5 Regional Sales Manager Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

As a regional sales manager looking for a new job, there are several things that you need to consider when updating your resume. Not all sales jobs are the same and neither should your resume for each regional sales management position you apply for.

During our journey toward building a stand-out regional sales manager resume, we will cover some of the common issues that sales managers face when crafting each section. We will use real-world resume examples to show you how to:

• Emphasize your skills as a territorial manager, capturing marketing trends, and forecasting sales through quantifying specific metrics.
• Demonstrate familiarity and proficiency with customer relationship management (CRM) software, lead generation, and other sales tools.
• Showcase leadership abilities and interpersonal skills through team collaboration, mentoring new sales agents, and working with upper management.
• Tailor your resume to the specific job post to increase your chances of getting an interview.

By the time we are done, you will have a solid template that you can use and easily update with the kind of information recruiters and hiring teams prefer to see from new regional sales managers.

If this guide for a regional sales manager resume does not quite fit with your career plans, here are some similar resume guides you can check out:

• Retail Sales Manager resume
• Branch Sales Manager resume
• Sales Account Manager resume
• Online Sales Manager resume
• Sales Development Manager resume

The first step in building an attention-grabbing regional sales manager resume is to use the correct format. If you don’t, it would be like trying to sell a flamethrower to an Eskimo. Sure, you can do it, but I don’t think you will like the results.

How to format a regional sales manager resume

HR staff, headhunters, and job placement companies expect each resume they receive to follow a specific format, no matter what type of job. Formatting is more important now than ever with the rise in popularity of applicant tracking systems. We’ll touch on this a little bit later on.

The standard resume format has the same default settings for most word-processing apps like Microsoft Word and Google Docs. These settings are:

• One-inch margins on all sides
• Single line spacing
• Font size between 10-12 points

When choosing a font, stick with a serif or sans-serif type. Aerial and Times New Roman are classic examples of this type, as are more modern fonts, like Volkhov, Raleway, Rubix, Montserrat, and Exo 2.

These and other modern fonts, along with the correct settings and standard resume sections, are included in Enhancv resume templates. You can select from a wide range of styles, including single and two-column layouts.

Why should you go with a two-column layout? It allows you to display more information on a single page and prevents over-scrolling. Anyone with more than 5-10 years of experience within the same sales field should go with this layout.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. Try out the different styles and go with the one you like the most.

Your completed resume should be no more than two pages long and list all dated information in reverse chronological order. This only applies to the work experience and education and certification sections.

The very top section of your resume is the header. In this section, you will include your full name, job title, and contact information including phone and email. Make sure you use a professional email address. According to a LinkedIn article, 76% of resumes are discarded due to unprofessional email addresses.

A professional resume header will look something like this:

Do you have a completed regional sales manager resume? Run it through our resume checker to see how it compares to other professional resumes.

Before we start building, let’s take a look at the top regional sales manager resume sections, along with what recruiters most want to see from potential sales managers.

When you are ready to apply for a job, save your resume as a PDF document (.pdf). This document type retains the format of your resume no matter what operating system the company is using.

Now that you have the basic layout of your resume set, let’s start adding some details starting with your past regional sales manager experience. For those looking for your first regional sales manager job, we will go over what type of jobs you can add to this section later on.

How to write your regional sales manager resume experience

Creating an attention-getting regional sales manager resume that impresses HR teams and managers requires a little bit of work. No two sales jobs are exactly alike, and you will need to tailor your resume to the job specifications.

The resume experience section will include past regional sales management experience within a specified sales field, such as pharmaceuticals, retail electronics, and software sales. Each job entry will need to include the following:

• Job title
• Company name, location, and sales industry
• Dates of employment
• 4-8 detailed bullet points

To demonstrate how you can make the most out of this section, we will look at a real-world example from a regional sales manager's resume so you can avoid some of the common mistakes that happen in this section.

This first example does a poor job of making a good impression on anyone reading this work experience. It starts off well by quantifying a sales metric but falls short of giving essential information to demonstrate their sales accomplishments and leadership abilities.

Avoid vague descriptions like “Created and managed sales incentive programs” and “Established and maintained relationships with key customers.”  It creates more questions than answers and does little to show the recruiter how this person produces positive results.

A hiring manager reading this section should be able to see more than just the job duties. They should get a sense of how their actions profited the company.

By adding more details to the bullet points, we now have a better picture of this person’s abilities and what they bring to the table.  You can see how adding numbers and percentages to this section can greatly improve it.

This example focuses on several metrics that recruiters search for, including:

• Quantifying multiple sales metrics that show profit increases, market expansion, and improved customer retention rates
• Demonstrating leadership abilities and how the training programs improved new sales agents techniques
• Showcasing relationship-building strategies and how those strategies improve customer retention and satisfaction scores

Next, we will show you additional metrics that you can quantify on your resume.

