It can be tedious and time consuming which is why we have curated this article that will answer all your questions and give you some bonus tips to enhance your director of sales resume!
Let's dive in!
How does a professional Director of Sales resume look?
- The content should be in third person
- The content should be in Past Tense
- The content should be in Reverse chronological order
- The Resume should be filled with numbers that represent your achievements
- The Resume should be filled with actions verbs and words to show willingness and motivation
- The resume should be rich in text and should have little to no white spaces
- Proof read the resume at least a couple of time to avoid grammatical and spelling errors
Research
Director of sales is a person or a position that manages and oversees the sales operations of a company. He is the person that will overlook the team that does the actual sales. This position demands a lot of grit and motivation and authority given sales targets have to be met.As a director you will not be involved in conducting the sales directly, or doing and client management but you will be in constant touch with the clients, with your team that communicate with clients and cold call to know who is doing what and how they are doing.
Moreover, in order to get the the job of director of sales you will need to research the company, research the product, or products, or services that are being sold to end consumers.
Without the initial research you will not be able to lead an experienced team. Knowing the product/ service is important because the management will expect you know the trade and will get to know the people too if you have switched from another industry. Thus the idea of researching the role is important.
The role and the ability to create a resume are both vital to getting the job. After you've learnt about the role you need to focus on how to convert your experience into something relatable to your resume.
This bit you can research on various internet websites i.e., LinkedIn, and Glassdoor. These places will help you understand what key words to use in the resume, what structure needs to be followed, and what is Hiring manager/ sales manager department looking for in your resume.
Interesting Fact:
(Source: https://www.statista.com/topics/6928/retail-market-in-the-united-states/#topicOverview)
Format & Template
The format and template of the resume matter and they keep changing from profession to profession ever so lightly. The format and the structure allow the hiring managers to see what is relevant and what is not, thus it is of utmost importance to chose which fields to keep and which to not.
There are essentially three types of formats, and from which we will tell you which will be best suited for the position of director of sales.
The three resume types are: Functional, Reverse Chronological, and Combination
📌Types of formats
- Functional Resume Type
This type is for freshers and recent graduates with little to no experience in the industry. They only have skills, education, internships to show on their resume and apart from that extra and co -curricular activities
- Reverse Chronological Type
Here the order in which any things is showed i.e., experience, education, course certifications are shown in a reverse order format, where the latest one is presented first and the earliest to the last.
This is suitable for professionals with moderate to high experience
- Combination Resume Type
It combines the features of both the functional and reverse chronological type. This is for professionals that have experience but not enough that's why they will prefer to show their education, courses, recognition from university times and also the job they might have done just after graduating.
As you understand that the most prominent one for experienced professionals are the Reverse chronological type. They are also the best suited for person applying for the position of Director of Sales as it is implied to achieve this position the person will have significant years of experience in their career.
Please do not forge to follow the reverse chronological order and also mention the relevant work history, one does not need to mention where you began working from unless it had a significant impact on your career.
For the rest of your professional experiences you already have your LinkedIn profile, which should always be updated.
Resume header
A Resume header is also an integral part of your resume, since it has the person's contact details. The contact information includes, your full name, your address, your phone number, your email id and perhaps your LinkedIn profile.
Name: you should always mention your full name as in the one in your government IDs to avoid confusion when background verification is done
Address: although not compulsory you if you chose to provide it, try to keep it concise and short, and do provide your pin code, it adds authenticity to your resume
Phone number: your contact information to reach out for any communication, so provide the one you actively use and will be ready to answer
Email ID: the email should be a professional one and not where it has words that do not corroborate formal professional behavior. Ideally it should be your name and perhaps a number sequence somewhere
LinkedIn profile link: A link to your updated LinkedIn profile. If it is updated and the content is formal in nature sufficing enough that elaborates what you mentioned in your resume then it is fine, if not then please work on it. Having a LinkedIn link to your resume adds credibility
Resume summary
A summary is similar to a cover letter except the resume summary is a summary of your cover letter. In a cover letter you express the kind of person you are and why you're fit for the job as a candidate and then listing down your expectations and also your experiences in a crisp and concise manner.
