Job Role Description

Sales > Sales Manager

Salary National Average

Low Medium High
70400.0000 95060.0000 119230.0000

Change from Previous Year:

+4%

Supply and Demand

Candidate Supply: 36,116 Job Openings: 715,713

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Salary Variance

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Short Description:

Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Coordinate sales distribution by establishing sales territories, quotas, and goals and establish training programs for sales representatives. Analyze sales statistics from staff to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor customers' preferences.

Duties / Responsibilities:

  • Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
  • Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staff.
  • Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
  • Determine price schedules and discount rates.
  • Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
  • Monitor customer preferences to determine the focus of sales efforts.
  • Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures.
  • Confer or consult with department heads to plan advertising services and secure equipment and customer specifications information.
  • Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
  • Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.
  • Direct foreign sales and service outlets of an organization.
  • Advise dealers and distributors on policies and operating procedures to ensure the functional effectiveness of the business.
  • Visit franchised dealers to stimulate interest in the establishment or expansion of leasing programs.
  • Direct clerical staff to keep records of export correspondence, bid requests, and credit collections and to maintain current information on tariffs, licenses, and restrictions.
  • Direct, coordinate, and review activities in sales and service accounting and record-keeping and in receiving and shipping operations.
  • Assess the marketing potential of new and existing store locations, considering statistics and expenditures.

Skills / Requirements / Qualifications

  • Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Persuasion: Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
  • Coordination: Adjusting actions concerning others' actions.
  • Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Monitoring: Monitoring/assessing the performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
  • Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Judgment and Decision Making: Considering the costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
  • Management of Personnel Resources: Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
  • Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the audience's needs.
  • Active Learning: Understanding new information's implications for current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Complex Problem Solving: Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
  • Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
  • Negotiation: Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
  • Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
  • Systems Analysis: Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
  • Systems Evaluation: Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance relative to the system's goals.
  • Learning Strategies: Select appropriate training/instructional methods and procedures when learning or teaching new things.
  • Mathematics: Using mathematics to solve problems.
  • Operations Analysis: Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.

Job Zones

  • Education: Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
  • Related Experience: A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to qualify.
  • Job Training: Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
  • Job Zone Examples: Many of these occupations involve coordinating, supervising, managing, or training others. Examples include accountants, sales managers, database administrators, teachers, chemists, art directors, and cost estimators.
  • Specific Vocational Preparation in years: 2-4 years of preparation (7.0 to < 8.0)

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