How to quantify impact on your resume

Recruiters are well aware of the job duties of a regional sales manager and they need to see more than just a job list of duties and responsibilities. They want to see how you used your skills and experience to benefit the company and increase their profits. If you don’t include this information, you are less likely to get an invitation to interview.

Here are some more real-world examples from regional sales manager resumes that quantify important sales metrics.

• Number of regions or territories managed: “Managed five territories in the greater Los Angeles area and added 5-10 sales agents per territory, which led to a 15% increase in sales.”
• Percentage of increased sales: “Developed sales strategies based on individualized targets and account bases to grow market share by 35%.”
• Revenue growth achieved under your leadership: “Developed and implemented new training initiatives for young sales agents, which led to a 23% increase in sales from first-year sales agents.”
• Revenue managed: “Managed and refined 4 revenue streams to increase efficiency while developing 3 new revenue streams to tap into the sales potential of social media influencers, which led to a 48% increase in product sales over three months.”
• Decrease in customer turnover rates: “Implemented new customer retention programs within the first three weeks that decreased turnover rates by 13%.”
• New customer or account acquisition: “During annual sales conference, met with company reps to promote products, which increased customer acquisitions by 15% year-over-year.”
• Reduction in sales cycle times: “Reviewed sales cycles and implemented or redesigned various stages that reduced time-to-close by 34%.”
• Increases in cross-sell and up-sell opportunities: “Developed new product incentives and giveaways that produced up-sell opportunities by 20% and increased sales of relatable products by 13%.”

You don’t need to quantify every bullet point in your work experience. Only focus on the metrics listed in the job post. This will give you a more targeted resume and show your future boss that you studied the job requirements.

How do I write a regional sales manager resume with no experience

If this is your first regional sales manager position, congratulations on reaching this career milestone. Every great regional manager once stood on the shores of the first-timers, and you should give yourself a pat on the back for making it this far.

With a little guidance, your resume will highlight your career progression through relevant jobs where you gained the skills and experience necessary to become an effective regional sales manager.

Entry-level managerial positions require a minimum of 5 years of experience, with more senior-level positions requiring 10-15+ years. How far back should you go when listing relevant work experience?

You only want to include up to 3 jobs on your resume. Of those three jobs, each one should show how your career has progressed and highlight those skills that are necessary for a regional sales manager.

Let’s look at a first-time regional sales manager's resume to give you an idea of how you should list your relevant work experience:

Notice how there are two separate entries for Callaway Golf. Internal movements within a company where you have new responsibilities should always be a separate job.

That way, you can better define the duties of each position and highlight a major promotion.

Tailoring your regional sales manager resume experience section

Job hunting is a time-consuming task that requires searching through dozens, if not hundreds, of job posts. For each job, you’ll need to tailor your resume to fit with the specified duties and responsibilities listed in the post.

Let’s take a look at an example of a recent regional sales manager job post.

This example is a good example of having to study the job details to find the keywords and metrics you want to focus on, which include:

• Leadership abilities and experience working with front-line employees, sales agents, and executives
• Experience with large territories that require frequent traveling
• Memberships in professional associations and local networking groups
• Familiarity with regulatory compliance within the medical insurance field

Each job will have its own unique set of requirements, so study carefully before you submit your resume.

How to list your hard skills and soft skills on your resume

As a regional sales manager, you have plenty of technical, business, and personal skills that you use every day to do your job well. These next few sections are dedicated to listing relevant skills, from report analysis and experience with CRM software to inspiring new agents to meet and exceed their sales quotas.

What are hard and soft skills? Hard skills define those skills and knowledge you pick up through post-secondary education, internships, and part-time and full-time jobs. They include vital skills such as reading market trend reports and building an effective sales strategy based on those findings.

Soft skills include more natural skills, like expressing empathy and being able to work with all types of customers and employees. These are more natural skills that you pick up through daily experiences with peers, family, and friends.  While these are not necessarily learned like hard skills, there are classes and workshops that focus on essential soft skills training to improve negotiation tactics and how to be a better communicator.

Let’s talk about applicant tracking system and the best way to add your skills. Applicant tracking systems search each resume for specified keywords that recruiters enter to find potential candidates. If the job post lists ‘profit and loss management’ as a required skill, you need to include this on your resume.

How should you list hard and soft skills? The best option is to match the skill word for word. That way, you know the system will recognize it and score your resume appropriately.

Here are some of the top skills that recruiters search for:

In addition to the resume experience section, you can place those skills you are proficient in in the resume summary/objective, header, technical skills, personal skills, and other sections.

Let’s turn our attention to your education and advanced training, which you want to include no matter how long ago you graduated.

