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 Sales Support Specialist sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a sales support specialist resume experience section
Sales support specialist resume's job experience checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Sales Support Specialist resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- providing timeous and accurate quotations
- Work closely with Account Managers, Renewals, Product Managers, BDMs
- ensure fastest possible order processing loading orders on Accpac system
- Opening orders and other actions
- Providing technical assistance for customer complaints, process, and product development studies
- To follow the processes by working in coordination with the Planning, Production and Information Departments
- Preparing pricing and sales reports
- Preparing and following up offers
- Preparing raw material order list for orders and follow up of orders for raw materials for orders
- Maintained a client retention rate of 98% by providing timely and effective support.
- Collaborated with product development teams to implement customer feedback, resulting in a 15% increase in customer satisfaction.
- Developed and maintained customer onboarding materials, resulting in a 25% reduction in customer support requests.
- Identified and resolved technical issues for clients, resulting in a 20% reduction in escalated support tickets.
- Developed and maintained a database of 500+ healthcare industry contacts, resulting in a 30% increase in new business leads.
- Organized and executed a successful sales event for 100+ healthcare industry professionals, resulting in 15 new business opportunities.
- Collaborated with the marketing team to develop and distribute marketing materials, resulting in a 20% increase in website traffic.
- Managed travel arrangements and expense reports for a team of 10 sales representatives.
- Achieved a 25% reduction in submission processing time by creating a streamlined process for collecting and organizing required documentation.
- Maintained a 95% accuracy rate in insurance documentation, ensuring precision in all tasks and projects.
- Collaborated with Underwriters and Sales team members to develop comprehensive insurance solutions for prospective clients.
- Successfully negotiated with insurance companies to obtain optimal coverage at the most competitive rates.
- Facilitated communication between different branches to ensure timely and accurate completion of projects.
- Provided exceptional customer service and support to clients, resulting in a 98% satisfaction rate.
- Received Employee of the Month award for outstanding performance and contributions to the team.
- Evaluated and processed up to 50 insurance applications per day with 98% accuracy rate.
- Collaborated with underwriters to identify and mitigate potential risks, resulting in a 20% reduction in claims.
- Developed and maintained positive relationships with clients, resulting in a 95% retention rate.
- Provided exceptional customer service and support to clients, resulting in a 98% satisfaction rate.
- Received Employee of the Month award for outstanding performance and contributions to the team.
PRO TIP
Make sure to relate your experience to your job description, but never lie. That’s not tolerated and will show up in the face-to-face interview later on.
Action Verbs for Your Sales Support Specialist Resume
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Sales Support Specialist Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume skills section checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top skills for your sales support specialist 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
Add a Talent Section to your resume, where you can pick your top 3 soft skills and describe how you used them to complete a project or balance departmental communication.
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Sales support specialist resume header: Tips, red flags, and best practices
Checklist for your sales support specialist 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
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PRO TIP
Some companies, states, and countries have policies about identifying information like photos on your Sales Support Specialist resume. Be sure to check all the relevant rules before submitting yours. If you’re in doubt, you can always try contacting the company’s HR department to ask for their policy.
Sales support specialist resume summary best practices
Checklist: what to include in your sales support specialist resume summary.
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume summary formula:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
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Listing your education, certifications and courses
Resume education section checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top certifications for your sales support specialist resume
Complete IT Support Specialist Course: IT Foundations
IT Support Foundations: Learn the skills equivalent to an associates in this series and qualify for an entry level job
Desktop Support IT Support IT Fundamentals Training Course
Desktop Support IT Support IT Fundamentals Training Course Technical Support Fundamentals desktop support technician
IT & Technical Support Guide to Helpdesk, Desktop & Servers
Learn how the different levels of IT technical support work, from service desk to infrastructure and server support
Desktop IT Support Level 1 & 2 in real life (Troubleshooting
Learn everything in real life Troubleshooting for IT Help Desk , Helpdesk , IT Support , System Administration and IT
How to become a Computer Technical Support Specialist
Training on how to become a Computer Technical Support Specialist from a field experience
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PRO TIP
If you hold a certain major and a minor, your majors should be mentioned first.
How to Write a Sales Support Specialist Resume
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
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PRO TIP
Sometimes you’ll want to go after a job which requires more experience than you have. Instead of using a typical Sales Support Specialist 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.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Sales Support Specialist resume:
Sales support specialist resume: How to make yours more creative & stand out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Sales Support Specialist resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What makes a great sales support specialist 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.
