Sales Managers

Summary

Sales managers set sales goals, analyze data, and develop training programs for the organization’s sales representatives.

Quick Facts: Sales Managers
2010 Median Pay	$98,530 per year $47.37 per hour
Entry-Level Education	Bachelor’s degree
Work Experience in a Related Occupation	1 to 5 years
On-the-job Training	None
Number of Jobs, 2010	342,100
Job Outlook, 2010-20	12% (About as fast as average)
Employment Change, 2010-20	40,100

What Sales Managers Do

Sales managers direct organizations' sales teams. They set sales goals, analyze data, and develop training programs for the organization’s sales representatives.

Work Environment

Sales managers are often required to travel. Most sales managers work full time, and long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common.

How to Become a Sales Manager

Most sales managers have a bachelor’s degree and work experience as a sales representative.

Pay

The median annual wage of sales managers was $98,530 in May 2010.

Job Outlook

Employment of sales managers is expected to grow 12 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations. As the economy grows, organizations will focus on generating new sales through more effective sales management.

Similar Occupations

Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of sales managers with similar occupations.

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Contacts for More Information

Learn more about sales managers by contacting these additional resources.

What Sales Managers Do About this section

Sales managers recruit, hire, and train new members of the sales staff.

Sales managers direct organizations' sales teams. They set sales goals, analyze data, and develop training programs for the organization’s sales representatives.

Duties

Sales managers typically do the following:

• Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs
• Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service
• Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures
• Monitor customer preferences to determine the focus of sales efforts
• Analyze sales statistics
• Project sales and determine the profitability of products and services
• Determine discount rates or special pricing plans
• Plan and coordinate training programs for sales staff

Sales managers’ responsibilities vary with the size of the organization they work for. However, most sales managers direct the distribution of goods and services by assigning sales territories, setting sales goals, and establishing training programs for the organization’s sales representatives.

In some cases, they recruit, hire, and train new members of the sales staff. For more information about sales workers, see the profiles on retail sales workers and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives.

Sales managers advise sales representatives on ways to improve their sales performance. In large multiproduct organizations, they oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.

Sales managers also stay in contact with dealers and distributors. They analyze sales statistics that their staff gathers, both to determine the sales potential and inventory requirements of products and stores and to monitor customers' preferences.

Sales managers work closely with managers from other departments. For example, the marketing department identifies new customers that the sales department can target. The relationship between these two departments is critical to helping an organization expand its client base. Because sales managers monitor customers’ preferences and stores’ and organizations’ inventory needs, they work closely with research and design departments and warehousing departments.

Work Environment About this section

Long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common.

Sales managers held about 342,100 jobs in 2010.

Sales managers have a lot of responsibility, and the position can be stressful. Many sales managers travel to national, regional, and local offices and to dealers’ and distributors’ offices.

Sales managers were concentrated in the following industries in 2010:

Work Schedules

Most sales managers work full time. Long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common. 

How to Become a Sales Manager About this section

Most sales managers have a bachelor’s degree and previous work experience as a sales representative.

Most sales managers have a bachelor’s degree and work experience as a sales representative.

Education

Most sales managers have a bachelor’s degree, although some have a master’s degree. Educational requirements are less strict for job candidates who have significant experience as a sales representative. Courses in business law, management, economics, accounting, finance, mathematics, marketing, and statistics are advantageous.

Work Experience

Work experience is typically required for someone to become a sales manager. The preferred duration varies, but employers usually seek candidates who have at least 1 to 5 years of experience.

Sales managers typically enter the occupation from other sales and related occupations, such as sales representatives or purchasing agents. In small organizations, the number of sales manager positions is often limited, so advancement for sales workers usually comes slowly. In large organizations, promotion may occur more quickly.

Important Qualities

Analytical skills. Sales managers must collect and interpret complex data to target the most promising areas and determine the most effective sales strategies.

Communication skills. Sales managers need to work with people in other departments and with customers, so they must be able to communicate clearly.

Customer-service skills. When helping to make a sale, sales managers must listen and respond to the customer’s needs.

Managerial skills. Sales managers must be able to evaluate how sales staff perform and develop ways for struggling members to improve.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage of sales managers was $98,530 in May 2010. The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $49,960, and the top 10 percent earned more than $166,400.

Compensation methods for sales managers vary significantly with the type of organization and the product sold. Most employers use a combination of salary and commissions or salary plus bonuses. Commissions usually are based on the value of sales, whereas bonuses may depend on individual performance, on the performance of all sales workers in the group or district, or on the organization's performance.

Most sales managers work full time. Long hours, including evenings and weekends, are common. 

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of sales managers is expected to grow 12 percent from 2010 to 2020, about as fast as the average for all occupations.

An effective sales team remains crucial for profitability. As the economy grows, organizations will focus on generating new sales and will look to their sales strategy as a way to increase competitiveness.

Growth is expected to be stronger for sales managers involved in business-to-business sales, rather than business-to-consumer sales, because the rise of online shopping will reduce the need for sales calls to individual consumers.

Sales managers and their departments are some of the most important personnel in an organization. Therefore, they are less likely to be let go or to have their jobs contracted out than are other types of managers, except in the case of organizations that are merging and consolidating.

Employment of these managers, therefore, is expected to vary primarily on the basis of growth or contraction in the industries that employ them.

Job Prospects

Strong competition is expected for jobs because other managers and highly experienced professionals often seek these jobs.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For more information about sales managers, visit

Sales Management Association