Sales representative CV example
A sales CV is read for results: quota attainment, book size and new business won. Without numbers there is no interview.
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- Sector
- Retail and sales
- Template used
- Berlin
- ATS level
- ATS compatible
- ATS keywords
- 5
Document preview
How the CV looks once laid out
The same example content, laid out in the recommended template: single column, selectable text and no tables or graphics that break automated parsing.
Sample document. Open it in the editor to change template, language and sections without losing the content.
Mark Vickers
B2B sales representative with 7 years in consultative selling
Professional summary
Sales representative with seven years selling B2B services to SMEs and large accounts. I manage a £2.1m book, land above 115% of quota and have opened 60 new clients in three years. Looking for a team where I can step up to sales manager.
Experience
Sales representative
Employer name · City · 2019 – Present
- Hit 115% of annual quota three years running
- Opened 60 new clients through cold outreach and referrals
- Cut the sales cycle from 90 to 62 days with a standardised proposal
Education
Qualification or certificate for the role
Training centre · Year
01
Professional headline
This is the line that decides whether they keep reading: a specific role and years of experience, never an adjective.
B2B sales representative with 7 years in consultative selling
02
Example professional summary
Three or four sentences with your specialism, one figure and your goal. It sits right under the headline.
Sales representative with seven years selling B2B services to SMEs and large accounts. I manage a £2.1m book, land above 115% of quota and have opened 60 new clients in three years. Looking for a team where I can step up to sales manager.
03
Achievements that work in this role
Past-tense verb, what you did, measurable result. Three to five per role, strongest first.
- 01Hit 115% of annual quota three years running
- 02Opened 60 new clients through cold outreach and referrals
- 03Cut the sales cycle from 90 to 62 days with a standardised proposal
04
Skills to include
Written as plain text: rating bars are invisible to automated filters.
- Consultative selling
- Prospecting
- Negotiation
- Salesforce CRM
- Forecasting
- Closing
05
ATS keywords
The terms filters search for in this role. Place them inside your experience, not in a list at the end.
- sales quota
- client book
- CRM
- prospecting
- B2B sales
Work them naturally into your experience — these are the terms screening software scans for.
06
Tips for this CV
What separates a CV for this trade from a generic one.
- 01
Open every achievement with quota attainment — it's the figure a sales director looks for first.
- 02
State book size in pounds and the average deal value you handle.
- 03
Name the exact CRM you use; ATS filters match that word literally.
07
What a sales representative CV is
Short definition, ready to quote.
A sales representative CV is the one or two page document used to apply for a sales representative role in retail and sales: it brings together the professional headline, the profile summary, experience with measurable results and the competencies the trade expects you to evidence, such as Consultative selling and Prospecting. Unlike a generic CV, it is ordered around what the applicant tracking system and the hiring manager look for in a sales representative: the words used in the advert and the numbers of the actual job.
08
Keywords and where to place them
Each term works best in a specific place in the document. Repeating them all at the end scores nothing.
| Keyword | Where to place it |
|---|---|
| sales quota | In the professional headline |
| client book | In the profile summary |
| CRM | Inside an achievement with a figure |
| prospecting | In the skills list |
| B2B sales | In training or certifications |
09
How this sales representative CV gets through the filters
What the example above does right, point by point.
- The headline reads «B2B sales representative with 7 years in consultative selling»: the job title (sales representative) appears literally in the first line, not as a creative synonym.
- The trade's keywords —sales quota, client book, CRM— sit inside the experience and summary, where the filter reads them in context.
- Every achievement carries its figure. «Hit 115% of annual quota three years running» is the pattern to copy: volume, timeframe and result.
- Skills such as Consultative selling, Prospecting, Negotiation are written as plain text, never as rating bars or stars, which no parser can read.
- The Berlin template is two-column with a linear reading order and rated ATS compatible, so the sections come out in order.
10
What hiring managers look for in a sales representative
The three points that separate two candidates in this trade.
Territory value and quota
A sales director reads two numbers first: the book you managed and the percentage of quota you hit. Give both with the period: “120 accounts, £540k annual revenue, 108% of quota in 2025”.
Sales cycle and customer type
Selling to consumers is not selling to businesses, and a one-visit close is not a six-month cycle. State B2B or B2C, average deal size, cycle length and whether you sold by phone, on the road or through tenders.
CRM and follow-up discipline
No CRM, no forecast. Name the tool (Salesforce, HubSpot, Dynamics, Pipedrive), what you logged and your cadence: weekly meetings, proposals sent and close rate.
11
Common mistakes on a sales representative CV
The ones that repeat in this role, each with its fix.
- 01
Writing “achieved targets” without the target
It is the most repeated line on a sales CV and means nothing without the figure and the period. If revenue is confidential, give the quota percentage and year-on-year growth instead.
- 02
Hiding a bad year
An honest rep explains the context: market drop, territory change, restructure. It reads far better than a flawless upward line across five employers.
- 03
Blurring new business and account management
Opening accounts and holding existing ones are different profiles hired separately. Say which you did and in what split: “70% cold prospecting, 30% account management”.
- 04
Leaving out the territory and driving licence
In field sales geography is a requirement. Give the territory, weekly mileage or visits, and your licence and car — without it some vacancies simply cannot consider you.
12
What a sales representative earns
So you can tell whether an advert is at market rate before applying.
- Usual range
- Typically £28,000-£38,000 base, with OTE adding 25-50% on target
- What moves the figure
- Base depends on sector and cycle length; industrial and technology sales weight the variable more heavily and usually add a car allowance.
- Where the figure comes from
- Ranges observed in UK sales adverts through 2026.
Frequently asked
Questions about a sales representative CV
- Can I put revenue figures if they are confidential?
- Yes, but in relative terms: quota percentage, year-on-year growth or account count. Never numbers that identify contracts or pricing — a rep who leaks specifics loses trust in the interview.
- What matters more, sector knowledge or sales technique?
- It depends on the cycle. Complex and industrial sales reward sector knowledge and technical conversations; short cycles reward prospecting volume. Write the headline to match the advert in front of you.
- Should I send a cover letter?
- In sales, yes — the letter is a live sample of how you sell in writing. Four paragraphs carrying your quota figure and one specific reference to the company's market beat any adjective.
- Does a two-column CV work for sales?
- Yes, as long as the reading order is linear and your numbers are not trapped in a chart. Applying through a large company's portal, single column is the safer choice.
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