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7 tips for nailing your sales representative job description
Regardless of the sales representative job you’re hiring for, the description typically has the same structure:
It’s how you approach this structure that makes all the difference. Just as job seekers want to sell their skills and abilities to you, you also must sell your company and department to attract the most talented candidates. When writing each sales rep job description, consider these tips for providing enough detail while also engaging applicants.
1. Identify your ideal candidate
This element is the foundation of your sales rep job description. Just like writing buyer personas, create a document that outlines your target applicant—one who has all of the necessary skills for the role and whose values align with your company culture.
With this document in hand, answer the following questions to dig into the new position’s purpose:
-Is a similar position already in place?
-How will this position differ from existing positions?
-What value will this position provide the department?
-What are some example sales goals?
-What are the minimum skills required?
2.Be transparent
While leaving the “boring tasks” out might make your job description more appealing, it will usually backfire. Upon getting hired, your new employee might be disengaged or even angry, as they could feel misled by the hiring process. Include all tasks you expect an applicant to complete as part of the role, whether simple, monotonous, or complex.
MobyMax, an ed-tech platform, shows exactly what its position is about in the example below. Letting people know it’s a remote, full-time sales position right away minimizes potential confusion. The more open you can be about the expectations regarding responsibilities and execution, the better.
3. Keep your sales rep job post concise
Managers, eager to include everything in their sales job description, may end up going overboard. If you bombard candidates with a dense page of responsibilities and information, your ideal applicant may end up overwhelmed and opt-out of applying.
Notice how Bread, a payment platform, expertly handled their company description. While they could have said, “Bread makes buying essential items such as furniture, vehicles, etc., cost less for people with an average salary,” the company gets to the point by stating, “Bread makes essential purchases affordable to regular people.”
Write a succinct sales job description by shortening each section. Keep these tips in mind:
-Avoid prepositional phrases
-Don’t use two words when one will do
-Focus on what’s critical in the position
-Include information about your company, but don’t provide your entire website copy
If it helps, write out the sales rep description first, fluff and all. Then go back through and delete unnecessary sentences.
4. Avoid vague, generic descriptions
Sales lingo can be dry, which makes it easy to jot down general responsibilities.
Don’t take the easy way out with descriptions like “responsible for bringing potential customers into the company via lead generation.” Use the information you gathered during meetings with your hiring team and recruiter to nail down tasks that are specific to the position. Instead of saying, “able to promote our product,” you might ask that candidates are “able to learn and pitch the benefits of our offering at both an executive and junior buyer level.”
In the example below, Auth0 took this approach when looking for a junior sales engineer. Each bullet point states a responsibility that the candidate will have and how they’ll accomplish each one. For example, “design and build new and relevant demonstrations…” describes what they’ll do (design and build demonstrations), for what (Auth0’s platform), and with who (sales engineering team and the office.)
5. Ditch the technical sales jargon
The best candidates are busy. They don’t have time to decipher confusing position descriptions, so the language needs to be as clear and straightforward as possible.
Avoid technical wording and phrases that may not be common or may need extra thought. Avoid words like “KPIs” or “SQLs” for entry-level sales positions. Put your entire description in layman’s terms—similar to this Zendesk sales rep job description. Each section gives a quick summary without unnecessary jargon.
6. Show the human side of your company
Many startups today provide a comfortable work environment—dogs are allowed, the dress code is casual, and employees have unlimited paid time off. As a result, many job applicants expect workplaces to be flexible and friendly.
Attract these candidates by showing your company culture throughout your job description. For example, talk about the amazing office space, snack bar, or casual Friday.
In addition to listing company culture elements, the right wording is crucial in setting the tone from the start. Don’t be afraid to add some humor or at least warmth if that’s part of what your culture. is about. Try to be conversational and show your company’s personality through language.
One way to do this is to use the second person to address the candidate, like, “You are an excellent social seller.” Avoid third-person phrases, such as “The candidate should be skilled at social selling.”
