Small Business Sales Manager Resume – Complete Guide

What is the job of a Sales Manager? 

 A sales manager is manager or the leader of sales department who frames out the plans and policies for the company in interest of sales department. A sales manger’s responsibility is to organize, collect and analyse the data resources for the benefit of the company. If you are looking for the small business Sales Manager resume this article will help you to know about it.

Business Sales Manager resume

Most of the sale managers have a bachelors degree and work experience in stock trading. Although, in small business the employer might want to hire a sales manager with more of work experience so that he can work on promoting sales and increasing the net sales of the company. For that case your resume plays a really important role for giving you that vacant seat. Your resume must stand out from the rest and should be impactful on the hiring manager.

Important sections to be mentioned on the Resume for Business Sales Manager

Before even having to write on the sections of the resume it is the foremost step to select a good resume template which looks professional. Here are the key sections that should be mentioned in the resume 

• Objective or achievements 
• Job description or experience 
• Skills 
• Education background 
• Additional section 

Listing down the objectives as a business sales manager resume

Just that you know that your resume is not the one of few resumes that the recruiter will examine, there are hunderds or even thousands of resumes and after all this the recruiter will not even spent more than 30 seconds to examine your resume. So, it is your duty to make sure that your resume is eye catching. Always try to be specific about your achievements and demonstrate your points in a simple but professional language. 

The objective section of the resume should be topped by your key achievements and objectives in business sales manager position or any department of sales that will save you a seat for the particular job. The recruiter should feel that your work will benefit their company which in return will increase its brand name.

But how will your resume catch recruiter’s attention?

It is important to mention the strongest or the biggest achievement that you have conquered in the previous organization you’ve worked with.

Here are some Examples:

Dedicated Automobile sales manager with 5 years of working experience in Automobile Pvt Limited and increased the sales of automobile by 10%.

Some more points you would want to mention:

• The biggest achievement that is relevant to job your applying for (sales manager) for example: manager of the year or most promising employee. 

• Any specific project that helped your colleagues.

• Mention how well you have carried out your responsibilities which lead to the success or achievement of your company. 

•  Discuss more about your sales promotion techniques, for example – how your techniques helped your organisation to win over the competitor.

Know what to write for the Job Description or Previous Experiences section

Before mentioning anything in experience section you must know that the recruiter is looking for a manager that can handle the responsibilities of its respective department as a leader. If you are fresher then it is obvious that there will be not much to mention under the experience section. In that case you can add on about the internships done by you that are relevant to the job you are applying for (sale manager). You can also mention about the points listed below:

• Mention about the small projects that you must have done in most of the semesters in college. Mention the name and few details about the project 
• Part Time jobs

Here are some examples:

• Approachable access (College Project)

The project was to build an app which could connect people without any access to internet  

• Worked in subway part time for a period of 4 months (August 2017-November 2017)
• Worked in Lenskart part time for a period of 2 months (May 2018-July 2018)
• Level Up Masterminds. October 2017- December 2017 (Internship)
•  Sales Members. January 2019- March 2019 (Internship)
• Marketing Management Association. May 2019 -July 2019 (Internship)

why is there need of mentioning about the part time jobs and the mini projects?        

 Mentioning about your part time jobs brings you an advantage as it tells the hiring manager that you committed and have developed a sense of professionalism in the early stages of life. It also shows that you will be able to handle the upcoming challenges and crises in your future company. It shows that you are a dedicated person and always want your company to be ahead of others.

What can you possibly mention in your job description?

• Add about the previous jobs as business sales manager in your resume
• Mention the names of the company and the time period in numbers 
• Mention about the internships relevant to job 
• Describe how you motivated, organised, directed and managed the people in sales department.

Here are some of the examples:

Assistant Sales Manager, Unique India Ltd. (May 2014-February 2017)

• Resolved customers complaints regarding sales 
• Promoted sales within a year of join the company 
• Planned out strategies for sales promotion 

Sales Manager, Alpha Private Ltd. (February 2017-March 2019)

• Conducted seminars for the interest of the company and increasing the publicity 
• Got promoted from assistant sales manager to Sales manager 
• Directed and motivated colleagues to work in coordination with business environment and the social environment 
• Increased sales by 30% which resulted in the benefit of the company’s brand name 

Sales Manager, Secured Access Private Ltd. (April 2019-March 2021)

• Collaborated with MNCs stakeholders such as HR, finance manager and CEO of the company called Blenchers Private Ltd.
• Sponsored some of our products which helped Secured Access Private Ltd. by increasing its brand name in wide range
• Organised training programmes for freshers of sales department  
• Designed the policies for the sales management 
• Included outsourcing as an option so that the company stays in the long run
• Promoted sales through advertisement 

As a small business sales manager you can also mention the responsibilities on your resume that you took over. For example :

• Promoted sales in the time of crises
• sold products where the demand was more
• analyse data regarding the sales draft
•  planned out sales policies

Remember that the recruiter also wants to see as to what kind of strategies the business sales manager uses in order to promote sales, keeping in mind the changing business environment and your way of balancing different situation during crises so, it is important to mention about all those details in your resume.

