Sales Manager job description template

4 Factors to Consider When Creating a Sales Manager Job Description That Fits Your Needs 

There are many sales managers out there, so you must understand what you need before hiring. Below are some factors to consider to help you choose the right fit for your company:

1. Type of Sales Managers

Sales managers form the backbone of countless industries, such as B2B technology, Software-as-a-Service, Direct-to-Consumer and Consumer Packaged Goods, and even Business-to-Business-to-Consumer (B2B2C) operations that support frontline businesses—think about food suppliers and distributors who provide fresh ingredients to businesses around the world. 

Choosing the right sales manager with the right skills is essential to success as a scaling business and enabling yourself, as a business owner, to step back and focus on other core tasks. 

2. The Position

Sales managers can be hired in-house, contracted through an agency, or employed as freelancers. In-house sales managers are great for all projects, but building the right team may require a heavy time investment. 

Hiring through an agency is excellent for short-term engagements because it can provide reliable results, but it’s expensive in the long term. Freelancers provide a balance, as they do not generally require large time investments and can produce excellent results on projects of all lengths. 

3. Experience

Experience is a valuable resource for assessing potential hires. A junior sales manager tends to support initial sales qualification, once a lead has passed through a top-or-middle-of-funnel lead magnet. Junior sales managers tend to provide a solid base for scaling business operations, though they likely lack the finesse and team-building expertise that a senior sales manager may have. 

A senior sales manager often serves as the closer. These salespeople are able to leverage the junior sales manager’s work to deliver high-performance sales results through their work with the sales team, senior managers, marketing and technical divisions, and other interwoven, yet vital, business units. These successes often come from well-managed teams who have bought into the company vision—a common mark of a great sales manager.

4. Industry

Sales managers permeate every industry. Without clients, customers, and buyers, commerce simply doesn’t happen. It’s vital to choose a sales manager who is familiar with your industry as well as the ins and outs of selling in your industry. If your sales managers aren’t familiar with your industry, they may recommend off-brand sales approaches, deliver sub-par results, and may even cost sales that could have been closed otherwise.

Next Steps

So you’re now ready to begin looking for a sales manager. Great sales managers can be found on Upwork.

Their qualifications are listed along with their experience, giving you all the information to find the right fit for you, and you can ask them interview questions to further develop interpersonal trust with them.