- Studied and recommended alternatives to clients
- Built sales and latest allotment contests for major distributors and wholesalers
- Generated advertising brochures for vendors
- Mentored junior sales representatives, using vast knowledge of pharmaceutical products, extensive experience in the field, and communication skills to teach them the ropes of the job
Sales Intern, 2015 – 2017
Genzyme Corporation, Allston, MA
Duties and Responsibilities
- Educated and sold customers on the benefits of various products
- Answered any inquiries raised about pricing and availability
- Ensured that customers have a pleasant experience
- Assisted with various administrative tasks as directed
Education
College, Boston University, Boston, MA
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
2011 – 2015, 3.1 GPA
East Boston High School, Boston, MA
High School Diploma
2007 – 2011, 3.6 GPA
Courses
- Economics
- Financial management
- Management Information Systems
- Marketing
- Operations management
- Cost Accounting
- Word Processing Production & Advanced Keyboarding
- Business Computer Applications
Personal information
- Married, with three kids
- DOB: 3/5/1981
- Hobbies include teaching make up tricks to neighbourhood kids, reading magazines on economics and finance
How To Write A Good Sales Representative Resume
During a sales call, it is very important to bring marketing collateral that highlights the strongest selling points of your company’s products. As an analogy, think of your resume as the marketing collateral which presents your strongest selling points to the recruiter.
A good sales representative resume should answer the question, “Why should I hire you?”
1. Make Your Resume An Easy Read
One of the most important rules in sales is to sell according to the needs of the prospective customer. A recruiter needs to find talented salespeople. However, he does not have enough time to spend reviewing resumes from top to bottom. Keep in mind that recruiters only scan resumes. Thus, be considerate of his need and make your resume an easy read:
- Organize the details by using bullet points.
- Keep your sentences and paragraphs short.
- Review your resume over and over again; make sure there are no spelling and grammatical errors.
2. Only the Good Stuff; Remove all “Fluff”
This is a great tip that could be part of “Make Your Resume an Easy Read” but deserves its own section.
Some job applicants believe that a long resume corresponds to a “good resume”. Consequently, they fill it up with irrelevant information or “fluff”. For example, work experience information that has nothing to do with being a sales representative.
If you were a Library Assistant before, what does the job have in common with the work of a Sales Representative? Irrelevant information will only distract the HR Officer. Thus, keep your resume tightly focused and leave out all the fluff.
3. Validate Your Claims With Numbers
A sure way to get the Hiring Manager interested in hiring your services is to show how you were able to contribute to the success of your previous employer. As a Sales Representative, that means sharing your accomplishments in sales:
- How often did you hit your sales quota in a calendar year?
- What was your most recent sales average?
- What was the largest sales quota that you ever generated?
- How much sales did you bring in the last quarter?
- Have you ever received an award or citation as the “Best in Sales”?
When sharing sales achievements, don’t just mention them. Make sure you can validate your claims with actual sales figures.
Sales Representative Resume Objective Examples
If the resume is your marketing collateral, its objective statement is your sales pitch. The Sales Representative resume objective is the section which states your Branded Value Proposition of BVP. It answers the following question:
“How can you help the company achieve our sales goals?”
Thus, you must find out first what the company needs or wants to accomplish. In order to do this, revisit the job post. It usually indicates what the company wants to accomplish with the help of the Sales Representatives.
Let’s take a look at the following job post:
Merrick Manufacturing Is In Need Of Good Sales Representatives
We are a leader in organic pesticides. We need talented sales representatives who can help us find new markets for our products. Our sales reps will also be tasked to maintain supply contracts with existing clients.
Qualifications:
- At least 1-year experience in the industrial/manufacturing sector.
- Age between 25 to 35 years old.
- At least a high school diploma; college or associate degree preferred.
- Valid driver’s license.
- Willing to work long hours and on some weekends.
First, start out your Sales Representative resume objective with your strong points that meet the requirements of the client.
