In this article, we share the skills you need to highlight on your resume and how to phrase them to land your dream job in sales.
Selling yourself: Essential resume skills and abilities to land a job in sales
Maybe you are pivoting into sales for the first time, or maybe you are trying to leave your current sales role for a better one. Either way, it’s important that you include the right skills on your resume. After all, the resume is your first opportunity to sell yourself with your future employer. In it, you should strive to showcase your ability to solution sell, close deals effectively, and build client relationships. By focusing on the right skills that employers care about, you demonstrate that you have what it takes to do the job and you improve your chances of landing the role dramatically. In this article, we draw from our many years in sales to provide you with the essential resume skills and abilities to include if you want a job in sales, along with explanations of why they’re important and examples of how to phrase them on the actual document.
1. Sales and product knowledge
One of the most important things you need to make sure appears on your resume is evidence that you can actually sell. You also need to show evidence that you can quickly learn new products and offerings, and identify unique differentiators. As a sales professional, it’s imperative that you can go into a market, speak in an educated manner about the product and why it’s the best, and convince the customer to buy. This is a skill that any sales hiring manager is going to pressure test heavily, so it’s imperative to highlight it prominently on your resume.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Showcased in-depth product knowledge and leverage knowledge to lead consultative sales cycles, resulting in my ability to consistently exceed targets by 15%”
- “Developed a robust go-to-market plan for our new product release and performed a competitive analysis to understand how we stack ranked in market, leading to a 20% increase in market share”
2. Partnership management
Sales is built on strong relationships. As a sales professional, it’s imperative that you can independently own and grow client relationships within your market. One of the best ways to develop relationships is via networking – attending local events, hosting lunch & learns, or going to industry-wide conferences. It is at these types of events that you can find new business opportunities and expand your client lead list. In order to succeed at these events though, you need to be able to show a prospective client what a strong partnership could look like and you have to be able to nurture the relationship over time in an organic way.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Managed and grew strong relationships with the most strategic clients in the business, resulting in a 30% increase in retention and a 15% increase in revenue via upsells.”
- “Attended industry conferences and local vendor events, resulting in my ability to generate ~50 new leads a month and increase my sales pipeline by 25%”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Lead generation and prospecting
- Customer retention
- Strategic upsells and expansions
3. Communication and negotiation (ability to close and ask for the sale)
Communication is a critical skill to showcase on the resume, especially if you are trying to get into sales. To be successful, sales professionals need to be able to negotiate and communicate effectively with customers, and employers are often looking for candidates that can clearly articulate value propositions, handle objections, and ultimately ask for the sale. It’s really important that your resume reflects your ability to drive conversations forward that eventually convert into business for the company.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Facilitated customer evaluations and helped them to understand our company’s unique differentiation, resulting in my ability to close $1M+ of new business in 2024.”
- “Consistently ran point on and negotiated complex contracts with strategic clients, achieving a 10% increase in profit margins for the business”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Active listening
- Solution selling
- Objection handling
- Persuasive communication
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4. Account planning
This skill is often overlooked but it’s an important one. Being able to show an employer that you can not only sell, but also think strategically about the growth and sustainability of an account is imperative. To do this, you need to understand the client’s line of work, anticipate their needs, and position your company’s products or offerings as the solution to their pain points. By showcasing account planning on your resume, you show a potential employer that you know how to think ahead and plan for long-term success of both your client and your company.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Completed strategic account plans for the top clients within my portfolio, resulting in a 40% increase in revenue from strategic upsells and expansions”
- “Built long-term account strategies that resulted in a 50% increase in customer retention and an average customer NPS of 10.”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Account management
- Upsells and expansions
- Territory planning
5. Tech savviness
In today’s digital age, employers are looking for candidates that exhibit a deep understanding and experience with sales-related technologies. For instance, CRM systems are very common in most sales organizations, as they allow teams to manage customer relationships, track conversations, and forecast sales in a single place. Highlighting your experience with such technologies shows future employers that you know that you operate with efficiency and have what it takes to leverage modern tools to enhance your performance.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Led the effort to build our company’s CRM instance, resulting in more efficient and accurate pipeline reporting and forecast for the entire sales organization.”
- “Leveraged data analytics tools such as Tableau to generate insightful quarterly business reviews (QBRs) and drive customer action, resulting in a 20% increase in new business for the company.”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- CRM software (ex: Salesforce, HubSpot)
- Data analysis tools (ex: Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Power BI)
- Sales engagement tools (ex: Outreach, SalesLoft)
6. Analytical ability and consultation
The ability to analyze large data sets and draw insights to drive customer actions is an essential skill in sales. Most employers want to bring on talent that can independently evaluate market trends and customer behaviors. Showcasing that you have what it takes to do this sort of analysis and make data-backed recommendations to your clients will definitely make you stand out in the application process.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Analyzed robust data sets to optimize sales prospecting and approach, resulting in a 25% reduction in average deal cycles.”
- “Evaluated market-wide sales trends and customer data to identify new target regions, leading to a 15% increase in new customers on the platform in 2024.”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Sales forecasting
- Market research
- Territory planning
- Customer performance analysis
- Quarterly business reviews
7. Industry awareness and knowledge
Just like it’s imperative to show that you have product knowledge and expertise, it’s also important to showcase your deep understanding of the broader industry in which you operate. Showing that you understand the market trends, the top competitors, and the growth trajectory will surely set you apart from your competition in the application process, and position you well in the market with prospective clients. At the end of the day, having a deep understanding of your industry adds to your credibility and positions you as a trusted advisor and consultant.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Maintained a deep pulse on the food & beverage industry, resulting in my ability to drive insightful client demonstrations and improve my team’s average close rate by 35%.”
- “Developed 3 white papers on the dynamics of the food & beverage industry, which now serve as the cornerstone enablement for all new hires joining the company.”
8. Time management and prioritization
This may sound obvious, but it’s critical to show your future employer that you can easily manage your time and prioritize your tasks. After all, most salespeople have to balance hundreds of tasks at a time, and the ones that succeed are those that build smart processes and follow those processes religiously.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Efficiently maintained a sales pipeline of 100+ leads, consistently meeting client deadlines and exceeding monthly quotas.”
- “Heavily prioritized low effort, high impact accounts during the first 2 weeks in the quarter, resulting in my ability to hit quota before anyone else on my team.”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Pipeline management
- Prioritization
- Time-management strategies
9. Tenacity, persistence, and resilience
For most sales professionals, the job starts at “no”. There is no doubt that this is a challenging career, and rejection and obstacles are expected. For this reason, it’s important to showcase on your resume that you have what it takes to weather the storm, even when the storm gets really really bad. Employers are looking for candidates that have a tenacious personality, won’t take no for an answer, and aren’t afraid of a hard negotiation.
How to phrase this skill on your resume:
- “Consistently over-came and navigated sales objections and client pushback, resulting in a 10% improvement in win rates.”
- “Despite our company holding the 5th seat in market share in the region, I successfully navigated through gatekeepers and achieved 130% to goal.”
Specific essential resume skills and abilities you should include:
- Objection handling
- Follow-up techniques
- Stress management
In Summary
Think of your resume as the first impression you get to make for your future employer. It’s imperative that you take the time to showcase the skills that you know they will be looking for, and that you back each of those skills with specific evidence and impact to the business. By strategically highlighting the skills that we outlined in this article, you will be one step closer to positioning yourself as a must-hire candidate. Good luck!
If you enjoy this article, make sure to check out our other article on how to write an A+ resume.
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