Do not forget about the Education Background 

Do not skip this section by any chance. If you are senior sales manager with many degrees, this is the time you can pin point them in the resume. if you are not experienced enough as a senior sales manager would be, this is section might work as an advantage for you as you can refer to your degrees in this particular section.

Always list your:

• Degrees 
• Subjects, courses 
• School name, College name
• High school and graduation dates 
• Scores (GPA, CGPA or percentage)
• If you were the head boy or head girl 
• School and college certificate.

Here is an example:

Dates	School and colleges name with their respective degrees	Subject or courses	scores
2011	Melbourne highHigh school	Economics, Accountancy, Business Studies, English and Computer science.	78.4%
2013	River Valley Senior Secondary School	Economics, Accountancy, Business Studies, English and Computer science.	90.7%
2013	Yale University	Major -BA in Marketing Management (Bachelor’s Degree)	92.2%

As mentioned above you can also include the certificates achieved in your school and college in the field of sports or the relevant job etc. If you were given any scholarship by your school or colleges feel free to mention them too. For example

• Received Community Stars Scholarship from Sail University for 95,000$
• Received a certificate for leader of the management club from Sail University 

Highlighting about the scholarship and certificate that are relevant to the job you are applying for (sales management) will show how dedicated you were to achieve more than anyone and the enthusiasm you showed in extracurricular activities.

But why is the education section so important? 

It is important for the job seeker’s to include an education section in the resume as your academic qualification helps in identifying how you managed to perform in your academic years that involves theoretical and practical knowledge.

Catch up with the Sale Managerial Skills 

In the field of management theoretical knowledge is not the only thing that will make you a successful manager how you act according to the situations taking place in your company, how you apply your personal skills makes a big difference. For being a Sales Manager it is a must to have personal skills to manage your department in a long run.

Here are some examples:

• In the early stages all the management students learn the same Principles of Management but they apply all this theoretical knowledge according to their personal skills, that’s what makes one company different from the other company.  
• Lenovo and Dell both are laptops but they differ from one another as the personal skills applied in them are different in some or the other way. In the same way the net sales of Lenovo laptops and Dell laptops varies.

What are some of the business sales manager skills that can be highlighted in the resume?

•  Critical thinking Skills 
•  Multitasker 
•  Planning out strategies 
•  Analytical skills 
•  Project management Skills
•  Leadership Skills 
•  Communication Skills 
• Problem solver 
• Negotiation 
• Great convincing Power
• Good at time Management 
• Able to face challenges easily and quickly
• Quick learner 

Mentioning some technical skills might also boost the resume

For example:  

• Digital marketing 
• SEO (Search engine optimization)
• MS Word
• MS Office 
• Google Docs

It is important to understand that the skills you are referring to in the resume are the once you actually possess. There is no need of adding skills that you do not possess in order to make the resume good, be as clean and honest about the skills as possible.

Moving on to the additional section of the resume

Were you looking for an opportunity to brag about all your other achievements others than professional achievements, well here is the right chance to flaunt your personal achievements and add more value to the resume.

But what kind of additional things are we exactly talking about?

• Awards 
• Certificates
• Other known languages
• Extracurricular activities
• Conferences attended 
• Competitive exams
• Interests and activities
• Extra courses 
• Volunteering jobs 
• Core Strengths 

Starting on with the award

For this particular section you can freely mention about the awards, trophies or medals won in school, college and at work. Write a little about why you got the trophy.

 Here’s an example:

• Won a trophy for securing first position in interschool debate competition
• Won a trophy for most promising athlete of the year and was a gold medallist for 2 consecutive years
• Received a trophy for employee of the year 

Certificates received

 In the same way mention about the certificates that you have received for some or many reasons 

 For example:

• Received a certificate for ranking 3^rd in maths Olympiad 
• Received certificate for securing 2^nd position in content writing 

Languages known 

Under the additional section highlight a separate section called languages known and mention about the languages you know other than your mother tongue like: Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese or German.  

Extracurricular Activities 

As an optional section, for extracurricular activities mention the ones that are relevant to the applied job. if they are not relevant to your job status refer to the ones that sound enthusiastic like something related to sports, travelling or managing the school magazine.

