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6 Sales Associate Resume Examples...

6 Sales Associate Resume Examples & Guide for 2024

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You’re a star seller with multiple skills under your belt. You’re outgoing, dependable, and care deeply about your customers. You live and breathe sales.

But…

When you send your resume, you can’t sell yourself well enough.

Somehow you find that demonstrating you can handle a cold call and hit sales quotas is no longer sufficient.

The future of sales is here and it will require you to adapt to the rapidly progressing technological advancements such as artificial intelligence and chatbots to stay relevant.

Buyers want to deal with Subject Matter Experts (SME), not salespeople. So salespeople need to become domain experts or work with their own SMEs to help buyers move forward toward their goal.

Barrett Sales Trends Report 2018

According to Gartner Research, 2015, by 2020 85% of interactions between businesses will be executed without human interaction - reducing the need for many sales roles. While that holds true, as soon as a sale gets more complex than a simple transaction, customers want to interact with people.

A modern customer, however, no longer requires the help of a traditional sales associate and is instead interested in a ‘trusted advisor’ - especially when they encounter a problem with the product/service.

We are also seeing a distinct shift away from generalist salespeople to salespeople becoming business and domain experts. A modern sales associate is well versed in the digital experience, omnichannel customer experience, and more.

These dramatic changes require sales associates to step up and elevate their game if they are to survive.

To start off, you’ll need to boast a resume that places you above the competition and helps you navigate the uncertainty and complexity of the modern sales landscape.

Our sales associate resume guide provides clear and concise steps to putting together a stellar resume.

What you’ll learn here:

  • Go through a real job winning Sales Associate resume
  • How to make a positive first impression
  • How to Write a Sales Associate Resume objective
  • How should you frame your sales associate experience

Looking for related resumes?

How to write a sales associate resume

Imagine if you went into every sales call or meeting with an identical pitch.

You wouldn’t last a week.

But that’s how most sales associates approach their resumes. You need to carefully choose your sections and how you frame your experience to appeal to the exact position you’re applying for. Fortunately, you do that every day in your sales work, so you know the drill.

Sales associate resumes tend to be fairly straightforward, with only 3-5 sections depending on whether you include certifications and education.

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The top sales associate resume sections

  • Sales experience
  • Sales associate resume objective
  • Sales skills
  • Certifications
  • Education

That said, you have limited time and space to make an impression, so make it count.

You header is your first impression

Those few bits of information at the top of your resume are your shirt, your handshake, your haircut, all the little details that can seem unimportant but together form the basis of a strong first impression.

In other words, make your resume header count!

ANGELICA PETERS
Sales Associate (CSA)
Phone
Email
Sioux Falls, SD
RIGHT
ANGELICA PETERS
Sales Associate
Phone
Email
Sioux Falls, SD
WRONG

Adding a linkedin profile (more on that in the Pro Tip below) and including a certification next to her title are small but important details. Again, like a nice outfit or a strong handshake, they’re not going to land you the job but they’re going to make a strong first impression.

pro tip icon
Pro tip:

If you’re applying for a B2B sales position, linkedin is a must. Include a link to your profile, but also try and develop a network you’re proud of there as the platform is becoming increasingly important in this type of sales. Showing you’re a strong networker will be a big advantage.

How to Write a Sales Associate Resume Objective

Sales associate positions require highly focused professional summaries that demonstrate sales experience and results.

Even if your sales experience is widely varied, stay laser-focused on your accomplishments and the value you can bring to the specific sales associate position you’re applying for.

For example, if you’re applying to be a retail sales associate, use your professional summary to emphasize your experience working in a busy environment with a focus on direct customers interactions and problem-solving.

pro tip icon
Pro tip:

Don't use the same professional summary for every job application. Look for keywords in the job posting that are related to your specific skill set and then use those within your professional summary.

