Sales Representative

Sales representatives may work in two different types of roles: As the first point of contact between a company and customers, or between a company and another organization. 

Sales reps help ensure current customers have the products and services they need, identify new markets and sales opportunities, and turn leads and prospects into customers and revenue. Or, they may showcase or sell a product to other businesses, organizations or agencies (rather than selling directly to consumers). 

Almost every company has some form of sales, whether retail products, goods or services. Sales reps often work with customers or businesses and do research to understand what they need and want, and provide those solutions to them through the sales process.

Here’s information about what a sales representative does, how to become one, qualities and skills you’ll need, and other information about the job as a whole. 

A sales representative sells products, goods and/or services to customers or other organizations. They generate new leads, close sales, and work to retain existing clients through upselling, cross-selling, or renewing contracts or services. 

Sales reps need to have extensive knowledge of the product or service they are selling, know how to highlight the features, and how to close sales. 

Sales representative duties

• Generate leads.

• Negotiate and close sales.

• Educate clients on product benefits and features.

• Handle payments and close transactions.

• Complete sales reports and presentations.

• Meet (or exceed) sales goals. 

There are primarily two steps to take to gain the knowledge and skills necessary to become a sales rep: 

• Education. A high school diploma or GED is sometimes required for a sales representative role. Depending on the organization, additional education may be required. For example, a business, communications, marketing, or finance degree may be beneficial. 

Or, education for hyper-specific roles may be encouraged. For example, if you’re a pharmaceutical sales rep, you may need education in biology or pharmaceuticals. 

Additionally, there are several certifications you can get to be more appealing to a prospective employer, as well as provide opportunities for advancement. For example, the National Association of Sales Professionals offers the Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP) certification. You may want to also consider other certifications or training in marketing, communications, and business.

• Experience. Depending on your employer and industry, on-the-job industry-specific training will likely take place. Your company may also have a formal training program required to complete within the first few weeks of employment. 

Depending on the product you’re selling and your knowledge of it, you may need to take specialized training classes. For example, insurance sales reps may have to take classes or work alongside another sales rep to learn about the ins and outs of insurance. 

Additionally, throughout your time as a sales rep, you’ll be able to perfect skills like communication, lead generation, contract negotiation, relationship building, storytelling, and more. This will help contribute to your success as a sales rep, as well as increase opportunities for advancement.

Start with an entry-level sales representative role to begin developing the important skills you need for success. Learn the industry, test sales, closing, and lead generation strategies, and learn from those around you. You may find you want to specialize in a certain industry, or only work within a few particular industries over others.

Important qualities and skills

There are several qualities and skills a good sales rep will have to be successful including:

• Understanding of technology. You may be working with CRMs, document management software, workplace productivity apps, and other sales operations and enablement technology and software. A basic understanding of these technologies and other tools you may use to engage with customers and close sales is a key skill. 

• Product knowledge. Regardless of what you’re selling, you must know that product or service inside and out. This is often learned on the job, but you also may consider completing a certification or other training related to the product (if applicable). You must showcase that you’re a subject matter expert to develop trust with customers and close a sale.

• Contract negotiation. Contract negotiation skills are important when closing a deal because you’ll want to compromise enough to meet the client’s needs, but not enough that you’re sacrificing revenue or return on investment (ROI). You’ll want to be able to establish mutual expectations and benefits from the sale to ensure all parties are satisfied.

• Lead generation. Having a steady flow of prospects and leads will help ensure you constantly have someone to sell to. Lead generation, or prospecting, is the act of filling your lead funnel with people (or other entities) who may be interested in purchasing what you’re selling. This could happen online, at networking or other events, at a retail location, or in other ways, and is an important skill to master to ensure ongoing success.

• Closing skills. Once you’ve captured and nurtured a lead, closing skills will help ensure you make the final sale and close the deal. This often requires negotiation skills, nurturing skills, and the ability to compromise to ensure the sale.

