Sales Administrator CV: example, skills and writing tips

Sales administrator CV example

The example below shows how the advice in this guide fits together on one page. The person, the companies and all the figures are invented: use the structure, not the content, and replace every detail with your own.

Notice what makes this CV useful to a recruiter: every line says what was handled, for which customers, with which tool and at what volume. The rest of this guide explains how to build each section in the same way.

Job title and professional summary

Choose a title that reflects your main focus

Sales support roles cover very different realities: order processing, customer service, prospecting, support to field sales, internal coordination. Your title should show your main focus:

Sales Administrator – 5 years’ experience
Sales Administrator – B2B order management and customer service
Sales Support Assistant – prospecting and CRM
Export Sales Administrator
Key Account Sales Administrator – manufacturing

The goal is not to stuff in keywords. A precise title lets recruiters, and the search tools they use, see your focus quickly.

Sales administrator, sales coordinator, inside sales: which title fits?

Job ads use several titles for office-based sales support. Their scope varies between employers and countries, so check the job description and pick the title that describes what you actually do.

Professional summary example: experienced sales administrator

The professional summary (often called a personal profile or personal statement in the UK) is three to five lines that state your experience, your customers, your main responsibilities and your key tools.

Sales administrator specialising in order management. Processes orders, tracks deliveries and handles complaints in coordination with logistics and accounts. Daily user of SAP and Excel.

Professional summary example: junior sales administrator

[Sales or business qualification] graduate with first experience in sales support through a [two-year] work-study contract. Prepared quotes, qualified leads, kept the CRM up to date and followed up orders.

Adapt these examples to your real situation. “Dynamic, motivated and excellent people skills” says nothing about your experience: replace it with your customers, volumes and tools.

Sales administrator CV skills by area

Do not try to show everything. Select the skills that match your real job and the role you are targeting, then phrase them so a recruiter can see how you used them.

A skills line such as this gives little information:

Sales support – Customer relations – Microsoft Office – Organised

This one is far more useful:

Quotes · Order processing (SAP) · B2B customer follow-up · Salesforce · Weekly sales reporting · German (B2)

Describing your experience and achievements

For each role, state the type of customers, your tasks, your tools and your volumes. Follow this order where possible:

context → your own action → tools or method → scope → result

For example: “For an industrial supplier’s B2B customers (context), I followed up pending quotes every week (action) using a Salesforce report (tool) across a 160-account portfolio (scope), which reduced the number of quotes left without an answer (result).” The figures in this sentence are illustrative.

Too vague

Sales support
Order management
Customer relations
Reporting

More informative

Illustrative figures.

Followed a portfolio of 160 business customers
Entered and checked orders in SAP
Coordinated lead times with logistics
Updated accounts and opportunities in Salesforce
Supported 5 field sales representatives every day

The second version shows the customers, the volume, the processes and the tools. Add figures when they are accurate and can be shared: portfolio size, orders or quotes handled, revenue followed, number of sales staff supported, countries, requests handled.

Achievement examples to adapt

Replace [X] and [Y] with your own verified figures, or leave the line out if you cannot support it.

• Processed around [X] customer orders a day, from entry to invoicing information.
• Followed the administration of a customer portfolio representing [amount] in annual revenue.
• Supported [X] field sales representatives with quotes, meetings and CRM updates.
• Set up a weekly follow-up of pending quotes, raising the answer rate from [X]% to [Y]%.
• Reduced the time to answer customer requests from [X] to [Y] hours by [method].
• Prepared the administrative part of [X] tender files and met every submission deadline.

Do not claim sales you did not close: if signing deals was the representatives’ job, describe your contribution to them.

CRM, ERP and Excel: show how you used them

“Microsoft Office” or “CRM: good level” tells a recruiter little. Name the software you have actually used and what for:

Salesforce: accounts, opportunities and sales activities
HubSpot: prospects, follow-ups and pipeline
SAP: order entry and tracking
Excel: filters, pivot tables, XLOOKUP and sales tracking

This is more informative than:

CRM: good level
Excel: expert

Depending on your background, this may include Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics, Pipedrive or Zoho for CRM, and SAP, Sage, Oracle or Odoo for orders and invoicing. Do not list a tool you have only seen demonstrated: you should be able to talk about it in an interview.

Education and languages

Use the format qualification – specialism – institution – year:

[Qualification] – [sales, business or administration]
[Institution] — [year]

If you are experienced, your experience will usually take more space than your education.

Languages deserve a precise line when you use them at work, especially for export roles. “English B2: emails, calls and order follow-up” is more useful than “fluent English”; CEFR levels (A1 to C2) are widely understood in Europe.

