In software sales, your resume must deftly convey both technical expertise and persuasive selling skills to stand out. Our guide can help you strike this delicate balance by providing tailored advice on showcasing your unique value proposition to potential employers.
- Get inspired from our software sales resume samples with industry-leading skills, certifications, and more.
- Show how you can impact the organization with your resume summary and experience.
- Introducing your unique software sales expertise with a focus on tangible results and achievements.
If the software sales resume isn't the right one for you, take a look at other related guides we have:
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Tips and tricks for your software sales resume format
Before you start writing your resume, you must first consider its look-and-feel - or resume format . Your professional presentation hence should:
- Follow the reverse-chronological resume format , which incroporates the simple logic of listing your latest experience items first. The reverse-chronological format is the perfect choice for candidates who have plenty of relevant (and recent) experience.
- State your intention from the get-go with a clear and concise headline - making it easy for recruiters to allocate your contact details, check out your portfolio, or discover your latest job title.
- Be precise and simple - your resume should be no more than two pages long, representing your experience and skills that are applicable to the software sales job.
- Ensure your layout is intact by submitting it as a PDF. Thus, your resume sections would stay in place, even when assessed by the Applicant Tracker System (ATS).
Tailor your resume format to the job market – a Canadian resume, for example, might differ in layout.
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Bold the names of educational institutions and certifying bodies for emphasis.
Essential sections that should make up your software sales resume include:
- The header - with your contact details (e.g. email and telephone number), link to your portfolio, and headline
- The summary (or objective) - to spotlight the peaks of your professional career, so far
- The experience section - with up to six bullets per role to detail specific outcomes
- The skills list - to provide a healthy mix between your personal and professional talents
- The education and certification - showing your most relevant degrees and certificates to the software sales role
What recruiters want to see on your resume:
- Demonstrated track record of meeting or exceeding sales targets
- In-depth knowledge of the software and technology products being sold
- Experience with sales techniques and the software sales cycle
- Ability to articulate the value proposition and ROI of software solutions to customers
- Strong understanding of customer relationship management (CRM) tools and sales engagement platforms
Defining your professional expertise in your software sales resume work experience section
The work experience section, often the most detailed part of your resume, is where you discuss your past roles and achievements. To effectively list your experience, consider these four key tips:
- Align your expertise with the job requirements. It's vital to integrate keywords matching the job criteria to pass initial assessments;
- Show, don’t just tell. Quantify your responsibilities by stating your actual achievements in previous roles;
- Include measurable metrics. For instance, how did your performance impact the annual ROI?
- Highlight crucial industry skills. Mention both technological knowledge and interpersonal skills in this section.
These guidelines will help you craft an impressive software sales resume work experience section that is bound to catch recruiters' attention.
- Led a team that consistently met and exceeded monthly sales targets by 20%, contributing to a 35% annual growth in B2B software subscriptions.
- Implemented a new CRM system to better track customer interactions and sales funnels, increasing lead conversion rates by 15% over 6 months.
- Developed and maintained relationships with key accounts, resulting in a 50% increase in annual revenue from top-tier clients.
- Drove the adoption of a cutting-edge SaaS platform across enterprise customers, with a personal sales record of $4M in ARR.
- Formulated and executed strategic sales plans that led to the acquisition of 3 Fortune 500 companies as clients within a single fiscal year.
- Conducted extensive market analysis that informed product development, enhancing feature sets that appealed to a broader market segment.
- Expanded the market share for an emerging cloud-based analytics service by 30% within a two year period.
- Facilitated collaboration between product teams and customers to customize software offerings, increasing customer satisfaction scores by 25%.
- Pioneered new territory development strategies that led to the onboarding of 200+ new B2B clients in the financial sector.
- Strategically negotiated enterprise-level contracts averaging $1.5M in value, contributing to a sustained 20% YOY revenue increase.
- Championed a customer-centric sales approach that decreased churn rate by 10% while boosting upsell rates.
- Led the go-to-market strategy for a new AI-driven data management platform that captured a 10% market share within its first year.
- Successfully managed a pipeline of over $8M in potential deals, bringing to completion approximately $5M within the tech startup sector.
- Implemented innovative social selling strategies that resulted in a 120% attainment of quarterly sales goals.
- Spearheaded the launch of a partner referral program which contributed to a 40% increase in qualified leads.
- Oversaw a high-performing sales team responsible for a 150% increase in revenue from cloud service products over 3 years.
- Collaborated with marketing to design campaigns tailored to decision-makers which tripled engagement rates on targeted outreach.