How to list your certifications and education on your resume

A post-secondary degree from an accredited university shows future employers that you have a strong foundation of skills and knowledge to become an effective regional sales manager. Plus, some certification programs rmay equire a bachelor’s degree as a basic requirement.

While entry-level sales jobs may only require a high school diploma, management positions will requigre a higher education along with sales and leadership certifications.

When listing your education, you want to include the following:

• Degree name
• School name and location
• Dates of enrollment

List all education in reverse chronological order, like so:

You only need to include bullet points for your college course work if you only have one or two years of work experience under your belt.

You will list your certifications in a similar way but only need to include the certificate name and the company who provided the training.

You can also include this information in a few other places. For the header, you can write your title as “CPSL-Regional Sales Manager.”

In the resume summary, you can write “CSP-Regional Sales Manager with 12+ years of experience…”

If you are looking to advance your career and increase your earning potential, consider applying for one of these sales certifications:

The resume summary/objective is another section that you will tailor to the job post to improve your chances of getting noticed.

How to write your regional sales manager resume summary or objective

The way you write this section will depend on where you are currently at in your career. Those with less than 5 years of experience will write a resume objective. This option lists your career objectives and the skills and experience you have.

If you have 5-10+ years of experience in sales in the same field, you will write a resume summary. A good summary paints a clear picture of an experienced sales manager's career to date and highlights certain accomplishments that are inline with what the company is looking for. IE any sales or customer retention metric listed in the job post.

If the job post states: “Assists in the formation of annual sales strategies,” your resume summary should quantify this metric: “Developed and implemented 4 sales strategies that produced a 38% increase in sales.”

Let’s take a look at a real-world regional sales manager resume summary for tips on writing this important section.

This is a good start to a compelling resume summary, but it falls short in a few areas. They do a good job of highlighting their long career and their passion for strong client relationships, which is something recruiters like to see. They also mention how their analytical skills can benefit the company.

The biggest problem is the flow. Your writing skills are equally important as your oral communication skills, and this example does not reflect this.

The first two sentences read a little choppy, and there is a grammatical error that may make some people cringe. Prioritize should be prioritized. This is a summary of your career and is written in the past tense.

Let’s see if we can improve this by making a few additions and changes:

Now we have a summary that will impress any future employer looking for an effective sales leader. This example does a great job of:

• Highlighting specific sales field: “B2B medical technology”
• Quantifying a critical sales metric: “38% increase in customer retention”
• Demonstrating leadership capabilities: “Led an annual sales leadership workshop since 2021”
• Showcasing what they bring to the table: “Highly motivated to improve sales program efficiency and increase profits”

When writing out your job title, always capitalize it and include any certificate abbreviations if it is a requirement.  

Additional sections for a regional sales manager resume

In the main sections of your resume, you have detailed your past work experience, education, and technical and business skills. While you have added a lot of detail to these sections, there’s still more that you can add.

Let’s say you’ve been recognized for your outstanding sales achievements and received an award. Maybe you wrote a book or article on sales techniques, or you speak a foreign language. These sections and others will help you create a more targeted resume.  

For those with sales awards and achievements, you can list them in Enhancv Awards section:

Including any publications highlights your expertise in that sales area and is a very impressive feat:

If the job post calls for experience with a foreign language, you will want to highlight your proficiency with that language:

Enhancv resume templates include a number of additional resume sections to make your resume even more impressive, including:

• Quote section: Include a favorite quote of yours or a mentor that describes your sales philosophy.
• References: A professional business contact can give recruits a keen insight into your performance and abilities.
• Day of My Life: Demonstrate your organizational skills with a breakdown of your daily schedule or how you tackle a project.
• Passions: Describe what you are passionate about and how that passion makes you a better salesperson and leader.

These sections fit nicely as a side column in a two-column resume layout.  

Including key sales accomplishments on your resume

Before we conclude our journey toward building a better regional sales manager resume, there is one additional section to talk about. Highlighting a key accomplishment, like far exceeding sales goals over a period of time, is a great way to get HR staff eager to meet you.

What kind of accomplishments can you list? Focus on any key metric listed in the job post, such as:

• Sales performance
• Market expansion
• Team leadership and development
• Strategic initiatives
• Customer retention
• Training and coaching

Key takeaways

As a regional sales manager, you have a plethora of skills and knowledge that make you an effective salesperson and a well-respected leader. During this guide, we’ve shown you what areas to focus on to impress hiring managers and get an invitation to interview. We used real-world resume examples to show you how to:

• Tailor each section of your resume to include key details from the job post.
• Quantify various sales metrics to highlight how you used your skills and training to produce increases in profit and territory expansion.
• Detail leadership skills through team accomplishments and mentoring junior sales agents.
• Demonstrate knowledge and experience with necessary sales tools like CRM software, Google Analytics, and Salesforce.