Making your sales administrator CV easy to read for ATS

Many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS) or recruitment software to store and search applications. The aim is not to “beat” or trick an ATS: it is to make your experience explicit and easy to find.

• explicit job titles;
• clearly identifiable employers and dates;
• the type of customers (B2B, consumers, key accounts, export);
• skills written as text, not only as icons or rating bars;
• CRM and ERP named precisely;
• languages with their level and use.

“Order processing in SAP and B2B customer follow-up” is far more precise than “Versatile sales support”.

Tailoring your sales administrator CV to each job

Two sales administration jobs can have very different focuses. Your background does not change, but you can adapt the title, the summary, the order of your skills, the tools you bring forward and the roles you detail.

Before applying for an order-processing, export or field sales support role, it helps to see which elements of the job description your CV already covers and which are missing. CVReader compares your CV with a job description and highlights the points of correspondence.

Compare my CV with a job description

Free matching requires an account.

Junior sales administrator or career changer

With little sales support experience, the same principle applies: be precise about what you have actually done.

• Students and recent graduates: describe internships and work-study contracts like real jobs: leads qualified, quotes prepared, CRM updates, orders followed, weekly reporting.
• Career changers: office administration brings file handling, Excel and phone contact; retail brings customer relations and product knowledge; logistics brings order and delivery tracking. Say clearly what comes from your previous job and what is genuinely sales administration.
• Training in progress: state the qualification, the institution and the expected completion date, without presenting it as already obtained.

Former logistics coordinator moving into sales administration. Three years’ experience tracking customer deliveries and resolving delivery issues in [ERP], with daily customer contact by phone and email.

Trained or working in France?

If your background is French, a few adjustments make your CV clearer to English-speaking recruiters.

French qualifications

Keep the French name of your qualification and add a short explanation:

• BTS – Brevet de technicien supérieur: two-year French post-secondary vocational qualification. Sales-related options include NDRC (Négociation et digitalisation de la relation client: sales negotiation and digital customer relations), MCO (Management commercial opérationnel: commercial operations management) and Gestion de la PME (SME administration and management).
• BUT Techniques de commercialisation: three-year French university technology degree in marketing and sales.

There is no automatic equivalence between these diplomas and British, American or other qualifications, so do not present them as equivalent.

BTS NDRC – Négociation et digitalisation de la relation client (French two-year vocational qualification in sales and customer relations)
[School] — [year]

French job titles and terms

Translate the role, not the words. An “assistant(e) commercial(e)” is usually best described as a sales administrator or sales support assistant, depending on your focus. “ADV” (administration des ventes) is sales administration or order processing; a “devis” is a quote; “relance” is follow-up; “Pack Office” is better replaced by the applications you really use. French software such as Cegid deserves a few words of context.

Mistakes to avoid and final checklist

Writing only “sales support”

Name your tasks and responsibilities.

Not stating the type of customers

B2B, consumers, key accounts or export can make a big difference.

Forgetting the tools

CRM and ERP experience is often an important criterion.

Confusing selling with supporting sales

Do not claim deals you were not responsible for closing.

Not quantifying your activity

Portfolio, orders or sales staff supported give context.

Using only general qualities

“Organised” or “dynamic” is less useful than concrete experience.

Checklist before you apply

• My title states my main focus (orders, customers, prospecting, export).
• My summary fits in three to five lines and names my customers, responsibilities and tools.
• Each role shows the customers, my tasks, the tools, the volumes and, where possible, a result.
• Every figure is accurate and can be shared.
• Each software package listed is one I have actually used, with its context.
• My languages show a level and how I use them.
• Employers and dates are easy to find, and skills are written as text.
• I have brought forward what matches the job’s main focus.

Sales administrator CV: frequently asked questions

What skills should I put on a sales administrator CV?

Quotes, order processing, customer follow-up, CRM, reporting and coordination with sales staff and other departments, selected according to your real job.

Should I state how many customers I handle?

Yes. Portfolio size, order volumes or the number of sales representatives supported give a clear idea of your workload.

Which software should I list?

The CRM, ERP and office tools you have actually used, for example Salesforce, SAP or Excel, with a few words on what you used them for.

Is a sales administrator the same as an order processor?

The roles can overlap. Order processing focuses on entering and tracking orders, while sales administration can also include quotes, prospecting support and help for sales staff.

Is a sales administrator resume different from a sales administrator CV?

“Resume” is the usual American term; “CV” is used in the UK and much of the world. For a job application, the advice in this guide applies to both.

Do I need a different CV for every job?

You do not need to rewrite your career each time. It is worth bringing forward what matches the job’s focus: orders, customer service, prospecting, export or key accounts.