Sales Managers

Sales managers plan, direct, or coordinate the delivery of a product or service to the customer. They set sales goals, analyze data, and develop training programs for organizations’ sales representatives.

Duties

Sales managers typically do the following:

• Prepare budgets and approve expenditures
• Monitor customer preferences to determine the focus of sales efforts
• Analyze sales data
• Project sales and determine the profitability of products and services
• Develop plans to acquire new customers through techniques such as direct sales, cold calling, and business-to-business marketing
• Set sales goals for staff and monitor staff progress toward those goals
• Resolve customer complaints, especially those escalated by sales staff
• Plan and coordinate training programs for sales staff

Sales managers’ responsibilities vary with the size of their organization. However, most of these managers direct the selling of goods and services by assigning territories, setting goals, and establishing training programs for the organization’s sales representatives.

Sales managers typically focus on either business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions. B2B sales managers may work for a manufacturer selling to a wholesaler or for a wholesaler selling to a retailer. B2C sales managers oversee direct sales to individuals.

Sales managers recruit, hire, and train new members of the sales staff, including retail sales workers and wholesale and manufacturing sales representatives. They also may assist staff members with presentations, with closing sales, and on ways to improve performance to meet their goals.

In large multiproduct organizations, sales managers may oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs. They communicate with dealers, manufacturers, and distributors; analyze sales data generated from their staff; and determine the sales potential of products or services for inventory purposes and to monitor customers' preferences.

Sales managers also work closely with managers from other departments within an organization. These departments may include marketing and sales, which identify and target new customers; research and design, which study customers’ preferences; and warehousing, which tracks inventory.

Sales managers held about 619,500 jobs in 2024. The largest employers of sales managers were as follows:

Sales managers typically work in an office or retail setting. Their work may be stressful, as their job security often is tied to metrics such as reaching sales goals within specified deadlines. They may be required to travel, such as to meet with sales staff, customers, or distributors.

Work Schedules

Most sales managers work full time, and some work more than 40 hours per week. Working evenings or weekends may be required.

Sales managers typically need a bachelor’s degree and work experience as a sales representative. For some jobs, workers qualify with a high school diploma.

The median annual wage for sales managers was $138,060 in May 2024.

Employment of sales managers is projected to grow 5 percent from 2024 to 2034, faster than the average for all occupations.

About 49,000 openings for sales managers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.