Well-experienced Sales Representative who has worked in the pharmaceutical sector for almost 2 years. I am 27 years old with an associate degree in Marketing and have a valid driver’s license.
Second, mention the prospective employer and state how your skills and abilities can help address their sales objectives.
In the 18 months that I worked as a Sales Representative for Kuzna Pharmaceuticals, I was able to attain my monthly sales quota of $50,000 for 15 months. I am confident that I can help Merrick Manufacturing reach its target sales records by creating new clients as well as maintaining existing ones.
Finally, share the attributes that qualify you as the best-fit candidate for the job.
If given the opportunity to represent your company, you will see that I am dedicated, a quick learner, and willing to work long hours including weekends.
Now, let’s put it all together:
Sales representative resume Objective
Well-experienced Sales Representative who has worked in the pharmaceutical sector for almost 2 years. I am 27 years old with an associate degree in Marketing and have a valid driver’s license. In the 18 months that I worked as a Sales Representative for Kuzna Pharmaceuticals, I was able to attain my monthly sales quota of $50,000 for 15 months. I am confident that I can help Merrick Manufacturing reach its target sales records by creating new clients as well as maintaining existing ones. If given the opportunity to represent your company, you will see that I am dedicated, a quick learner, and willing to work long hours including weekends.
There it is – an eye-catching Sales Representative resume objective!
- Short – Only 110 words distributed throughout 5 sentences.
- It includes all the requirements – Experience, age, driver’s license, educational attainment.
- Mentions the client in order to customize or personalize the objective statement.
- Includes 3 soft skills or the most desirable attributes – Dedicated, quick learner, and willing to work long hours.
Sales Representative Resume Skills
Are the best sales representatives born or made? As the old saying goes, “Hard work beats talent every time.” Having the ability to sell is not enough to be sought-after as a Sales Representative. Likewise, you should have these abilities among your Sales Representative resume skills:
1. Quick Learner
As a Sales Representative, having good comprehension is a big plus. In order to sell a product, you must know everything about a product within a short period of time.
The company will put you through a comprehensive product orientation/training program. However, your ability to deliver results will depend on how fast you can learn everything there is to know about the product.
To be clear, learning is not memorizing. You have to know the product like the back of your hand. In so doing, you will be able to answer questions as well as counter objections raised by the prospect.
How do you show to the Hiring Manager that you are a quick learner? Before sending out your resume, conduct research on the company you are applying for.
In the resume objective, mention the name of the company, a product it is known for or planning to launch, and state how your experience and expertise can help the company accomplish its goal.
2. Confident Attitude
Sales representatives often deal with the Purchasing Manager. An experienced PM can tell right-off-the-bat if the Sales Rep is not confident or ill-prepared for the meeting. He can take advantage of this and shift the negotiations to his company’s favor.
Worse, he may not want to deal with the company at all.
To become a successful Sales Representative, you must exude confidence. How do you gain confidence? Please go back to the #1 – You must be a quick learner. The more you know of the product, the more confident you will be during the sales presentation.
3. Articulate Speaker
The PM or the client representative does not have enough time for sales presentations. Therefore, your sales presentation must be on-point from the get-go.
The first few seconds are very important. You must be able to get the prospect’s attention right away. You can accomplish this by clearly articulating the relevant selling points of your product during the first few seconds of your sales presentation.
The employer can gauge if you have this skill simply by looking at your resume.
If it is well-organized, easy to read and understand, and immediately presents your value proposition, the HR Officer will see that you can articulate your ideas effectively.
4. Flexible or Dynamic Sales Approach
The key to selling a product is to convince the prospect that it will address his current need or concern. Now, customers have different needs.
For example, if your company cotton fibers, Prospect “A” may need it to make clothes. In contrast, Prospect “B” may use cotton to manufacture carpets.
