Also called: Regional Sales Manager, Sales Director
Leads a team of salespeople, sets their goals, and coaches them to hit their numbers.
You review the team's deals each Monday, ride along on a big client meeting to help close it, and figure out why one rep is struggling. Your bonus depends on the whole team's results.
BLS sales managers median roughly $138k (May 2024); bonuses add a lot.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 8 years after high school. Bachelor's in business or marketing; usually years of successful selling first.
Ways in: 4-year college, On-the-job training. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Business Administration, Marketing, Communications.
Growing faster than average. BLS projects about average to faster growth for sales managers.
Low risk for 10 years. AI forecasts deals and scores reps' calls; coaching people, closing big deals and owning a team's number stays human.
Classes: Speech and debate, Business elective, AP Psychology, Marketing CTE class.
Official data: O*NET occupation 11-2022.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.