Conferences attended 

If you have attended any conferences or been a speaker to one of them do mention about it. 

Here are some examples:

• Attended Marketing World conference in the year 2019. The conference had 1200 attendees and 3 experts taking sessions on marketing management and Business Environment.
•  Attended the Manage Camp Conference in the year 2021 as a spokesperson along with 1500 attendees and 4 experts 

Competitive Exams 

Referring to the competitive exams that you aspired to give after school and graduation in the resume. Mention the names of the exams, score and the year.

Here are some examples:

• Appeared for SAT and scored 1450 out of 1600 in the year of 2017
• Appeared for GMAT and scored 670 out of 800 in the year 2020 

Mentioning about the competitive exams that you aspired to give will tell the hiring manger that from the early stages of life you did not want to settle for less and aim higher than the others. 

Interests and Activities

Another section you can add on to the resume would be to mention about your interests, hobbies and the activities you prefer doing during free hours. Take a note that the interests and activities you are mentioning about should sound enthusiastic. Refer to the ones that are more likely to catch attention and are unique. 

Here are some examples:

• If you have keen interest in boxing, playing basketball or keeping yourself fit by doing yoga or weight lifting, do mention them 
• Mention about the key features that helped you builtd your personality 

Do not mention running, listening to music or sleeping as your interests in your resume. Firstly it does not fit right in your resume and is not unique at all . Mention the ones that sets you apart from others. Listening to music and running are the two common things that one can do in order to kill some time whereas sleeping sounds unprofessional.    

Extra Courses

If you ever opted for any extra courses in order to upgrade your analytical skills, management skills, customer relation skills or business communication skills refer to them too. Also mention about the year and the universities or sites offering the courses. 

Here are some examples:

• Marketing analytics skills (offered by University of Colombia) 
• Sales training (offered by University of Virginia)
• Business fundamentals and Fayol’s principle of management [offered by University Los Angeles, California (UCLA)]
• Effective and efficient management [offered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)]

Volunteering Job

For the volunteering section mention about the jobs you volunteered to do for the benefit of your city or the benefit of the people around you. The jobs you are mentioning about could be social service too. Refer to the name of the job and the activities that you performed during a specific time period.

Here are some examples:  

• Internet Marketing Executive (December 2019 – January2020)

This job was about building business and maintaining healthy business relation between client. We also focused a lot on the clients and customers complaints in the best possible way.

• Wildlife Conservation Volunteering (August 2021-September2021)

This was a social service job in which a group of people organized many wildlife events in various national parks and taught many the attendees some ways through which we could help the injured animals on the streets and help them find shelter or a new home.

Describe was the job was about and what was your contribution throughout your service period. it is also important to demonstrate a little about the job or say job description in order to tell the hiring manager the purpose of the job.

Core Strengths 

Mentioning your core strengths could be one of the things you would want to add to your resume. Remember do not get mixed up with your skills and your core strengths. Strengths are the qualities possessed by you in a way that keeps you motivated and pushes you to become the best version of yourself. So, refer to those strengths that is a part of your personality  

Here are some of the examples of strengths:

• Patience
• Trustworthy 
• Respectful
• Helpful 
• Punctual 
• Motivated
• Consistency 
• Always aiming to achieve more 
• Versatility 
• Enthusiastic  
• Ambitious 
• Keen to learn more things 
• Dedicated 
• Adaptable 
• Passionate 

Mention any 4 or 5 of them as there is no need of making a whole list of the strengths you possess. You can write more than 5 skills section but emphasizing more upon the strength section will take away the concept of the resume 

If you list down 5-6 core strengths and 2-3 skills in the resume then you are reducing your chances of bring selected. Skills section is an important section to be mentioned as it says a lot about the ways through which you are going to carry out your duties and responsibilities better than others and is also relevant to the job you are applying for. On the other hand, strength section is an optional section which you might want to add if you are a fresher.

Conclusion

• Select a template that looks professional and bold and is not too stylish
• The first two points you are planning to mention should be the best ones.
• If you are a fresher or a small business sale manager who does not have much experience and is applying to some renowned company then make sure that your education background section comes before the experience section.
• Keep your resume to one page maximum if you have information that is relevant to the position you are applying to then feel free to add extra page but if your adding pages just for the sake of doing so then your resume might suffer 
• Always proof read and double check your resume, check if you have any grammatical error or any other flaws in the resume 
• The most important point is to be honest about what you are mentioning in your resume. If you don’t have many skills or any experience just mention the ones you actually have even if they are less in number but if you lie in the resume you might not be called for any  future jobs the company might have .