Whether you’re looking to start your career in sales or if you’re just looking to climb the career ladder, there is nothing more frustrating when looking for a job than being rejected before you even get the chance to meet the hiring manager! Therefore it is absolutely vital that your CV is not only properly formatted but is also tailored in a way that will draw a Sales Managers eye…

In order to be successful in sales, whatever level, you will have to be able to confidently present the features and benefits of a product whilst accurately matching these against a ‰’pain point’ of a client. In this instance the product is YOU! If you can’t sell yourself then how can you demonstrate that you’ll be able to sell another product or solution?!

There are a few key areas that a candidate can focus on with their CV to ensure that they get in front of a potential employer and don’t fall at the first hurdle, these include:

Formatting

Do:

• Make sure your CV is formatted with the key information at the top – i.e. unless you have just finished education, put your most recent position at the top after a short ‰’personal profile’
• Use a consistent and clear font (as well as font size – Robertson Sumner would recommend Calibri, 11)
• Include a short section on interests outside of work (no more than 3 bullet points and ideally not too generic, e.g. reading)
• Double check for any spelling or grammatical errors!

Don’t:

• Put Education at the top if you’ve been working for more than one year
• Make your CV too ‰’fun’ and colourful – you’re applying for a sales role, not a design or artistic opportunity, your CV should be presented as a professional document
• Include a section for overly generic skills, e.g. proficient at Microsoft Word or ‰’I’m a people person’
• Use overcomplicated words or ‰’job titles’ – a hiring manager won’t look at your CV for that long therefore make sure it is easy to read and that their eye is drawn to the key areas

Ability to hit targets

Sales is an outcome based position therefore naturally the first question you’ll often be asked or the first thing a hiring manager will look for is – ‰’what did you achieve against target?’ Therefore make sure that you pre-empt this and have an overview of your sales figures in every sales role you’ve been in clearly outlined in your CV! Even if there has been a couple of months where you haven’t quite hit your quota then still include this – we’re all human and even the best sales people will miss the odd target.

Key achievements

As well as presenting your sales figures on your CV, forget bullet pointing menial everyday tasks (i.e. making phone calls) but instead outline key achievements and try to back this up with a figure. A few examples could include:

• Winning ‰’Employee of the year award 2015′ by billing £450,000 revenue in the year (£210,000 of which was new business)
• Landed Joe Bloggs LTD as a net new customer, securing over £90,000 in profit for the organisation
• Achieved ‰’Presidents Club’ 4 years running (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016)

Conclusion

To conclude, when looking for a job your CV is such a key weapon, if used correctly, so make sure you fill it will key information rather than ‰’waffle’. All of your statements need to ideally be backed up with a measure, whether that’s a monetary value or percentage and demonstrate the value you can add to the organisation!

If you want any help in putting together your CV then please get in touch with one of the Robertson Sumner team who will be more than happy to help!

01753 278000 | enquiries@robertson-sumner.com