Crafting a Powerful Sales Cover Letter [+ Tips & Examples]

One of the main responsibilities for those who work in sales is to increase the sales of the company’s products or services, simply put, to increase the income of the company. Sales, a timeless career, remains relevant throughout history and today. Jobs of a salesperson entails attending customers, selling products, and meeting customers’ needs. If you are considering applying for a job as a salesperson, first you will need to “sell” yourself with your sales cover letter to the employer.

A good cover letter for a sales position can land you an interview opportunity. Countless people graduate from business school and are competing on the same racing road, let’s shine yourself with a powerful sales cover letter.

A sales cover letter is not hard to write if you have a basic idea of how one should look. But if you still have no idea, this article will help you!

Cover letter for sales executive

When writing a cover letter for the position as a sales executive, showcasing your knowledge as a sales senior salesperson is very important. You can do that by including your experience and knowledge of how you can find more sales opportunities for the company to attract recruiters’ attention.

Sales manager cover letter

A sales manager is responsible for overseeing the daily activities of sales employees to ensure everything is running smoothly. When writing a sales manager cover letter, you should include your ability and/or strategies to lead and manage a group of people to show the recruiters that you are the right person.

Sales associate cover letter

A sales associate represents the company as the salesperson who serves customers and makes them happy when they leave the store. Employers want to see how well you can perform in front of customers when reading your sales associate cover letter. Hence, it is best if you have solid examples of your good services.

Sales assistant cover letter no experience

Most sales assistants work directly under their supervisors, which are the right-hand-man of managers or executives. To stand out in your sales assistant cover letter when you lack experience, you have to demonstrate your capabilities to be in charge independently when supervisors are away.

Never underestimate what a format can show when your sales cover letter is read by employers. It can reflect your professionalism. 

Follow the format below when creating your cover letter for a sales position.

Letter header (receiver & sender’s information)

A sales cover letter begins like a normal letter where you have to include the sender’s information, the date, and the receiver’s information in the top left corner. If you are writing an email version of a sales cover letter, you will have to include a proper subject line for your email and can exclude the receiver and sender’s information in the letter header.

Proper salutation

Leaving a good impression work for all your opening, body, and closing paragraph. The way you greet recruiters can easily show that you respect the position that you are applying for. 

• Dear Mr. Paul,
• Dear Ms. Joey,
• Dear Hiring Manager Ms. Kameron,
• Dear Ms. Cinthia Lawson,
• Dear Sales Management Team,

Opening paragraph

When writing an opening paragraph for a sales cover letter, you should highlight things you can bring to the company so that you can impress the recruiters. Include where and how you found the hiring notice, a brief explanation of your background, and do not forget to mention your goals.

Here’s an example of an opening paragraph in a cover letter for a retail sales associate:

Body paragraph(s)

In the body paragraphs of a cover letter for a sales position, recruiters want to know about your experiences and skills. Including your strategies that helped you attract customers’ attention to spend money purchasing the company’s products is one way to write the body paragraphs.

Here’s an example of a body paragraph in an application letter for sales lady:

Closing paragraph

When writing a closing paragraph for your sales cover letter, show appreciation to the recruiters. You should also include a strong CTA to tell recruiters that you have more information to provide if needed and you hope for a chance to meet and have an interview.

Here’s an example of a closing paragraph in a sales rep cover letter:

Sign-offs

Last but not least, to end your sales cover letter is to sign your cover letter off with a complimentary close, your signature, and your name at the bottom-left corner of your letter. If you are writing an email cover letter, you may list your contact information there.

Here are some few examples that you should take a look:

A strong sales cover letter will always stand out among other competitors and that is what you want your cover letter to look like. Employers usually spend less than a minute skimming through your cover letter and you will have to make the most out of it.

Be brief, concise, and highlight communication skills

A strong cover letter does not have to be a cover letter that uses the entire page to describe you. Writing straight to the main point can be more persuasive which also shows your communication skills.

Highlight industry skills

Working in the sales industry requires many different kinds of skills, especially communicating. This is because salespeople are the core that helps bring income to the company. Hence, employers will always look for the skills that you incorporate into the cover letter to see if you are suitable for the job.

Here are some industry skills that you can refer to:

• Product knowledge
• Communication skills
• Teamwork
• Negotiation strategies
• Problem-solving

Use quantified metrics

A cover letter works as an elaboration of your resume. Apart from acing your resume, which nowadays can be created by easy-to-use online resume builder, this is the chance for you to put numbers and percentages into your context to make your statement solid and convincing. The best way to do this is by incorporating them into examples of your experience.

Make your achievements the main focus of the page

List your past achievements in your sales cover letter. Employers rely on this information to understand your skills and suitability for a role.

You can make them pop by using boldface to emphasize keywords of your achievements. Other than that, you may also use the bullet point style to list them out in full sentences which will take up more space in the cover letter, making it eye-catching.

Mention mutual connections

Working as a salesperson requires one to have a good reputation. Most hiring managers will seek for further information to make sure that you are credible. This is why you should include someone that you can trust as a referral for the hiring manager to refer to. 

Keep in mind that finding the right person as a referral is fairly important. Your manager or supervisor in your previous position would be the best choice as a referral, whilst your family members and friends are not suitable here.

• Keep in mind that you have to “sell yourself with an extraordinary sales cover letter before you can sell something for the company.
• Make every sentence count in your cover letter but keep it short and precise.
• Highlight your communication skills and how you can utilize them as a powerful tool in a sales position.
• Use quantified metrics to allow employers to better understand your achievements.

--- Originally written by Ryan Goh ---