- Initiated a training program for junior sales associates that improved their closing ratios by an average of 20% within their first year.
- Pioneered a consultative selling approach tailored to enterprise software that led to a 40% increase in LTV of acquired clients.
- Facilitated the transition of the sales team to a remote work environment, maintaining productivity and closing efficiencies.
- Cultivated a partnership network that expanded distribution channels by 25%, significantly broadening market penetration.
- Generated a robust pipeline of leads for a new cybersecurity software solution, with a conversion rate improvement of 30% from lead to sale.
- Managed key client relationships that yielded repeat purchases and long-term contracts, securing stable MRR for the organization.
- Crafted and delivered persuasive sales presentations at national trade shows that contributed to a 25% uptick in brand recognition.
Quantifying impact on your resume
- Mention the percentage by which you exceeded your sales targets to showcase your ability to surpass expectations.
- Include the total revenue you generated for your company to demonstrate the financial impact of your sales efforts.
- Articulate the number of new accounts you secured, highlighting your effectiveness in business development.
- Specify the size of the largest deal you closed to illustrate your capacity to handle high-value transactions.
- Reference the growth rate of customer retention during your tenure to show your contribution to long-term business stability.
- Document the size of the sales team you managed, if applicable, to establish your leadership and team management skills.
- Quantify the reduction in sales cycle time you achieved, showing your efficiency in closing deals faster.
- List any sales awards or rankings you earned to provide evidence of your recognition within the industry.
Action verbs for your software sales resume
What to do if you don't have any experience
It's quite often that candidates without relevant work experience apply for a more entry-level role - and they end up getting hired.
Candidate resumes without experience have these four elements in common:
- Instead of listing their experience in reverse-chronological format (starting with the latest), they've selected a functional-skill-based format. In that way, software sales resumes become more focused on strengths and skills
- Transferrable skills - or ones obtained thanks to work and life experience - have become the core of the resume
- Within the objective, you'd find career achievements, the reason behind the application, and the unique value the candidate brings about to the specific role
- Candidate skills are selected to cover basic requirements, but also show any niche expertise.
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If you failed to obtain one of the certificates, as listed in the requirements, but decide to include it on your resume, make sure to include a note somewhere that you have the "relevant training, but are planning to re-take the exams". Support this statement with the actual date you're planning to be re-examined. Always be honest on your resume.
Shining a light on your software sales hard skills and soft skills
To win recruiters over, you must really have a breadth of skill set presented and supported within your software sales resume.
On hiring managers' checklists, you'd initially discover hard or technical skills. Those are the technology (and software) that help you perform on the job. Hard skills are easy to quantify via your education, certificates, and on-the-job success.
Another main criterion recruiters are always assessing your software sales resume on is soft skills. That is your ability to communicate, adapt, and grow in new environments. Soft skills are a bit harder to measure, as they are gained both thanks to your personal and professional experience.
Showcase you have the ideal skill set for the role by:
- Dedicating both a skills box (for your technical capabilities) and an achievements or strengths section (to detail your personal skills).
- When listing your skills, be specific about your hard skills (name the precise technology you're able to use) and soft skills (aim to always demonstrate what the outcomes were).
- Avoid listing overused cliches in the skills section (e.g. Microsoft Office and Communication), unless they're otherwise specified as prominent for the role.
- Select up to ten skills which should be defined via various sections in your resume skills sidebar (e.g. a technical skills box, industry expertise box with sliders, strengths section with bullets).
Spice up your resume with leading technical and people skills, that'd help you get noticed by recruiters.
Top skills for your software sales resume:
CRM Software (e.g., Salesforce, HubSpot)
Salesforce Automation Tools
Data Analytics Tools
Presentation Software (e.g., Microsoft PowerPoint, Google Slides)
Contract Management Software
Email Marketing Platforms
Webinar and Virtual Meeting Tools
Lead Generation Tools
Project Management Software
Basic Understanding of Software Development
Communication Skills
Negotiation Skills
Persuasion Skills
Time Management
Relationship Building
Problem-Solving
Adaptability
Team Collaboration
Customer Service Orientation
Active Listening
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If you're in the process of obtaining your certificate or degree, list the expected date you're supposed to graduate or be certified.
Listing your education and certifications on your software sales resume
Don't underestimate the importance of your resume education section . As it may hint at various skills (and experience) that are relevant to the job. When writing your education section:
- Include only higher education degrees with information about the institution and start/end dates
- If you're in the process of obtaining your degree, include your expected graduation date
- Consider leaving off degrees that aren't relevant to the job or industry
- Write a description of your education if it presents you with an opportunity to further showcase your achievements in a more research-focused environment
When describing your certifications on your resume, always consider their relevancy to the role. Use the same format to describe them as you would for your education. If you're wondering what the best certificates out there are for software sales roles, check out the list below.
