Sales Managers

What Sales Managers Do

Sales managers direct organizations’ sales teams.

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Work Environment

Sales managers often are required to travel. Most sales managers work full time, and they often have to work additional hours on evenings and weekends.

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 for sales managers was $126,640 in May 2019.

Job Outlook

Employment of sales managers is projected to grow 4 percent from 2019 to 2029, about as fast as the average for all occupations. Employment growth of these managers will depend primarily on growth or contraction in the industries that employ them.

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

Duties

Sales managers typically do the following:

• Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service
• Prepare budgets and approve 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
• Develop plans to acquire new customers or clients through direct sales techniques, cold calling, and business-to-business marketing visits
• Assign sales territories and set sales quotas
• Plan and coordinate training programs for sales staff

Sales managers’ responsibilities vary with the size of their organizations. 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.

Sales managers recruit, hire, and train new members of the sales staff, including 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 generated from their staff 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 in the organization. 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. Sales managers also work closely with research and design departments because they know customers’ preferences, and with warehousing departments because they know inventory needs.

Sales managers are increasingly using data on customer shopping habits to identify potential customers more effectively. This allows them more time to facilitate sales through customized sales pitches to individual customers.

The following are examples of types of sales managers:

Business to business (B2B) sales managers oversee sales from one business to another. These managers may work for a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler, or a wholesaler selling to a retailer. Examples of these workers include sales managers overseeing sales of software to business firms, and sales managers overseeing wholesale food sales to grocery stores.

Business to consumer (B2C) sales managers oversee direct sales between businesses and individual consumers. These managers typically work in retail settings. Examples of these workers include sales managers of automobile dealerships and department stores.

Sales managers held about 433,800 jobs in 2019. The largest employers of sales managers were as follows:

Wholesale trade	19%
Retail trade	16
Professional, scientific, and technical services	11
Manufacturing	10
Finance and insurance	9

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.

Work Schedules

Most sales managers work full time, and they often have to work additional hours on evenings and weekends.

This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of sales managers.

	Occupation	Job Duties	Entry-Level Education	Median Annual Pay, May 2019
	Advertising, Promotions, and Marketing Managers	Advertising, promotions, and marketing managers plan programs to generate interest in products or services.	Bachelor’s degree	$135,900
	Advertising Sales Agents	Advertising sales agents sell advertising space to businesses and individuals.	High school diploma or equivalent	$53,310
	Market Research Analysts	Market research analysts study market conditions to examine potential sales of a product or service.	Bachelor’s degree	$63,790
	Retail Sales Workers	Retail sales workers help customers find products they want and process customers’ payments.	No formal educational credential	$25,440
	Sales Engineers	Sales engineers sell complex scientific and technological products or services to businesses.	Bachelor’s degree	$103,900
	Wholesale and Manufacturing Sales Representatives	Wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives sell goods for wholesalers or manufacturers to businesses, government agencies, and other organizations.	See How to Become One	$63,000
	Public Relations and Fundraising Managers	Public relations managers direct the creation of materials that will enhance the public image of their employer or client. Fundraising managers coordinate campaigns that bring in donations for their organization.	Bachelor’s degree	$116,180
	Public Relations Specialists	Public relations specialists create and maintain a favorable public image for the organization they represent.	Bachelor’s degree	$61,150
	Purchasing Managers, Buyers, and Purchasing Agents	Buyers and purchasing agents buy products and services for organizations. Purchasing managers oversee the work of buyers and purchasing agents.	Bachelor’s degree	$69,600
	Insurance Sales Agents	Insurance sales agents contact potential customers and sell one or more types of insurance.	High school diploma or equivalent	$50,940

For more information about sales managers, visit

Sales Management Association

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Sales Managers

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Sales Managers