Crafting an effective sales resume serves multiple crucial purposes. First, it can significantly boost your prospects of securing interviews. Beyond the obvious, it also strives to instill enthusiasm in potential interviewers, setting the stage for engaging conversations. Finally, a well-crafted resume functions as a roadmap, ensuring that interviews flow smoothly.
By providing hiring managers the essential information upfront, you enable them to delve deeper into pertinent questions and better assess your suitability for the role.
This guide will review the three most critical sections of your resume along with providing tangible formatting examples to ensure you stand out when applying to new roles.
Table of contents:
Overview of your roles
Profile of Accounts You Sell Into
New accounts, existing accounts or both
Territory - size of accounts, location, verticals
What do you sell?
What industry and space is the product you sell?
SaaS Software, Services or Hard-ware?
Personas
Who do you engage in your sales process?
Example:
Your selling process / motion
Deal Size
Range of deals you sold
If SaaS - measured in ARR or MRR? Do you secure multi year commitments?
Sales Process
Is your sales process consultative or high-velocity?
What are the steps of your sales process?
Do you conduct outbound prospecting efforts in your role?
Do you run your own demos?
Do you leverage channel partners?
Sales Methodologies used
You also may want to include....
Do you represent the company at trade-shows?
Do you travel on-site to customers?
Were you one of the first 3-4 account executives?
Did you build a territory from scratch?
Example:
Stats/achievements
Your resume's essence lies in your stats and accomplishments. Whether you consistently hit quotas or faced challenges, it's crucial to creatively showcase your story through these metrics.
If a year didn't meet expectations and you didn't reach your target, that's fine. Being transparent and stating that you achieved 70% of the target in a tough year can be a positive approach and avoid choppiness in interviews (they are going to ask). Be ready to explain why you're proud of your achievements, even in difficult situations, and how those experiences prepare you for success in new environments.
If you missed your annual quota, but were a strong performer on the team, use stack ranking and averages to tell a compelling story.
What To Include
Revenue generated
Quota (If above 60%)
Stack Rank (if top 20% performer)
Average team attainment (If you're in the top 10% and missed quotat)
Awards
Anything notable that would grab positive attention
Note: Don't lie about stats. Given how small the SaaS industry is, the truth will often come out (either during the interview, a backdoor reference, etc.)
Example
Final Suggestions
Format: keep it simple and sharp. Avoid lengthy bullets. Multiple pages acceptable
Summary Section: Optional unless making a career change
Company Descriptions: Can be useful to call out company stage or provide background on lesser known companies
Keywords/skills: Generally not necessary for most sales positions
Education: Include degree and NCAA athletic involvement including captainship
About ClosedWon Talent
We help startups build revenue teams for long-term success.
We're not traditional recruiters. Led by a founding team with a blend of GTM leadership at bootstrapped, Seed, and Series A startups along with deep expertise in GTM recruiting by supporting 150+ funded startups since 2019.
Are you a candidate looking for a great role at a fast-growing startup? Fill out our confidential wishlist here and we'll let you know as soon as we have a potential match to review with you!
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