Sales Managers

What the job really is

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 gathered by staff to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor the preferences of customers.

At a glance

• Sector: Management
• O*NET-SOC code: 11-2022
• O*NET job zone: 4 — considerable preparation
• Work sample tasks on file: 12
• Tools and technologies listed: 12

What you actually do

Work sample tasks recorded for this occupation:

• Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
• Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
• Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
• Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs, and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.
• Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
• Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
• Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
• Determine price schedules and discount rates.
• Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures.
• Confer or consult with department heads to plan advertising services and to secure information on equipment and customer specifications.
• Visit franchised dealers to stimulate interest in establishment or expansion of leasing programs.
• Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.

Tools and technology

Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Creative Cloud software, Bentley MicroStation, Eclipse IDE, Facebook, Google Analytics, Google Docs, HubSpot software, Hypertext markup language HTML, IBM SPSS Statistics, Marketo Marketing Automation, Microsoft Access

What employers expect you to already be comfortable with.

Where this job leads

Related occupations — the usual moves up and sideways:

• Product Marketing Managers
• Sales Representatives of Services, Except Advertising, Insurance, Financial Services, and Travel
• Market Research Analysts and Marketing Specialists
• Advertising and Promotions Managers
• Wholesale and Retail Buyers, Except Farm Products
• Purchasing Managers
• First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
• First-Line Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers

Getting in

O*NET assigns this occupation job zone 4 (considerable preparation). The related occupations above are the realistic routes in and out.

Find openings

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Check this against the source

O*NET OnLine: Sales Managers — the authoritative public-domain profile this page is derived from, including the full task list, reported skills and the wage estimates for your region.

Derived and rewritten from the public-domain O*NET database (U.S. Department of Labor / Employment and Training Administration). Figures are observations, not promises — always confirm salary, licensing and visa requirements with the employer and the relevant authority.