• Relationship building. Building a relationship with your prospects and clients will help ensure ongoing success as a sales rep. Building strong relationships takes time, but establishing rapport and trust, along with having a desire to help others, can help create sales/revenue and client retention opportunities.

And, to remain successful long-term, building mutually beneficial relationships with other sales reps and teams will open opportunities for gathering referrals and soliciting advice and mentoring opportunities. 

• Time management. When meeting with a client, you’ll want to optimize your time together and manage it effectively to make it a productive and fruitful conversation for both parties. On a day-to-day basis, time management skills can help you juggle the needs of both leads and existing clients, tasks that come with closing sales, lead generation, and more.

• Research. If you can do regular research on your leads, clients, industry, market trends, products, competitor solutions, etc., you’ll likely be more successful in your role because you’ll be able to make good, informed decisions, tell the right stories, and close the sales.

• Critical thinking. Once you’ve done the research and have the data and information, you’ll need the skills to apply it to your work. Know how to process information and data, analyze it, and draw conclusions that can be applied to your sales.

• Communication. Both written and verbal communication skills are critical for success as a sales representative. You’ll often use verbal communication skills to work with leads and prospects, and you’ll also have to know how to read and pick up on nonverbal cues that can indicate how a sale is going. Written communication skills come in handy when arranging meetings with clients, drafting contracts, writing emails, and following up with customers.

Many sales representatives make their schedules based on the needs of their clients. Most work at least 40 hours per week but may spend time on evenings and weekends on the phone, online, pitching products, and closing contracts. You may have to meet customers before or after regular business hours to close a sale. 

Sales reps also often travel for work, which can drastically alter work schedules. 

If you have a good sales record and an aptitude for leadership, you may have the opportunity to advance into a sales manager or supervisor role. With experience, you could work your way up to a district manager position, director of sales, or even vice president of sales. If you’re willing to put in the time and effort, and you’re successful at closing sales, there are significant career advancement opportunities for sales reps. 

Other positions similar to that of a sales rep include sales development, account managers, or sales engineers. Some sales reps also move into the marketing/communications field. 

In addition to the skills listed above, many of which are desirable for several jobs, there are other transferable skills you gain from being a sales representative such as:

• Storytelling. 

• Problem-solving.

• Collaboration.

• Listening. 

• Persistence. 

• Self-motivation.

• Coaching skills.

• Adaptability.

• Empathy. 

• Product knowledge.

• Technology knowledge.

• Data analysis. 

Hard skills for a sales representative resume

• Understanding of technology. You may be working with CRMs, document management software, workplace productivity apps, and other sales operations and enablement technology and software. A basic understanding of these technologies and other tools you may use to engage with customers and close sales is a key skill. 

Additionally, you may work with a variety of technology such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc. while working with customers and closing sales. Being fluent in using these items will make your life easier.

• Product knowledge. Regardless of what you’re selling, you must know that product or service inside and out. Customers don’t trust or want to purchase from a sales rep that can’t explain in detail or answer questions about what they are selling.

You must showcase that you’re a subject matter expert in order to develop trust with customers and close a sale. This includes knowing every feature, benefit and weakness so you’re able to connect with the customer and show how your product will resolve their needs.

• Sales presentations and demonstrations. As a sales rep, you’ll likely be asked to give regular presentations and demonstrations to other sales reps, employees, leads or clients. This goes beyond the ability to use PowerPoint and can expand to other presentation softwares like Prezi, Keynote, Google Docs, etc. 

In addition to being familiar with presentation technology, you should have strong presentation and public speaking skills in order to convey your subject matter expertise and compel your audience to take a desired action or convert.

• Contract negotiation. Selling and negotiating go hand in hand. Contract negotiation is important when closing a deal because you’ll want to compromise to meet the client’s needs, but not enough that you’re sacrificing revenue or return on investment (ROI). You’ll want to be able to establish mutual expectations and benefits from the sale to ensure all parties are satisfied.