Summary
Developed expert-level product knowledge of high-end fitness apparel during 7+ years of experience as a sales associate. Used understanding of products and customers’ desires to exceed sales goals by 20 percent for six consecutive months.
RIGHT

A great sales associate professional summary, such as the one above, will usually refer to the length of your sales associate experience and any retail management or sales leadership experience you have. Consider highlighting the average sales that you recorded in a typical hour or shift, highlighting any increases in sales and sharing examples of excellent or outstanding customer care. Use numbers wherever possible, highlighting the number of customers you worked with, proficiency in point of sale software systems (POS) or database user interface and query software, as well as knowledge and results in sales and marketing, in order to showcase your results and accomplishments.

Summary
People-oriented and hard-working sales associate with customer service experience seeking a position with Superdry.
WRONG

I can guarantee that whoever is reading your resume is sick of vague language like this. It tells your potential employer close to nothing about your specific sales experience, skills that make you stand out, or the value you’ll bring to the company. It also relies on overused resume buzzwords like ‘people-oriented’ and ‘hard-working’ with no accomplishments, numbers, or examples to back it up. It also points out you’re looking for a job, which is obvious enough if you applied.

pro tip icon
Pro tip

Use the professional summary in your sales associate resume to share the most important things you want your employer to know that might not appear elsewhere on your resume or to emphasize your most impressive achievements.

How should you frame your sales associate experience?

Focusing on results instead of duties and responsibilities is a sure way to make your sales associate resume stand out.

Make use of bullet points and cut out anything that’s not essential. Use your limited space to mention the high points of each position. List quantifiable achievements in a numerical manner if possible.

Consider the following sentence. Using a powerful action verb, coupled with a tangible, numerical result, produces a powerful statement.

“Implemented store layout changes that improved traffic and average customer time spent in store by 25%.”

Let’s see the power of this technique in action:

Experience
Sales Associate
Dogfish Head Brewing
Milton, Delaware
  • Acquired our first Canadian client, expanding distribution there to 10% of total sales within the first year.
  • Streamlined the sales process by transitioning the team to Pipedrive, reducing the average time spent per sale by 28%.
  • Improved customer retention by an average of 6 months building better relationships.
RIGHT

Now see what that same experience looks like without the impactful and specific language:

Experience
Sales Associate
Dogfish Head Brewing
Milton, Delaware
  • Expanded sales operations into new markets.
  • Responsible for improving lead management practices
  • Improved customer retention
WRONG

Does your sales associate resume need an education section?

There are no standard education or experience requirements for sales associate positions, but many employers prefer candidates with at least a high school diploma.

In-house job training for sales associates is often available in most companies. Such training may last from a few days to a month and it covers customer service principles, company procedures and protocols, and basic cashier duties.

Positions involving the sale of more advanced or complex products may require a college degree.

In so many words, if you have a degree, you may as well include it. But, it shouldn’t be at the top of your resume. A specific education section, might not be needed.

How should you decide which skills to include and emphasize?

Start by listing all your professional skills. Then, read the job description carefully and look for skills-related keywords. Make a note of those too and plan out your skills section.

Remember, that it should contain a list of your hard skills and a separate lisft of soft skills. Don't cramb them both in a single list! You should avoid common resume mistakes like that one.

Bonus points if you comb through the company website and socials too to get a better sense of what it is they’re looking for. Check how many of the skills mentioned in the job description are on your list. Those are the skills you’ll want to emphasize. Whenever possible, provide evidence for those skills in your resume summary and work experience section. As automation becomes the norm, the skills that are most in demand in sales are all about interacting with other people. These include team-building, idea generation, and collaborating to come up with creative solutions to problems.

The more expertise you can develop in empathy, teamwork, and communication, the more ‘future-proof’ you’ll be.

Eric Esfahanian, Senior Vice President at Gryphon Networks

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10 soft skills to include on a sales associate resume

  • Enthusiasm for the product and the company brand
  • Customer service
  • Sales
  • Product knowledge
  • Merchandising
  • Organization
  • Adaptability
  • Attention to detail
  • Positive attitude
  • Stress management
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4 Hard Skills to Include on a Sales Associate Resume

  • Point of Sale Systems (POS)
  • Assisting customers with online orders
  • Money handling and basic math skills
  • Data analysis

How to include your certifications on your resume

Skillful sales associates typically prove their prowess by their track records, not by accumulating certifications.

However, certifications can help differentiate you from the crowd, especially in an industry as competitive as sales.