The resume summary does that within a span of three to five lines maximum or 2 to three sentences.
A resume summary will include your objective and why you're fit for the role of director of sales for the particular company.
Secondly, if nay of the previous workplaces, notably should be recent at least within the last 1-3 years, mention what you did led to an award, or to be recognized, or you consider it as an achievement.
This piece is crucial in the summary since it comes before your experience section and if the reader catches something here he can possibly bring it up in the interview or a proceed with a follow up question.
As you're applying for the position of director of sales you will have several instances of your previous jobs where you did well enough to quantify it, do not wait for the experience section to use numbers, use it here since you only have three lines to prove your worth to the company.
Experience section
This is the key most part of your resume. Although the Hiring manager/ sales manager or the person going through your resume once it has been through the machine check, they will take a glance at your resume, and skim through your experience section.
It is to always be assumed that the person reading your resume does not have time and is looking at hundred if not thousand other applicants. Secondly, you need to mold your resume and in it especially your experience section in a such manner that certain parts if it catch their attention, and it was intended to do so.
Whatever experience you have, you have to start by quantifying whatever can be quantified. anything that can be put into numbers shall be put into numbers.
The number of years you worked, the number of achievements, the number of times you were recognized for some deed. The amount of money you saved, the total profit or revenue you brought to the company.
These all numbers will catch the eye and then they will proceed to read the entire sentence. Thus use numbers. Moreover, you need to only use those numbers if you can corroborate on it, or have enough proof to back it up. This will be the emails from your previous employers or recognition certificates etc.
The experience section will include your professional life in a reverse chronological order. This means that the latest one will be presented first and the order will follow suit.
The experience once has been listed in the header, one must explain the experience with a pointers, and not a paragraph. Pointers need to be used and it should be a proper sentence that takes the whole page or that particular line at least and not be left behind with white spaces.
Education section
The most underrated and also a prominent section of the resume. Once you're qualified and also have relevant work experience the education section does not matter much however, if you've done exceptionally well in your academics, like scoring really well, being an honors student, have a really high percentile within your class or batch or if you've graduated from top tier universities then you shall mention it here.
The order will be in reverse chronology, and the latest one will come first. Secondly, you should correctly write the name of your education qualification or you degree without abbreviating it too much or in a manner that is not pertinent in the industry.
Mention your grade, or achievement appropriately in the next line with a different formatting and not that of what the degree header was.
Under this section do not mention any of the additional certification courses you might have done as part of your up-skilling or learning.
That will not go towards your formal education, if you have enough certifications from reputed platforms then you can proceed to have a different section that proves your willingness to keep learning and up-skilling your self as a director of sales.
Skills section
Skills in the sales job is very important. How one hones them and acquires them and uses them. If you're able to develop the skill of selling, communicating, negotiating then you're a perfect salesmen and you can sell anything.
To get the job of a director of sales you must trust your skills since you will not be selling but you will be a mentor to a lot of you employees or your team members. You will also be applying your own skills that you honed over the years in the position.
That is to say, people management skill comes from communicating your needs properly to your clients, sales team management comes from negotiating with clients, team building comes from maintaining a functional relationship with your existing clients, so on and so forth.
📌List of skills for a director of sales resume:
- sales strategies
- business development
- sales strategy
- new business development
- customer relationship management
- sales revenue
- sales teams management
- sales team management
- sales cycle
- sales operations
- sales growth
- strategic planning
- sales targets
- revenue growth
- business acumen
- market share knowledge
- sales department
- sales management
- working with sales managers/sales manager/ sales representatives/sales team/ sales teams
- sales process
- competitive sales force
- business administration
- working with existing customer portfolio
- annual revenue
- annual sales quotas
- annual revenue growth
- implementing marketing strategies
- annual sales volume
- sales goals
- high performance sales team
- retaining existing clients
- ability to handle major market expansion
- professional development
- strategic sales plans
- leadership skills
- direct sales
- sales skills
- sales professionals skills
- effective sales strategies
- implemented effective promotional strategies
- sales reports
- work with sales associates
- sales leadership skills
- sales performance
- sales trends
- annual sales
- sales objectives
- achieve turnaround success story
- training programs
- revamped pricing strategy
- developed sales
- contract negotiation
- work with two sales managers
Cover letter
The cover letter is as important as your resume if not more. The reason why employers even ask a cover letter is to see the willingness of candidate to pen down themselves honestly and not in a bullet point fashion where you're able express yourself in a manner that can capture the hearts of the reader.
