A sales manager job description should state what business outcome the manager owns, which decisions sit within the role, and how performance will be assessed. For an employer hiring in Iran, the useful version is specific about the market, team scope, and pipeline ownership. It also covers forecasting and coaching, plus cross-functional work. The sample below can be adapted to a B2B or B2C model and to the company’s current stage. Start with the job description template so that the mission and responsibilities stay aligned with authority and selection criteria.
What should a sales manager own?
The manager’s mission is to create repeatable performance through a team. A salesperson mainly owns opportunities and customer conversations through negotiation. The manager turns a commercial target into an operating plan, monitors pipeline health, removes process barriers, develops people, and gives leadership a defensible view of future sales. Promoting the strongest individual seller without assessing coaching and analysis as well as decision-making can leave both the person and the team in the wrong role.
Scope varies by company. One manager may own the full journey from target-market definition to collection. Elsewhere, marketing supplies qualified leads while finance controls credit and operations owns delivery. The description should name the owner of each handoff, the manager’s pricing authority, the decisions that require approval, and the forum used to resolve disagreements across sales and marketing, finance and product as well as operations.
O*NET’s 2026 profile includes setting territories and quotas with clear goals, establishing training, analysing sales statistics, and monitoring customer preferences. Source: O*NET, 2026
Before advertising, document the business problem, reporting line, team scope, target market, sales motion, and the evidence that will count as success. The related guide on how to hire a sales manager covers the later stages from selection design to a final evidence-based decision.
What does a practical sales manager job description include?
Use this mission statement as a starting point: ‘The sales manager converts company revenue goals into an operating plan, leads and develops the sales team, manages pipeline health, and provides evidence-based forecasts to leadership.’ Rewrite it for the product and channel, reflecting the geography and maturity of the team. A regional manager, key-account manager, sales operations manager, and front-line sales manager should not share an identical description.
- Build a sales plan from company goals, team capacity, market conditions, and prior-period evidence, with assumptions made explicit.
- Translate team goals into clear ownership by territory, channel, or customer segment and resolve competing priorities.
- Run disciplined pipeline reviews, test opportunity quality and next steps, and convert repeated barriers into corrective action.
- Prepare forecasts using opportunity stage, buyer evidence, conversion history, and deal risk, then review the gap between forecast and result.
- Coach team members, provide behavioural feedback, identify learning needs, and follow through on individual development plans.
- Contribute to hiring and onboarding, with a clear standard for when a new seller is ready to manage opportunities independently.
- Agree lead definitions and feedback loops with marketing, and build workable decision routines with product, operations, and finance.
- Keep CRM data decision-ready by enforcing shared rules for stage and value, with probability and risk alongside the next action.
For B2B sales, place more weight on account strategy, stakeholder mapping, a longer decision process, evidence-based forecasting, and coordination with technical and financial colleagues. The manager may oversee fewer opportunities with greater value and complexity. The job is to improve the team’s judgement and unblock customer decisions without taking permanent ownership of every important deal.
Toptal’s 2025 template also groups sales planning, coaching, performance analysis, pipeline management, forecasting, and collaboration with marketing and product within the core role. Use it as a completeness check, then replace generic language with the realities of the employer and market. Source: Toptal, 2025
Which KPIs should assess the sales manager?
A useful KPI connects to an outcome the manager can influence. Revenue alone is a lagging result and can hide weak management choices. A balanced set should cover commercial results, pipeline health, forecast discipline, customer quality, and team capability. The relative importance of each measure should reflect the company’s stage and the authority actually assigned to the role.
| Area | Possible measure | Management question |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial result | Goal attainment, margin, or sales mix | Does performance support the company’s economic priority? |
| Pipeline | Conversion, opportunity quality, and cycle length | Where does performance begin to weaken? |
| Forecast | Difference between forecast and actual result | Are assumptions documented and consistently applied? |
| Customer | Retention, account growth, or handover quality | Is the sale sustainable for the customer and company? |
| Team | Capability growth and consistency | Is the manager increasing the team’s capacity? |
Define each KPI, its data source, the person responsible for recording it, review cadence, and interpretation rule. A conversion rate is ambiguous unless the starting and ending stages are fixed. Treat activity measures such as calls or meetings as diagnostic signals unless there is a clear relationship with opportunity progress. High activity by itself does not prove good management.
Use a simple decision rule. If the company lacks suitable opportunities, emphasise pipeline creation and quality. If opportunities exist but fail to progress, focus on stage conversion, cycle length, and coaching quality. If rapid growth has reduced control, give more weight to forecast accuracy, data discipline, and new-hire readiness. The recruitment KPI dashboard can help maintain a consistent review rhythm once the role and hiring process are defined.
Which requirements belong in the description?
Requirements should come from the work. Define relevant experience by market type, sales-cycle complexity, team scope, and decision level. A record of selling matters, but evidence of managing others, building a process, analysing data, forecasting, and working across functions should be assessed separately. Familiarity with a CRM matters when you can explain what decisions the manager is expected to make from the data; a software brand is not a capability.
Make a degree or industry background essential only when required for product understanding, regulation, or customer access. Otherwise, list it as preferred and ask for evidence of transferable achievement. Unnecessary conditions may exclude managers who solved a comparable problem in an adjacent market.
Replace vague phrases such as ‘strong communicator’ or ‘natural leader’ with observable behaviour. Ask for someone who can run an evidence-led pipeline review, deliver difficult feedback respectfully, explain the gap between target and capacity, and turn analysis into action. Observable requirements are clearer to candidates and can be converted directly into a structured interview scorecard.
- Write the role mission around the current business problem.
- Separate expected outcomes from routine activities.
- Define authority and cross-functional decision points.
- Adapt responsibilities to the B2B or B2C motion.
- Set KPI definitions and data sources before interviews begin.
- Split requirements into essential and preferred, and test the reason for each.
FAQ
How does a sales manager differ from a marketing manager?
The sales manager owns opportunity progression, team execution, pipeline management, and forecasting. Marketing generally owns market insight, positioning, demand creation, and communication channels. The lead handoff and the definition of quality should be documented between the roles.
Should a sales manager close deals personally?
It depends on team size and deal complexity. Direct involvement may be appropriate in a small team or strategic account, but the description should say when the manager enters and how seller ownership is preserved. If personal selling consumes most of the manager’s time, coaching and system-building will suffer.
Which KPI matters most for a B2B sales manager?
No single measure is sufficient. Goal attainment should be read alongside pipeline quality, stage conversion, cycle length, forecast accuracy, and account health.
How much experience should a sales manager have?
A fixed duration is a weak standard across different companies. Set the level according to sales complexity, team scope, and decision size, then assess evidence of coaching, forecasting, problem-solving, and process design. The relevance and quality of experience matter more than duration alone.
A job description is useful when it improves selection and later evaluation. Begin with the real commercial problem, define responsibility and authority, and choose KPIs that reinforce sound management behaviour. For senior or specialist roles, executive search in Iran can widen access to qualified candidates who may not be active applicants.