Thus, your sales approach to Prospect “A” will be different compared to Prospect “B”. In your Work Experience section, offer proof that you were able to address the different needs of your client. Include details on how you convinced the client to go with your company.
5. Excellent Prospecting Skills
A Sales Representative who has excellent prospecting skills will help the company improve its level of productivity. You will know how to rank prospects in terms of viability – Who has the highest probability to buying our company’s products?
Thus, you save time by focusing most of your energies on prospects who have higher ROI. This time-saving approach can help you close deals faster.
Keep in mind that competing sales representatives may be targeting the same prospect. The sooner you work on the prospect, the higher the probability to landing his account for your company.
Sales Representative Duties And Responsibilities
The title “Sales Representative” is descriptive. From your resume, the recruiter wants to see:
- How well do you know your job?
- What is your approach to selling?
- How have your skills contributed to the success of the company?
- What else can you do?
As important as experience is, HR can be more forgiving or lenient with your length of tenure.
For example, if you spent 2 years selling furniture, how would that experience benefit a company that is selling pesticides? Even the most tenured sales representatives will have to learn the new product from scratch like other “rookies” or “newbies”.
Thus, the HR officers will be looking for other details that could be of value to the company.
Let’s go back to our previous example where the company needs sales representatives to sell pesticides but your experience in sales covers furnitures. Is there a way to establish you value even if the products are markedly different?
Yes, but you have to go back to the job post and review the responsibilities outlined by the company for the position. For purposes of discussion, let us assume the following job post:
Merrick Manufacturing Is In Need Of Good Sales Representatives
We are a leader in organic pesticides. We need talented sales representatives who can help us find new markets for our products. Our sales reps will also be tasked to maintain supply contracts with existing clients.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Develop a keen understanding of our main products.
- Prepare for the sales presentation
- Prospect for customers
- Set appointments per prospect
- Account and update company of status of prospects
In view of this shortlist of responsibilities, you can come up with an effective Sales Representative work experience section that reads as follows:
Avant-Garde Furnitures; 15 February 2015 to 31 January 2018
Sales Representative; Houston, TX.
Duties and Responsibilities
- Avant-Garde has been in the business of furniture design and manufacture for the past 26 years. As a Sales Representative, I was tasked to promote and sell the company’s products to industrial clients including hotels, restaurants, condominiums, vacation resorts, schools, offices, and commercial buildings.
- Avant-Garde is widely respected for its high quality office furnitures, beds, dining tables, chairs, buffet stations, and for its ability to customize designs according to the clients’ needs.
- Reviewed list of prospects that were provided by Avant-Garde; qualified the prospects by reviewing sales history, analyzing their financial capabilities for the year, and collecting data on their development plans.
- Averaged 42 appointments per month; closure rate of 64% with a monthly sales average of $134,400.
- Regularly uploaded and updated customer status in the company’s proprietary CRM.
- Prepared all materials for sales meetings; materials included PPT, hard copy marketing brochures, and the company’s business papers.
Why is this sample job description effective?
First, it proves the job applicant knows his employer and the company’s main products very well. He goes into detail about the nature of the company’s business and runs off a list of the top selling products.
Second, the job description validates the job applicant’s sales accomplishments with numbers. For sure, the figures “$134,400” and “64%” will raise some recruiters’ eyebrows!
Entry Level Sales Representative Resume
Do you have an entry-level Sales Representative resume? Don’t worry! There are others like you who are trying to break into the field of selling. Yes, it can be competitive. However, if you know how to build up your entry-level Sales Rep resume, you can have the leg up on the competition.
1. Offer Proof That You Can Sell
Wholesalers and manufacturers want to know one thing:
“Can you sell?”
You may have overlooked your experiences prior to applying for this job. Let’s go through the following questions:
- Did you sell during your spare time? What kind of products? What were the results?
- Were you tasked to sell merchandise for your school?
- Were you ever involved in a fund drive?
