INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales positions are at a 5% growth rate, which is slower than average. With that said, there are currently 1,625,700 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 77,600 to 1,703,300 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales jobs was $65,420 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $31,950, and the highest 10% more than $129,200.
Our conclusion? The Wholesale & Manufacturing Sales job market is wide open for candidates.
Top independent sales consultant sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
An independent sales consultant resume experience section to be proud of
Writing a strong experience section for your independent sales consultant resume:
- List your previous jobs in chronological or reverse-chronological format;
- Use no more than 4-6 bullets per position;
- Mention only relevant work experience;
- Describe the tasks you were responsible for and how you managed to exceed expectations;
- Show you’re able to take charge by choosing action verbs over buzzwords.
Looking for real-life examples of what a strong experience section looks like? Check out our suggestions below!
- Earn money by recommending & selling Jumia products.
- Control & freedom over my activities.
- Earn from recruiting people.
- Experience personal growth by managing my own business & multiple training[s].
- Developed and implemented a new sales strategy that increased revenue by 30% in the first quarter.
- Generated $500,000 in sales revenue by successfully closing deals with new clients.
- Created and maintained relationships with key clients, resulting in a 25% increase in repeat business.
- Provided exceptional customer service by responding to client inquiries in a timely and professional manner.
- Conducted market research to identify new opportunities for business growth.
- Consistently exceeded sales targets by 20% on a quarterly basis.
- Developed and implemented a new customer retention program that increased client retention by 15%.
- Created and delivered presentations to potential clients, resulting in $2 million in new business.
- Collaborated with cross-functional teams to develop and implement sales and marketing strategies.
- Mentored and trained junior sales team members to improve their performance.
- Achieved over £100,000 in sales revenue in the first six months of employment.
- Converted over 50% of self-generated pipeline to closed deals.
- Utilized problem-solving and analytical capabilities to identify optimal energy solutions for each client.
- Maintained accurate account management data and ensured prompt delivery of quotes to customers.
- Built long-term relationships with clients resulting in repeat business and referrals.
- Exceeded business KPIs for outbound calls and closed deals.
- Collaborated with energy suppliers to provide customized energy contracts for clients.
- Provided exceptional customer service and maintained high satisfaction ratings from clients.
PRO TIP
Don't make the same mistake everyone else does. What we mean is, don't list your Independent Sales Consultant job responsibilities instead of your achievements. Recruiters know what you do. They want to know what kind of difference you can bring to their company. Focus on what you've accomplished.
Action verbs for your independent sales consultant resume
Recommended reads:
Taking Control of Your Independent Sales Consultant Resume’s Skills Section
A skills section that shows what you’re capable of includes:
- Keywords from the job advert to help you pass ATS;
- Both hard and soft skills, incl. technical skills and people skills;
- Skills that are relevant to the position you’re applying for;
- No more than 15 skills – to keep your resume readable.
Top skills for your independent sales consultant resume
Salesforce
MS Office
CRM
Forecasting
Cold Calling
Business Development
Customer Service
Project Management
Relationship Building
Time Management
Storytelling
Research / Information Gathering.
Critical Thinking
Problem Solving.
Tech Savvy
Networking
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
Recommended reads:
Independent Sales Consultant Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
Checklist for your independent sales consultant resume header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have non-discrimination policies about what kind of information can be included on your Independent Sales Consultant resume. This might include a photo (which is often included in a resume header and might be on personal web pages you link to). You can always email the company’s HR department to ask about their policies before you apply.
An independent sales consultant resume summary that spotlights your achievements
Checklist: a strong Independent Sales Consultant resume summary:
- Use adjectives that highlight the character traits you’re most proud of;
- Mention 1-2 of your biggest achievements;
- Add keywords from the job advert to increase your chances of passing ATS;
- Keep the recruiter’s attention by going for short sentences.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Highlight specific past projects that you’re most proud of in your summary. It sets an excellent tone for the rest of your resume. You can talk about all of your former jobs in your work experience section later on.
Recommended reads:
Creating an impressive education section for your independent sales consultant resume
The education section: checklist
- List your degrees in reverse-chronological order;
- Include your degree subject, place of study, name of institution, and year of graduation;
- Add a line or two about your relevant certifications;
- Mention some classes and projects that have helped you gain additional skills.
Top certifications for your independent sales consultant resume
Become an Independent Business Consultant Today
A step by step guide to launch your work-from-home, freelance consulting business.
Sales Analysis for Management Consultants
A practical guide on how to improve sales and marketing of your customers during consulting projects like McKinsey, BCG,
Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultant Certification Course
Salesforce Sales Cloud Consultants are in demand. Take your Salesforce Career to the Next Level and Become a Consultant.
Strategy for Management Consultants & Business Analysts
Top advices from consulting practice with examples and case studies
Sales Training: Practical Sales Techniques
Sales Hacking: Essential sales skills, sales strategies and sales techniques to sell just about anything!
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PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
A professional format for your independent sales consultant resume
There are some aspects worth taking into consideration when choosing the format of your Independent Sales Consultant resume. These include the position and company you’re applying for, your total years of experience, whether you’ve been through some employment gaps, and so on.
Generally speaking, there are three basic resume formats for you to choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional skills-based resume format;
- Combination (or Hybrid) resume format.
The reverse-chronological resume format is just that: all your jobs listed in a reverse-chronological way, starting from the most recent and moving backward. It’s great for highly experienced professionals with over 10 years in the industry behind their backs. The reason for this: it’s almost entirely focused on experience and achievements.
The functional skills-based resume format, on the other hand, is just the opposite. It’s based on your skills, personality, and expertise. It highlights what you’re capable of even when you don’t have sufficient work experience. This makes it great for students, recent graduates, or people with larger career gaps.
If neither of these sounds like you, go for the combination resume format. It’s a combination of the best characteristics of other formats, which makes it great for showcasing different aspects of your career and education. It also gives you plenty of options to choose from – in terms of colors, structure, and sections.
Check out our additional tips on perfecting your Independent Sales Consultant resume’s style and layout:
- Choose traditional 1-inch resume margins;
- Go for a serif or sans serif resume font that’s easy to read yet looks professional (e.g. Arial, Verdana, or Calibri);
- Keep your Independent Sales Consultant resume short: one-page template are preferable, but if you have over 10 years of experience, you can also go for a two-page format;
- Save your resume as PDF and choose a suitable name, e.g. NameSurnameResume;
Tired of looking for ways to make your resume stand out? Read this article!
Recommended reads.":
PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Independent Sales Consultant resume layout, you can use a creative layout. Getting noticed is the most important challenge and a creative resume layout might help you get invited for an interview as most of other accountants have boring resume designs.
Additional sections for your independent sales consultant resume
After drafting the required sections of your Independent Sales Consultant resume, it’s now time to move to something a bit more fun. There are a number of sections you can add to your resume depending on the company, the position, and how you’re feeling in general:
Adding the right kind of creativity to your independent sales consultant resume
It is through creativity that we express ourselves. And trust us, it’s important to show at least a bit of your personality if you want to leave a strong first impression.
But what are the ways to add creativity to your Independent Sales Consultant resume? Well, you can either go for a colorful and engaging template, or you could add some out-of-the-box sections, such as ‘life philosophy’ or ‘what my typical day looks like’.
It’s up to you! Just make sure that the level of creativity matches the position, the company, and the industry you’re applying for.
What makes a great independent sales consultant resume: key takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
