Do you feel the need for a career change after taking our sales personality test? Job-search is not an easy task even for seasoned sales reps. Here's what our resume consultants can help you with:

Resume writing

Get a resume that puts forward your skills, achievements, and experience in sales. We use keywords and attention-grabbing formats to get your application noticed.

Cover letter

Our experts write cover letters tailored to the particular role. The writer will showcase your cultural fit, relevant experience, and potential to present you as an asset for the target sales position.

LinkedIn profile development

Get a keyword-rich LinkedIn profile that lists your career history, relevant skills, and credentials, and reveals your personality traits. We will adapt your profile for LinkedIn algorithms to help recruiters find you online.

Follow-up letter

Make a strong impression by sending a follow-up letter after the interview and reiterate your fit for the position.

What types of sales professionals are there?

You've probably heard about the popular Hunter-Farmer model in sales. Here is a short description of farmers and hunters plus other popular sales personality types.

Hunters

Hunters are enthusiastic and persistent sales professionals. They focus on finding new customers, proactively converting leads, and closing initial deals. Hunters don't fear rejections and are always looking for new opportunities to expand their customer base or enter new markets.

They will be an asset to a sales team in a startup or actively growing company that launches new products or expands its customer base. Hunters have great persuasion skills, can connect with a prospect quickly, and thrive to exceed sales targets.

Farmers

Farmers are sales reps who focus on maintaining and fostering relationships with existing customers. They focus on long-term cooperation and maximizing the value of existing customers. Selling here and now is not the main goal for them; instead, they cultivate relationships and client loyalty, which makes them a true business partner.

Farmers are perfect for established businesses and corporations with a large customer base. They understand the value of long-term customer cooperation and repeat sales like no one else. Farmers are also a great fit for B2B companies offering medical equipment or tech solutions.

Transactional sellers

Transactional sellers focus on closing the deal right now. They sell products quickly and effectively without the need to establish long-term relationships. Such salespeople are suitable for companies selling mass-market products where speed and volume are important, such as retail or online stores. This strategy is used both for cold calling and in-person sales.

Such sellers don't prioritize long-term relationships and emotional connections with customers. They quickly identify the pain point, offer a quick solution, close a deal, and move on to the next customer. Hiring managers prefer such sellers where sales volume matters more than business relationships.

Consultative sellers

These sellers aim to understand customer needs and offer the solution to best address them. They act as expert and trusted advisors. Rather than quickly close the deal, such sellers take the time to have a dialogue, understand customer needs. They are experts in building relationships with clients and fostering trust.

Consultative sellers are especially beneficial in environments where a product or service requires in-depth explanation and customization, for example, consulting or tech sales. Yet, their product knowledge and customer-centered approach is also helpful for selling mass-market items focusing on the needs of each client.

Technical sellers

Technical sellers have a similar strategy to consultative sellers. The difference is that they work in tech, medical, and engineering fields where excellent product knowledge is essential and customers need to receive accurate and detailed information.

They work as product advocate and consult customers or use cases or assist with customization. Their technical knowledge allows them to explain complex products or services in terms of their functionality and benefits.

Take our sales personality test to determine which of these (or other) salespeople you are and maybe take the next steps in your career. For example, if you are proud of your product knowledge and enjoy analyzing the solutions you offer to clients but aren't ready to sell aggressively, you will struggle with cold calling or selling mass market goods. On the other hand, if you switch to B2B sales when an analytical approach and thoughtful relationship building are a priority, your career will thrive.

What skills should a sales professional have?

As you can see from the test, different skills matter for various types of sales. Yet, there are universal hard and soft skills that are helpful in all sales roles:

• Market knowledge
• CRM software
• Data analysis
• Market research
• Sales funnel management
• Negotiation
• Time management
• Communication skills
• Active listening
• Empathy
• Relationship-building
• Problem-solving
• Account management
• Adaptability

How to highlight your sales skills

Now that you know your personality in the sales world, you can communicate your skills more persuasively. Here's how to do it:

In your resume.

You can list your sales competencies in a dedicated Skills section. Create a separate section and format your skills as a bulleted list. Focus on the hard skills in the first place, but add some soft skills as well to give the hiring managers a broader picture of your personality and approach to sales.

You may put the Skills section right after the summary so that it's instantly visible to the reader. Plus, these skills will work as keywords, helping you get through the ATS screening. Also, add your skills in the Experience section, explaining how you used them to achieve success in the workplace. Give measurable results in sales to showcase your professionalism and strengths.

During a job interview.

On a job interview, the hiring manager might ask about your biggest strengths or why you're the best fit for their company. Practice answering these questions at home and prepare your responses. Recall the specific workplace situations where your skills made a difference, and tell a story with details and numbers. It will persuade the interviewer that you have the right set of skills and show that you've done your homework.

Use the PAR (problem-action-result) approach to structure your speech. Mention the problem you faced as a sales rep, specific actions and steps you took, and what results you achieved.

How to write a salesperson resume?

A strong sales resume should reflect your personality, professional strengths, and relevant career history. Here are some quick tips to make an effective resume for a sales position:

• Keep it to one page. For entry-level sales reps, one page is the ideal resume length. Professionals with 10+ years of experience or in management positions can use a two-page document.
• Start with a summary. The summary statement takes 2-4 sentences and presents your qualifications to the reader succinctly. In this section, you can outline your areas of specialization, industry, key achievements, and other details that can compel the recruiter to interview you.
• Focus on relevant experience. Make your Experience section super relevant to the industry and company type you're targeting. If you have plenty of relevant experience, cut off the outdated and irrelevant jobs.
• Spotlight achievements. For sales professionals, it's essential to use measurable achievements. With them, you show that you can exceed expectations and track the results of your sales strategies. Include at least one achievement for each sales position you had.
• Proofread before sending. 49% of hiring managers reject resumes with typos and mistakes. Double-check your resume before sending it to be sure it's free from any mistakes and shortcomings.

Should you add your sales personality to a resume?

Unless the employer asks you to take a sales personality test and share the results with them, you don't have to add your sales personality to your resume. However, you want to add the soft skills, descriptive words, and relevant achievements to show the potential employer what type of salesperson you are.

For example, to emphasize that you excel at exceeding targets, building rapport quickly, and aggressive sales, use words like "Dynamic and proactive sales professional", and emphasize skills in generating leads, exceeding goals, market expansion, and aggressive negotiation. Add measurable results and numbers, and the HR manager will quickly see your personality.

On the other hand, if you focus on relationship-building, consulting, client-centered approach, and include achievements in client retention and problem-solving, the employer will quickly identify you as a consultative seller.