Certifications can also help you gain confidence, which can spill over into the rest of your application process and positively impact the hiring outcome.

Finally, employers are always looking for people who never stop learning and advancing their knowledge and skills.

Include certifications only if they are relevant to the sales job to which you are applying, they’re real and recognized, and you have actually earned them and have proof that you did.

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Pro tip

Lead your sales associate resume with a certification that is in high demand by employers looking for sales talent. Labor market research websites such as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics often publish data about which certifications are in demand for a particular career.

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The top 6 sales associate certifications

  • Challenger Sales
  • Spin Selling
  • Sandler Training
  • Rise Up
  • Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP)
  • Certified Sales Associate (CSA)

What are the tricks for the best sales associate resume?

  • Focus on showing you can become a domain expert and help customers achieve their goals
  • Use simple and well-formatted design and layout
  • Focus on your biggest past sales accomplishments
  • Quantify whenever possible
  • Placing the most important parts of your resume first, creating a funnel of priority
  • Use action verbs to generate interest and highlight your accomplishments
  • Pay special attention to your professional summary - keep it brief and punchy
  • Match your sales skills list with the skills required in the job posting

Sales Associate resume examples

Explore additional sales associate resume samples and guides and see what works for your level of experience or role.

By Experience

Senior Sales Associate

As a Senior Sales Associate, your stronger skill set and comprehension of sales dynamics is essential. You should highlight your ability to lead and manage sales teams, illustrating how this led to increased sales performance. You should be able to demonstrate your skills in advanced sales strategies and negotiations, especially when these skills have facilitated major deals. Experience in sales analysis and forecasting is also important, with an emphasis on how these skills improved sales planning and outcomes. Furthermore, previous experience in training and guiding other sales associates, resulting in stronger sales teams and enhanced sales results, will significantly improve your chances.

By Role

Sales Associate Cashier

Sales Associate Cashiers largely originate from the retail, hospitality or customer service sectors, hence these job experiences can potentially impact your application. It's vital to feature experience in handling cash transactions as well as customer service on your resume. Be sure to not just list your skills, but demonstrate how they resulted in positive outcomes, such as 'improved customer service ratings by...'. Draw attention to your ability to work in a fast-paced environment and manage multiple tasks simultaneously. This job requires front-line customer interaction so highlighting any past experience in conflict resolution or customer service is crucial.
View Sales Associate Cashier Resume

Retail Sales Associate

The Retail Sales Associate role is now heavily influenced by customer service dynamics in the consumer industry. When applying for such positions, make sure to call attention to any experience and skills you have in customer service strategies including suggestive selling, upselling, and handling customer complaints. Cite particular cases where you provided excellent customer service. Exhibit your understanding about the specific products or services you're offering, as this boosts the shopper's experience. Showcase how your personality traits such as patience, empathy, a positive attitude or persuasiveness have improved sales numbers, brought back customers, or enhanced customer satisfaction. Use a "trait-action-result" method to make your application results-focused. Don't forget to acknowledge any experience with retail technology like point-of-sale systems, customer relationship management software, or inventory control tools as their proper utilization can enhance productivity and efficacy.

Gym Sales Associate

A Gym Sales Associate should have a mix of fitness and sales knowledge. They should understand fitness and wellness practices, and use this understanding to identify customer needs and suggest appropriate gym plans. They should be skilled in boosting sales and customer retention, potentially demonstrated by past experience of successful membership or service sales. They should also be able to plan and engage in promotional activities that enhance sales or customer engagement. Any previous experience with fitness-related digital platforms, and how they improved sales or customer interaction, is also beneficial.

Clothing Store Sales Associate

Many Clothing Store Sales Associates have backgrounds in fashion or retail sectors, so featuring similar experiences will help your application standout. Key things to highlight on your resume include proficiency in customer fitting sessions and comprehensive knowledge about trends in fashion. Mention how you have used such knowledge to help customers make purchasing decisions, for instance 'increased sales by...'. Additionally, showcasing your ability to organize and maintain an appealing store layout would also be beneficial. If you have used any retail software systems, be sure to include this as well.
sales associate resume example

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