• Prospecting. Having a steady flow of prospects will help ensure you constantly have someone to sell to. Prospecting is the act of continuously filling your lead funnel with people (or other entities) who may be interested in purchasing what you’re selling. Whether you prospect online, at networking or other events, at a retail location or in other ways, this is an important skill to master to ensure ongoing success.

• Closing skills. Once you’ve captured and nurtured a lead, closing skills will help ensure you make the final sale and close the deal. This is when the prospect purchases or signs up for your product or service. This often requires negotiation skills, nurturing skills, and the ability to compromise to ensure the sale.

• Social media. These days, social media has become a regular part of our lives. Additionally, many sales reps use connections on social media to generate leads and close sales. You should be familiar with best practices for engaging prospects on social media platforms like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and others. This will help support your lead generation efforts, and even conversions.

Soft skills for a sales representative resume

• Relationship building. In order to close a sale, it’s important to build a relationship with your prospects or clients. And, in order to remain successful, building long-term and mutually beneficial relationships with other sales reps and teams will open opportunities for gathering referrals and soliciting advice and mentoring opportunities. 

Building strong relationships takes time, but establishing rapport and trust, along with having a desire to help others, can help create sales/revenue and client retention opportunities.

• Time management. Your and your client’s time is important. When meeting with a client, you’ll want to optimize your time together and manage it effectively in order to make it a productive and fruitful conversation for both parties. On a day-to-day basis, time management skills can help you juggle the needs of both leads and existing clients.

• Storytelling. You may have heard the phrase “show, don’t tell.” When working with a lead and nurturing a sale, you’ll want to help them understand why they need your product or service beyond explaining what it is or does. You’ll want to demonstrate how what you’re selling resolves their pain points or problems, or how it benefits them or improves their life. You may do this by telling a story that will resonate with your audience, or using persuasive and creative language to move them through the funnel to a sale.

• Research. As a sales rep, you’ll be expected to do regular research on your leads, clients, industry, market trends, products, competitor solutions and more. This will make you a better sales person because you’ll be able to make good, informed decisions, tell the right stories, and close the sales.

• Critical thinking. Once you’ve done the research and have the data and information, you’ll need the skills to apply it to your work. Having the ability to process information and data, analyze it, and draw conclusions that can be applied to your sales is an important skill.

• Problem solving. Oftentimes, your leads are coming to you because they have a problem and believe your product or service can solve it. Solving problems for leads and clients is part of your regular duties. This may come from a first sale, or a cross-sell or up-sell opportunity for an existing client to help continue to solve ongoing problems they may face.

• Collaboration. As a sales rep, you’ll likely be a member of a sales team. You’ll be asked to work closely with other sales reps and managers to accomplish tasks and close sales, especially high-value deals. Most of the time, you’ll have to work with and depend on your team for success, both individually and for your company as a whole. Collaborating and working well with others can be a key to that success.

Listening. By listening to your clients actively and closely, you’ll be able to better understand their needs and pain points, which will in turn give you the opportunity to provide solutions for those challenges. The solution you provide a client should be the one that’s right for them, so listening closely during each discussion will help ensure a successful sale.

In order to find success as a sales rep, you’ll want to be self-motivated and ambitious. Often your success is defined by yourself and how hard you’re willing to work to generate leads and prospects and close sales. You should be motivated to be successful and help your customers, and also motivating to other team members. 

Technology has evolved the practice of sales significantly, so having the ability to be coached, being open to new ideas, and adaptability are great traits to have. Strong sales rep candidates are also typically social, collaborative, and outgoing. Being a people person can help establish the trust and rapport it often takes to close a sale. 

Finally, you should have a passion for selling. If you’re passionate about what you’re selling, that’s even better. That passion often comes out in your interactions with prospects and customers, and doing what you love will help ensure success for you and your company.