Sales Managers

Summary

What Sales Managers Do About this section

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

Sales managers plan, direct, or coordinate the delivery of a product or service to the customer. They set sales goals, analyze data, and develop training programs for organizations’ sales representatives.

Duties

Sales managers typically do the following:

• Prepare budgets and approve expenditures
• Monitor customer preferences to determine the focus of sales efforts
• Analyze sales data
• Project sales and determine the profitability of products and services
• Develop plans to acquire new customers through techniques such as direct sales, cold calling, and business-to-business marketing
• Set sales goals for staff and monitor staff progress toward those goals
• Resolve customer complaints, especially those escalated by sales staff
• Plan and coordinate training programs for sales staff

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

Sales managers typically focus on either business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. B2B sales managers may work for a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler or for a wholesaler selling to a retailer. B2C sales managers oversee direct sales to individuals.

Sales managers recruit, hire, and train new members of the sales staff, including retail sales workers and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives. They also may assist staff members with presentations, with closing sales, and on ways to improve performance to meet their goals.

In large multiproduct organizations, sales managers may oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs. They communicate with dealers, manufacturers, and distributors; analyze sales data generated from their staff; and determine the sales potential of products or services for inventory purposes and to monitor customers' preferences.

Sales managers also work closely with managers from other departments within an organization. These departments may include marketing and sales, which identify and target new customers; research and design, which study customers’ preferences; and warehousing, which tracks inventory.

Work Environment About this section

Sales managers often work in an office, and their jobs may be stressful.

Sales managers held about 584,800 jobs in 2023. The largest employers of sales managers were as follows:

Sales managers typically work in an office or retail setting. Their work may be stressful, as their job security often is tied to metrics such as reaching sales goals within specified deadlines. They may be required to travel, such as to meet with sales staff, customers, or distributors.

Work Schedules

Most sales managers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. Working evenings or weekends may be required.

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.

Sales managers typically need a bachelor’s degree and work experience as a sales representative. For some jobs, workers qualify with a high school diploma.

Education

Sales managers typically need a bachelor’s degree, although some positions require a high school diploma. A common field of degree is business, which usually includes courses in management and marketing.

Work Experience in a Related Occupation

Work experience is typically required to become a sales manager. Employers usually prefer that candidates have several years of sales experience.

Sales managers typically enter the occupation from other sales and related occupations, such as retail sales workers, wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives, or purchasing agents.

Important Qualities

Analytical skills. Sales managers must track and interpret data to evaluate trends, develop goals, and determine sales strategies.

Communication skills. Sales managers need to convey ideas clearly to a wide range of people.

Computer skills. Sales managers must be able to use a variety of programs and applications, such as customer relationship management (CRM) and spreadsheet software, to track sales and build forecasting models.

Customer-service skills. Sales managers must listen and respond to customers’ needs in order to help make a sale.

Interpersonal skills. Sales managers must be able to build a rapport with colleagues and customers to be successful in their work.

Leadership skills. Sales managers must develop strategies for meeting sales goals and be able to motivate their sales staff to reach those goals.

Organizational skills. Sales managers must create and maintain order to manage their time, track the performance of sales representatives, and develop sales strategies.

Pay About this section

The median annual wage for sales managers was $135,160 in May 2023. 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 $63,700, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $239,200.

In May 2023, the median annual wages for sales managers in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:

Wage data are from nonfarm establishments. The data exclude self-employed workers and owners and partners in unincorporated businesses. Tips, sales commissions, and bonuses for meeting production targets are included in wages; premium pay, such as overtime and shift differentials, is not.

Compensation methods for sales managers may vary with the type of organization and the product sold. Employers usually pay sales managers using a combination of salary and commissions or salary plus bonuses. In general, commissions are a percentage of the type and amount of the good or service sold. Bonuses may depend on the performance of an individual, of all sales workers in the group or district, or of the organization.

Most sales managers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. Working evenings or weekends may be required.

Job Outlook About this section

Employment of sales managers is projected to grow 6 percent from 2023 to 2033, faster than the average for all occupations.

About 48,600 openings for sales managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.

Employment

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.

Online shopping is expected to continue to increase, meaning more sales will be completed without a sales worker involved in the transaction. However, brick-and-mortar retail stores also are expected to increase their emphasis on customer service as a way to compete with online sellers. Because sales managers will be needed to direct and navigate this mix between online and brick-and-mortar sales, sustained demand is expected for these workers.

State & Area Data About this section

Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)

The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The link(s) below go to OEWS data maps for employment and wages by state and area.

• Sales managers

Projections Central

Occupational employment projections are developed for all states by Labor Market Information (LMI) or individual state Employment Projections offices. All state projections data are available at www.projectionscentral.org. Information on this site allows projected employment growth for an occupation to be compared among states or to be compared within one state. In addition, states may produce projections for areas; there are links to each state’s websites where these data may be retrieved.

CareerOneStop

CareerOneStop includes hundreds of occupational profiles with data available by state and metro area. There are links in the left-hand side menu to compare occupational employment by state and occupational wages by local area or metro area. There is also a salary info tool to search for wages by zip code.

Contacts for More Information About this section

For more information about sales managers, visit

Sales Management Association

CareerOneStop

For a career video on sales managers, visit

Sales Managers

O*NET

Sales Managers