Resume Writing Tips for Sales and Marketing Positions

Resume Writing Tips for Sales / Marketing Positions

Sales positions are often the easiest resumes to write because it’s easy to put numbers to total sales, number of accounts serviced, size of client base, size of territory or contracts managed.

However, many sales people fail to analyze the image created by their resumes. As a result, many sales professionals are discouraged at the scarce number of interviews and low salary offers they receive.

We’ll use Bill as an example. He’s been in the $65,000 range and would like to move into a position in the $70,000 to $75,000 range. Bill has been a District Sales Manager, an Account Executive and an Outside Sales Representative. Take a moment and read the skill headings that Bill used in the body of his resume:

Marketing and Sales Presentations
Market Planning
Communications

Which sells Bill the best for a $70,000 to $75,000 sales position--his job titles or the headings shown above? As soon as I glanced at his before resume, it was obvious that his job titles immediately conveyed the depth of his skills while the three headings shown above actually weakened his image.

All too often I see impressive job titles buried at the bottom of a person’s resume--as had happened with Bill’s resume. Like many resume writers, I encourage job seekers to use skill headings to replace weak job titles.

However, such advice often gets taken to the extreme as in Bill’s case. As you’ll see, his resume was strengthened when he returned to using his job titles.

In a moment, we’ll look at an opposite case where Tammy’s job titles were weak and, indeed, did need to be replaced with skill headings and stronger job titles.

Now take a moment, and compare the first section of Bill’s before resume shown below to the first section of his after resume. Which one presents a more dynamic image?

Marketing and Corporate Sales Presentations
Developed and presented effective sales presentations for new accounts.
Expanded customer base by 15% within a 2 year period.
Analyzed market conditions to target customers and penetrate accounts.

---- or -----

District Sales Manager

Territory Management
Managed a 3-state region, supervising 12 sales representatives generating total revenues in excess of $30 million annually.
Within 2 years of management, lead sales team in achieving a 15% increase in sales and winning the "National Sales Award" competing with 5 districts nationwide.

Sales & Contract Administration
Managed the negotiation of individual contracts up to $1.5 million per contract.
Trained sales staff in contract negotiation techniques and administrative reporting requirements.

Using my booklet, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries and Changed Lives, Bill was able to create his after resume and land a position in his salary range.

An Opposite Problem
Now let’s look at Tammy’s example. She was faced with the opposite problem. Her titles did not support her goal of moving to a higher level sales position. Take a moment and review the titles listed in her before resume below:

Personnel Recruiter
Call on accounts and develop proposals.
Maintain a telemarketing/tracking system.
Interview and place temporary personnel.

Personnel Servicing
Marketed placement services to accounts.
Trained personnel in sales procedures.
Telemarketed services and set appointments.

Customer Service / Credit Approval
Met with customers, ran credit checks and approved new accounts.
Served on credit committee.

Not surprisingly, Tammy’s before resume didn’t land her any interviews for sales positions. These titles and skill headings present her as having only personnel and customer service experience and create an image of her being in the $20,000 to $24,000 range. However, the new resume Tammy created using, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries and Changed Lives landed her a position starting at $40,000 as an Outside Sales Representative marketing credit reporting system--a $20,000 salary increase in one job move.

Tammy’s success story is detailed in my booklet, but I’ll hit some of the highlights here. While she was a personnel recruiter she had actually been given responsibility for outside sales. While providing personnel servicing she managed key accounts for major corporations and banks. While working in Customer Service she approved up to $1.2 million in credit annually for a major department store. Yet, none of this information was provided in her before resume. Take a look at the abbreviated sections from her after resume.

Outside Sales Representative, Remedy Temps 1990-Present
Develop and maintain key accounts such as Advanced Technology Labs, Washington Natural Gas, CX Corporation and Leviton Telecom.
• Increased sales from $62,000 to $132,000 per month in first 5 months of managing sales territory.

Key Account Management, Adams Associates 1988-1990
Pioneered Seattle territory - exceeding 2nd year goals. Developed major accounts such as Ernst and Whinney, Wright Schuchart and National Frozen Foods.

Credit Representative, Frederick & Nelson 1986 - 1988
Approved approximately $1.2 million in consumer credit annually, analyzing credit reports and authorizing new accounts.

$9,000 Salary Increase
The first resume workshop in this site shows how Fran's after resume resulted in a $9,000 salary increase. Fran wanted a $33,000 Corporate Customer Representative job but her resume created an image of her being at a $20,000 to 24,000 salary level -- that's $9,000 to $13,000 beneath her goal.