The top 5 certifications for your software sales resume:
- Certified Professional Sales Person (CPSP) - National Association of Sales Professionals (NASP)
- HubSpot Sales Software Certification - HubSpot Academy
- Challenger Sales (CS) - Challenger Inc.
- SALESFORCE Certified Sales Cloud Consultant - SALESFORCE
- Miller Heiman Strategic Selling® Certification - Miller Heiman Group
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List all your relevant higher education degrees within your resume in reverse chronological order (starting with the latest). There are cases when your PhD in a particular field could help you stand apart from other candidates.
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Software sales resume summary or objective? the best choice is based on your experience
If you're wondering about the relevancy of the resume summary or the resume objective to your software sales application - here's the truth.
The summary and objective provide recruiters with your expertise and accomplishments at a glance, within an up-to-five-sentence structure.
The difference is that the:
- Resume objective is also more focused on emphasizing your career goals. The objective is the perfect fit for (potentially more junior) candidates who'd like to balance their relevant experience with their career goals.
- Resume summary can provide you with space to also detail the unique value of what it's like to work with you. Software sales candidates who have many noteworthy accomplishments start from the get-go with their summary.
Ensure that either type of resume introduction presents your software sales expertise in the best light and aligns it with the job advert.
The more details you can provide with numbers, the more compelling your resume summary or objective will be.
Real-world software sales candidates follow these frameworks in writing their resume summaries and objectives.
The end results are usually as such:
Resume summaries for a software sales job
- Highly driven software sales professional with over 12 years of proven success in the enterprise software market. Notable expertise in SaaS platforms, cloud-based solutions, and CRM software, with a consistent track record of exceeding sales targets by over 20%. Spearheaded the expansion of the Western European client base, resulting in a 35% increase in overall territory revenue.
- Dynamic leader and former software engineer with a decade of experience in product development, transitioning to software sales with a robust understanding of technical requirements and client needs. Excelled in tailoring software solutions to various industries, generating a 50% increase in client satisfaction and a 30% growth in upselling opportunities within the first two years of sales focus.
- Results-oriented professional transitioning from a successful career in financial services to software sales, bringing forth strong analytical skills and a keen understanding of complex data systems. Known for an ability to establish trust and build lucrative relationships, aiming to leverage financial acumen to drive software solution sales and meet the demands of a growing technological landscape.
- Accomplished telecommunications manager with 15 years of experience, pivoting to a career in software sales while bringing a wealth of knowledge in customer relations, project management, and strategic planning. Excited to apply a history of leading cross-functional teams to exceed objectives in a new tech-centric sales environment, aiming to thrive in solution-based selling.
- Enthusiastic recent graduate eager to embark on a career in software sales, equipped with a Bachelor's degree in Marketing and a passion for technology and customer engagement. Adept at quickly learning new software platforms and committed to contributing to sales targets through innovative strategy implementation and energetic client interactions.
- Aspiring sales expert with a background in computer science, seeking to forge a path in software sales with no prior direct experience in the field. Combining a strong command of technology, acute problem-solving skills, and a zeal for sales excellence, determined to deliver outstanding results, grow the client base and harness the potential of cutting-edge software solutions.
Additional valuable software sales resume sections to stand out
When assessing candidate applications, recruiters are often on the lookout for elements that go beyond meeting standard requirements and technical expertise.
This is where extra sections could play a key role in showcasing your unique skill set and personality.
Make sure to include sections dedicated to:
- How you spend your free time, outside of work. The interests resume section also goes to show your personality and transferrable skills; and may also serve to fill in gaps in your experience;
- Most innovative work. The projects resume section brings focus to what you're most proud of within the field;
- How you're able to overcome language barriers. The language resume section is always nice to have, especially if communication would be a big part of your future role;
- Industry-wide recognitions. Remember that the awards resume section should highlight your most noteworthy accolades and prizes.
Key takeaways
- The logic of your resume presentation should follow your career highlights and alignment with the role;
- Curate information within different sections (e.g. summary, experience, etc.) that helps highlight your strengths;
- Exclude from your resume irrelevant experience items - that way you'd ensure it stays no longer than two pages and is easy to read;
- Dedicate space within the summary, experience, and/or achievements to highlight precisely why you're the best candidate for the role via your previous success;
- Both your technical and people capabilities should also play a crucial role in building up your software sales application. Prove your skill set in various resume sections.