These experiences may be considered “informal”. Nonetheless, they offer proof that you can sell or at the very least, have the experience of trying to sell products or services.
If you have these types of experiences, make sure to include them in the Work Experience section of your resume.
2. Use the Combination Format
If you don’t have enough experience, use the Combination format for your entry-level Sales Representative resume. With this format, the sections of your resume will be arranged this way:
- Contact Information
- Objective Statement
- Skills
- Education
- Work Experience
- Personal Information
The combination “combines” the best features of the functional and chronological formats.
Firstly, you can present your information in chronological order to make it easier for the recruiter to track your current level of skills, abilities, and experience.
Secondly, similar to the functional format, with Work Experience relegated to the lower section of the resume, its focus will be on your skills and abilities.
Finally, use the resume objective to your advantage. In your own words, let the recruiter know why you are the best candidate for the job even if you don’t have enough work experience.
3. Apply to Entry-Level Job Posts
Lastly, the clearest path to your first job as a Sales Representative may be to apply to posts that specify “Entry-Level Applicants Only”.
Entry-level sales jobs may not pay well. In some cases, you may not even have a monthly salary as you will be paid commissions per confirmed sale. At this point, your objective should just be to jump-start your career. Over time and with a great deal of patience, you may yet become the company’s number 1 Sales Representative.
Advice for a Sales Representative Job Interview
Getting an A on your interview entails a lot of groundwork. You cannot just print out a Sales Representative resume template, indicate your name on it, and expect to pass with flying colours. If that were the case, unemployment rates would plummet to zero. To avoid joining the non-working population, heed the following pieces of advice:
Gather the Necessary Requirements
One of the most important documents you will have to prepare is your Sales Representative resume. Your resume should contain complete information on everything that makes you qualified for the job, from education to training, to past work experiences, and to any other qualification that makes you a viable candidate. Once everything is summarized in your resume, take some time to review it, and make sure that there is not one iota of imperfection that can be found. Furthermore, you should expend a bit of effort into familiarizing all the vital details indicated on your resume. You might be asked to expound on your previous job responsibilities, and it would be quite embarrassing if you had to admit drawing a blank on such a topic.
Conduct Comprehensive Research about the Company
Show your interviewer that you really are interested in the company and passionate about getting a job with them. One of the ways you can do this is to show the recruiter how much you know about the establishment. This does not mean, though, that you should take over the interview and without being told to do so, start citing company facts, all of which the interviewer might not expect of you to know. Start seeking for information with an online search, and proceed with getting an insider’s information. Not only will a company employee be able to give you tips on how to pass the interview, he or she will also be able to enlighten you on bits of information you would not have known otherwise.
Mull Over Possible Answers to Interview Questions
Spend some time thinking about what questions you are most likely going to be asked in the interview, and prepare your responses to them. If you have the opportunity, do a mock interview with a friend or peer. Check out the following common questions, and practice the delivery of your responses to them:
- What strategies do you make use of to achieve your target sales?
- How do you turn rejections into successful sales?
- How well do you thrive in a competitive work environment?
- Which previous life experience do you think has motivated you to get into this profession?
- What can you do to ensure your growth as a professional?
- Explain the importance of team work in the achievement of success.
Consider the Questions You Might Ask
There are questions that you are better off not asking at the initial interview. Personal questions and queries about salary and benefits are some examples. The former should not matter to you, while the latter should be held off until the job is handed to you. Here are some business-focused questions you can ask at the end of the interview:
- What is the company’s management and leadership style like?
- How often should I expect to be evaluated?
- What standards have to be followed for an employee’s concern to be addressed?
Dress Your Way to Success
In order to gain the respect and admiration of your future employers, you need to present yourself in the best light possible. This means that on the day of the interview, you need to put on something presentable. If you do not own a conservative business suit, you can go for slacks and an appropriate top. Avoid wearing anything too flashy, such as a revealing outfit or loud jewelry. An immaculate appearance will be greatly appreciated.