And, of course, GitHub, for example, summarizes their company values well in their job description. If you look at the example below, you’ll see they clearly talk about who they are before focusing on what they want in each worker (collaboration, empathy…) to communicate their human side and culture.
7. Communicate the value of the position
You’re vying for the attention of every candidate. The best candidates know what they’re looking for, and if you fail to communicate why the position is important and what the candidate will get out of it, you risk losing their application.
Remember, your value proposition goes beyond salary. Create an enticing sales representative job description by highlighting these non-monetary factors:
-Benefits
-Work-life balance
-Career growth opportunities
-Product/service quality
For example, according to Bridge, offering career training and development would keep 86 percent of millennials from leaving their current position. Communicate what you have to offer, and your job description will inspire job seekers and motivate them to apply.
7 Different Types of Sales Roles,Explained
Whether you’re entering the job market for the first time or looking for a new career path, a sales job may be the right move for you. Sales can be one of the top-paying jobs and can offer great perks, like flexible working hours and opportunities for promotion.
As sales recruiters, we know that a career in sales is a fast-paced, demanding, and exciting job. This career is perfect for those who love engaging in work and overcoming challenges. Sales is a very fulfilling profession when you choose the right type of position.
“Working in sales” can refer to a number of different types of sales roles; you may be surprised by the variety of options available. Each position has different parameters for success, skill requirements, experience requirements, and other distinctions. While you may have an idea of what type of sales role you want to perform, it’s important to understand the differences between positions to determine where your skills can be best applied.
Here are 7 different types of sales roles explained:
1. Inside Sales
As an inside sales rep, you would be responsible for maintaining existing client relationships. You are the main point of contact for your company’s clients and are expected to retain their business and build a strong business relationship. In recent years, there has been a significant shift in sales activity from outside—or traditional—sales to inside sales, where inside sales are now considered more effective and efficient when used in tandem with inbound marketing strategies.
2. Outside Sales
Outside sales is considered as a traditional method in that it is face-to-face, done primarily outside of the office in direct interaction with their customers. An outside sales rep will typically spend more time in their customers’ offices than in their own. In order to be successful in outside sales, you’ll need to be self-motivated and goal-oriented in meeting your own deadlines with little to no supervision.
3. Sales Support
As team-based sales operations are becoming a more common strategy, working in sales support does precisely what its title suggests: you work to support the sales reps. Working primarily “behind the scenes,” sales support takes care of the details to help sales reps—those who perform client-facing roles like outside sales—close their deals faster. This is a dynamic role, capable of cutting time and costs from the company budget. Sales support can be responsible for a number of duties such as investigating leads and creating customer profiles, analyzing data, and performing research.
4. Client Services
Working in client services is similar to working in inside sales. As client services, your responsibility is to work with customers to ensure their needs are met and to nurture a strong business relationship. By ensuring customer satisfaction, client services work to increase company growth through the existing client base. If you like to go beyond what is asked of you, create real relationships, and are always asking the right questions, then this role may be the right fit.
5. Lead Generation/Development
Lead generation/development is responsible for conducting research and networking to make new business contacts. The right research could lead you to discover untapped sales potential. You’ll also be responsible for assessing the viability of the connection and to what extent it’s worth pursuing and forecasting potential results. With growing technology, there are a number of ways to generate leads through inbound marketing techniques such as eBooks or blogs.
6. Business Development Managers
Business Development Managers bring in new business for your company through a number of methods ranging from cold calling to door to door. Like outside sales, they most often make their sales face-to-face. To succeed in this role, you’ll need to be consistently bringing new sales and clients to the company.
7. Account Managers
Account Managers are responsible for focusing on existing accounts. In addition to ensuring the needs of their clients are met, an account manager will find creative solutions and innovative techniques to continue selling their company’s services. The main goal for an account manager is client retention.
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