Creating Stellar Sales Resumes

Creating Stellar Sales ResumesCreating Stellar Sales ResumesGive them the cold, hard numbers to get employers to return your call.Numbers speak for themselves. That makes sales resume the easiest to write, right?Not necessarily. If they were, Mike DeLuca wouldnt get so many resumes padded with fluff. Some examplesConsistently exceeded goalsA uniquely balanced sales executiveAt all my previous positions I have been an overachieverPerformed cold calls on a daily basisDeLuca is a 20-year sales veteran from companies including Yahoo, HotJobs and EMC. Hes now senior vice president of sales at Yodle, an online advertising company that connects local businesses with consumers.If youre a sales pro who wants to work for a company thats growing by triple digits, you should know that Yodle cant hire people fast enough, in DeLucas words. The problem The company isnt getting as many qualified resumes as they need. Instead, they get fluff.Salespeople need jobs, and businesses like Yodle need to se e better resumes, so here are some tips from DeLuca and career coach William M. Gaffney on how to get the ball rolling with stellar sales resumes.Get specific.If youre a salesperson hitting 200 percent of quota, thats something you should be proud to highlight in your resume, DeLuca said. Contrast that with a vague phrase like Consistently exceeded goals. A statement like that doesnt tell me specifically what youve done, he said.List annual quotas/size types of accounts.Titles - especially in sales - and company names dont always tell the story, Gaffney said. Employers can identify a fit mora easily if they see what your quotas have been and the size and types of accounts youve sold.Avoid puffy titles.Gaffneys seen more than his share of resumes from people who call themselves a national account manager but have actually sold to accounts of all sizes. While the title may be the title the company gave them, it can look almost arrogant on a resume, he said. Thats why its important to explain who your target market was, your quota, etc.Show progression.DeLuca likes to see progression on a resume, with professionals moving up the career ladder and taking on more responsibility, or exhibiting better performance, over time. A lot of people get that wrong, he said. They dont look at the meat of what a hiring manager is looking for specifically in sales.Explain whom you worked for.If a given employer isnt a recognized brand like IBM or Coke, Gaffney suggests providing a brief description no more than one or two lines.Explain awards.Gaffney advises job seekers who list awards to detail the qualifications for the award. Saying received Presidents Award tells me nothing, he said. Heres how Gaffney explains a similar award on his own resumeRanked in top 10 percent of sales force nationally three times in five years. Awarded Chairmans Inner Circle one year for being in top 5 percent.Ditch salesman of the month.Unless you received this superlative several months out of the year, skip it, Gaffney said. There are 12 months in the year, and if you got it twice, thats nice, but doesnt necessarily demonstrate above-average salesmanship.