What Level Does Your Resume Market You At?
If you are curious to see what level your resume is marketing you at … then be sure to read and use the graphing techniques in my first workshop. By graphing the job titles used in Fran's resume it's easy to see why her resume failed … and once you understand this … you will understand why the majority of resumes fail. You'll then understand how to analyze your job titles and see if you are better off using them or replacing them with skill headings that market you more effectively.

Most People Have Job Titles that Weaken Their Image
I estimate that at least 85% of all job seekers have job titles unrelated to their current career goals … and that they are much better off using skill headings rather than job titles to land higher salaries and double and triple their interview rates.

For example, Fran had been a Directory Operator but in most people's minds that doesn't sound like she's at the level of a Corporate Customer Representative making $33,000 … that's because most people don't view directory operators as providing true customer service. Most people say that Directory Operator sounds like someone making only $20,000. However, by using the 12 Questions in my Proven Resumes Series, Fran wrote a new description of her duties as a Directory Operator that described her being selected out of 100 Directory Operators to provide specialized Customer Service to the Governor's Office and Political Dignitaries in the Washington State Capitol … now that information begins to change our image of Fran doesn't it? That makes her sound much more like someone being able to command $33,000.

Which sounds like a better match for the $33,000 Corporate Customer Service Representative goal… her old job title of Directory Operator … or a skill heading like Customer Service Representative to State of Washington Account. In Fran's actual resume we used the heading of Customer Service Representative but you can see how you can play with skill headings to control and elevate your image … this is one strategy I explain in detail with examples throughout my book, Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries, and one of the strongest things I can offer you as a resume writer … just in case you don't have the time or patience to write your own.

Going from 0% to 100% Interview Rate
By using skill headings that matched her goal, Fran went from a 0% interview rate to a 100% interview rate -- meaning none of her prior resumes had landed an interview but her new resume landed an interview for each position she applied for.

Click here to learn other ways we improved Fran's resume and landed her a job paying $9,000 more click here to read my first set of resume workshops! If you've entered my site via this page, be sure to go to my home page for an overview of more than 60 Free Resume & Job Search Workshops that include tons of Resume Tips for 45 Career Fields, Job Search, Electronic Resume, Cover Letter, Interviewing, Networking and Confidence Building strategies.

The testimonials at the top of this page and throughout my site describe salary increases ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 and more. Here's one of my most recent ones:

Regina, the resume you wrote caught the attention of the world's leading software manufacturer. Thanks for helping inspire me through your thoughtful questions and objective interpretation of my work history.

I'm sure it made a big difference in my ability to be recognized in a competitive environment and cross the $100,000 threshold. By the way, the offer I accepted was an increase of $25K annually (21% increase).

Rachel Pizarro, Senior Sales Account Executive / Operations Manager

Here's are two more great success stories from other job seekers who have used the strategies in my Proven Resumes: Strategies That Have Increased Salaries booklets:

After reading Regina's book and writing a resume that highlighted my sales achievements I applied for an internal position. My supervisors complimented me extensively on my resume and promoted me from Sales Rep to Sales Manager--with a 50% salary increase! I would have never achieved such a promotion without the strategies I learned in Regina's book. Several years later, I'm still referring to Regina's book to update my resume and each time I find something new to improve. The most recent promotion I received resulted in a salary package increase of nearly 23%! Thanks again,

Darla J. Piercy, Sales Manager

Using the resume and cover letter styles you recommend in your book, I generated over a 50% request for interviews. I then landed a position with GTE which provided an opportunity to make $10,000 more annually.
Thanks so much,

Michelle Van Winkle, Account Executive

Please keep in mind that your results will vary depending on your skills and the prevailing job market and wage conditions in which you are seeking employment.

Click here to read more successes!

In Summary
Like many job seekers, Tammy knew she had good sales skills and assumed employers would realize this. However, employers don’t have the time and many don’t have the skill to accurately determine if an unrelated job has provided you with skills that match their job requirements. You must do this for them. That’s another reason why Tammy’s new resume worked -- it makes it very clear that Tammy has excellent sales skills at a moment’s glance.

www.ProvenResumes.com
(425) 398-7378
Website Contents, Regina Pontow, 1997-2013
Worldwide Rights Reserved
Website contents derivative of Proven Resumes & Confidence Builders, 1992-2013
DISCLAIMER
resume writing tips - 60 free resume, cover letter, electronic resume and job search workshops