The following article discusses the career path of Sales Director. Learn about how to become one, education requirements, job duties, traits and qualities, national salary outlook as well as top national employers of Sales Directors.
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Sales Director Job Duties
Sales directors direct the overall sales team. They may do this for the company as a whole, or for a branding or regional division. They set the vision and guide their team so that they are able to execute the expected sales quotas for the company’s products or services. Furthermore, they often direct marketing initiatives and sales campaigns. They line manage a sales manager or a team of sales managers, ensuring they can lead the teams directly. They also set the standards and direction for how sales personnel is trained.
A sales director is an executive who has a lot of influence on the company’s various sales initiatives. This means that they examine and approve sales projections, focus on budgets, and ensure sales campaigns are properly costed and approved. They also oversee large sales campaigns that influence multiple teams, reporting on the results to senior management, including the board or directors.
It is very important that a sales director achieves consistent standards among all the people they lead. They do this by building relationships with individual line managers, ensuring that the appropriate hiring policies and procedures are followed. They also hold quality interviews, ensuring that a standard for excellence is set across every level of the organization, including training. They follow up on identified issues, particularly during performance reviews.
Typically, sales directors work closely with logistics, supply, branding, and marketing teams. This ensures that the various departments that have interlinking roles operate in an efficient manner.
Other job duties of a sales director include:
- Directing and planning activities for the sales force in an effort to drive profit across all market segments.
- Ensuring that the sales volume is at maximum potential across all market segments.
- Ensuring that all sales strategies, promotional programs, advertising efforts, and other plans are properly executed
- Acting as a point of contact for customers and key markets, thereby further increasing volume of sales.
- Line managing other members of staff to ensure they are able to meet the organization’s various goals and objectives.
Where Sales Director’s Work
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 385,500 sales managers in 2016. The largest employers of these professionals were:
- Wholesale trade: 20%
- Retail trade: 18%
- Manufacturing: 12%
- Professional, scientific, and technical services: 10%
- Finance and insurance: 9%
How to Become a Sales Director
A sales director usually has at least a bachelor’s degree. They also have many years’ experience, generally coming from a sales representative background.
Sales Director Education Requirements
Usually, a sales director will have a bachelor’s degree as a minimum. The subject of this degree varies, but it is preferred for them to have completed courses in statistics, marketing, mathematics, finance, accounting, economics, management, and business law. Work experience is usually of greater importance than education, however. Often, they will have at least five years of experience in the field.
Typically, sales directors grow into their position, coming from occupations relating to sales. They may have been a purchasing agent, a manufacturing or wholesale sales representative, or a retail sales worker, for instance. They are then usually promoted to sales manager internally and, eventually, to the position of director of sales.
Sales Director Traits & Qualities
The most effective sales directors have the following traits to some degree or other:
- Strong analytical skills
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
- Great customer service skills
- Strong leadership skills
Sales Director Minimum Education
Bachelor’s Degree
The national average salary estimate for Sales Director was $107,659. This number is estimated from over 2,258,924 employees, users past and present job advertisements from Indeed.com. This equates to an hourly salary of $56.07 and monthly of $8,972.
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$21,000
$260,000
The following section lists Sales Director salaries in each state around the country. The figures are based on the total number of job postings through Indeed.com. For example, DC had the largest quoted salary of $135,424 while Maine had the smallest quoted salary of $59,308.
According to Indeed.com, the following states had employers looking to hire a Sales Director. The quoted salary figure represents the average salary from all job postings by this employer.
| Employer Name | Location | Average Salary |
|---|---|---|
| Ed Wallach Search Group LLC | DC | $300,000 |
| Maritz Inc. | Missouri | $300,000 |
| Nigel Frank International | Maryland | $284,083 |
| hc1.com | Massachusetts | $275,000 |
| Leading Digital Health and Welllness Company | Texas | $259,808 |
| Clinical Research Technology Solutions | North Carolina | $259,234 |
| LED Lighting Fixture Company | Texas | $252,779 |
| Rich Water Consulting Inc | Ohio | $250,000 |
| Software, Professional Services and Hardware | Ohio | $250,000 |
Learn More
- Sales Managers : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S …
- 11-2022.00 – Sales Managers – O*NET OnLine
- Sales management – Wikipedia
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| IT Security Specialist | $113,452 |
| Data Warehouse Engineer | $111,007 |
| Business Intelligence Manager | $109,552 |
| Investment Manager | $108,746 |
| Director of Sales | $108,014 |
| Tax Manager | $107,133 |
| Risk Manager | $103,743 |
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| Director of Finance | $99,996 |
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