You will want to show through words the kind of person you are and whether you can pick up the responsibilities of becoming a director of sales. The responsibilities of managing a team that is highly motivated on money since if they do not increase their own sales they cannot get commission on them.
Adding on top of that to get the team to meet targets set by management, or your own personal goals. To share your motivation techniques and understand the teams ability to perform. To take hard decisions such as firing employees for not performing well and inconsistent performance.
All of this has to be captured in your cover letter as you tell them about your past experiences and your recognitions and how you have climbed the corporate ladder by doing so.
The reader needs to see that you are a well rounded person who will do well for the company and will want to see motivation. For example, they will want you to perform better than the previous person who was hired for that job, they want to see if you can adapt into a new place so that they can keep you.
You should definitely talk about any one key achievement in your recent past where you did exceptionally well and you were proud of or were recognized by your firm or outside too. It does not have to be professional it can be your hobby, or something to do with volunteering.
Anything you do beyond your professional life is also a plus point on your cover letter. The hiring manager wants to see an over all well rounded person who has a life beyond the office, it shows character.
Keywords
You need to beat the applicant tracking systems or the ATS that are used by the hiring managers. The ATS operates on the basis of the keywords used on your resume. You need t o use all the relevant keywords throughout your resume. We have curated a list for you here.
📌List of keywords for a director of sales resume:
- revamped pricing strategy
- turnaround success story
- annual revenue
- annual sales volume
- annual revenue growth
- sales leadership
- sales strategies
- sales associates
- sales resumes
- professional development
- major market expansion
- high performance sales teams
- high performance sales team
- sales goals
- achieved sales goals
- manage sales strategies
- accurate job descriptions
- business development
- business administration
- business acumen
- sales director position
- competitive sales force
- professional sales person
- sales director job
- sales process
- create sales strategies
- sales professional
- sales team/ sales teams
- senior management
- sales representatives
- sales managers
- sales manager
- sales management
- sales department
- market share
- sales targets
- strategic planning
- sales operations
- managing sales operations
- director of sales
- sales cycle
- customer relationship management
- ensured customer relationship management
- new business development
- sales strategy
- sales directors
- sales director
- business development
Conclusion
In conclusion, as a candidate for Director of Sales you need to keep in mind a few last points that will help you get the job!
Firstly, your resume shall not exceed a single page and the content shall be legible enough for the hiring manager to read through it and pick up the key points.
Secondly, you need to keep in mind that the experience shall be corroborated enough so that the hiring managers are confident that you have the right skill set for the role of director of sales. The right use of key words and verbs need to be done intricately
Third, we request you to conduct proper research with respect to the role and for the resume in order to excel at getting the job. For that we have the right source for you, our services include creating a resume with the help of Artificial Intelligence aka. the might AI which is similar to (ChatGPt) and will guide you through your resume and make it bolder and you can take a back seat in the language, grammar and action verbs, all key parts of your resume.
We have covered all the tools and weapons required for you to ace the war of winning the position of the director of sales, we wish you all the best for your Resume!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Is cover letter necessary with my director of sales resume?
Cover letters are not mandatory always, however they add great value to your job application hence we would advice you to always enclose one cover letter in your job application.
Do I need a marketing degree on my director of sales resume?
Not necessarily, there are few degrees and courses directly related to foundational for -director of sales role, you can simply note any of the bachelor's degree that you have on your professional resume.
Should I include my marketing experience on my director of sales resume?
Marketing experience can be relevant for the role of director of sales as marketing and sales go hand in hand. So yes, you should definitely include any of your marketing experience on your director of sales resume.
