Sales

In sales, the CV is the first close

A sales manager reads a sales CV the way they read a forecast, and they know exactly which number is missing when it is missing.

Three figures decide whether you are read past the first role: what your quota was, what percentage of it you made, and how long you did it for. One good year without the quota beside it is unreadable, and a percentage without the absolute number invites the least generous interpretation.

The shape of the sale matters as much as its size. Selling a 3,000 EUR subscription in a three-week cycle and a 400,000 EUR contract over eleven months are different professions, and a CV that does not say which one you practise gets sorted into the wrong pile.

The three numbers, per role

Put quota, attainment and period on the first line under each job title, before the responsibilities. A reader scanning twenty CVs is looking for exactly that line, and finding it immediately is most of the battle.

  • Quota 1.2M EUR, 118% attained, three years running. Not consistently exceeded targets.
  • If a year was bad, give the reason in four words rather than leaving the gap to be guessed at.
  • Add your ranking when it flatters you: 2nd of 34 in the region says more than a percentage.

Say what kind of selling it was

Name the segment, the average deal, the cycle and who you sold to. Those four facts let a hiring manager decide in one glance whether your experience transfers, and being filtered out early by the right criterion is better than being interviewed for the wrong role.

  • New business or account management, inbound or outbound, direct or through partners.
  • Who signed: a founder, a head of department, a procurement committee.
  • The CRM by name, because it is one of the few strings a sales recruiter actually searches.

Common questions

I am moving from one industry to another. Does my record still count?
The numbers travel; the domain knowledge does not, and pretending otherwise is what gets caught. Lead with attainment and cycle, which are the same discipline anywhere, and be explicit in one line about what you will have to learn. Sales managers hire people who can say that.
Should I list named clients?
Only where the logo is public and your involvement was real. Otherwise name the type: a listed retailer with 400 stores, a regional bank. It carries the same weight and does not put you in breach of an agreement you signed.

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