We've compiled the best action verbs you can use to showcase your Sales experience.
The language you use when talking about your past achievements matters almost as much as the achievements themselves. Resume writing involves an element of storytelling, and if you want your story to be compelling, you need to tell it with strong words that catch the recruiter or hiring manager's eye when they skim your resume.
When writing your sales resume, make sure to use strong action verbs which highlight your sales experience — whether that's a word like "Communicated" or "Presented", to showcase your communication skills, or "Developed" or "Grew" to show your initiative and impact.
For more resume advice from recruiters in this field, read the complete Sales Resume Guide.
We've compiled a lot more action verbs by job titles below.
Choose the job title that's most relevant to you to get targeted action verbs.
To show you how to use these action verbs in your resume, see this infographic for reference. You'll note that each bullet point uses strong action verbs, with a specific description of the task that was accomplished.
Action verbs for business development specialists should generally indicate growth, improvement, and change, as the position relies on being able to generate and pursue new opportunities for businesses. We’ve included a list of strong action verbs to include on the left.
As an example of this in practice, the business development executive that we looked at above (the third template we reviewed) included a selection of relevant action verbs at each bullet point. We noted earlier how they described “growing territory”, but it’s also worth mentioning that they increased the customer base by 50 percent, boosted the BBB rating status, and “revamped” their recruiting process.
The verbs you choose to describe your accomplishments should be similarly dynamic (rather than flat or static). Put another way, business development specialists aren’t meant to maintain a status quo, but to elevate a business’s potential.
• Provided technical support for 4K users of the Salesforce CRM system, trained them on new updates and functionalities, assisted in troubleshooting complaints with existing systems, and resolved 93% of the issues submitted within 24 hours record time..
• Completed a 95% successful onboarding of 2.4K Salesforce mobile users, recognized with a Diamond Star Award for excellent performance in 2019 and 2021..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Business Development Resume Guide.
Account managers are experts at fostering strong relationships, skillfully juggling the needs of multiple accounts, and efficiently communicating with many different types of people. You must have excellent business judgment and be oriented towards results. When writing your account manager resume, make sure to include action verbs that reflect your expertise in such areas -- for example, use words such as “strengthened” or “increased” to emphasize your accomplishments.
Again, it is helpful to review the account manager job description you are applying to and see what action verbs they are using. But make sure not to copy all of their verbs, and instead think critically to come up with creative verbs of your own that are similar in meaning.
• Improved sales efficiency by leading sustainable adoption of a new CRM tool among 150 sales persons in 6 months; redesigned key sales support workflows.
• Implemented a Telemarketing Sales Program; increasing gross sales by $400,000 within 12 months..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Account Manager Resume Guide.
Your account executive resume should include action verbs that convey the kind of image you’re trying to present to an employer. Account executives need to be able to satisfy clients, build a strong customer base, and satisfy the company’s bottom line, so choose action verbs that demonstrate your ability to do those things well.
Always start your bullet points with an action verb. Employers don’t care about your job duties — they want to know what you actually accomplished. Where possible, follow it up with hard numbers or metrics and the impact it had on the company.
• Led full redesign of website with findings from customer segmentation and competitive research, increasing website leads by 200%.
• Increased the sale of 5+ low performing items by 20% by using merchandising techniques that included product placement and visual strategies. .
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Account Executive Resume Guide.
Every retail position is public-facing to some degree, which means you should emphasize your ability to communicate, influence, and work as part of a team. If you want to highlight your business finesse, choose action verbs like Influenced, Promoted, and Recommended. If you’re aiming for a leadership position, action verbs like Motivated and Trained are ideal. For more ideas, check out our comprehensive list of resume action verbs.
Leading with action verbs means your resume is focused on accomplishments, not duties — hiring managers are far more interested in knowing how many customers you successfully upsold than what areas of the store you cleaned. Remember that, at its core, retail is sales-oriented, which means that numbers are your friend. The more detailed you can be when listing your achievements, the more likely it is that your resume will wind up on the “yes” pile.
• Handled a range of advertising needs including the newspapers, radio, and digital markets for 15 clients by researching, purchasing, and executing campaigns worth over $7.9M. .
• Identified 21 critical double-counting errors by religiously monitoring RW’s inventory, leading to a constant savings increase of 15% for 2 years. .
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Retail Resume Guide.
To get an idea of what action verbs you should be using in general as a sales manager, you can refer to the list on the left. These action verbs have been gleaned from sales manager resumes, and will enable your resume to make an impression on hiring managers while also making it past automatic screening tools.
As noted above, you should tailor your action verbs to specific positions based on your experience.
• Led development of demo strategy for a new product offering targeting large financial institutions which was used to generate $1.1M in annual revenue..
• Introduced mobile payments and mobile shopping, Exceeded sales target by 95% in 2020, winning the Business Store Award in 2020..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Sales Manager Resume Guide.
Sales associates must be excellent communicators, must know how to quickly get up to speed on a new product/service to answer customer questions. You must demonstrate exceptional professionalism and display empathy and tact in case a customer gets confused or frustrated.
When writing your sales associate resume, keep these qualities in mind as you choose action verbs to describe your experiences. Use the ones that reflect your strongest assets and that are relevant to the position. For example, use words like “resolved” or “handled” to emphasize your empathetic nature when you approach challenging customer problems.
Besides the list we have here, you can come up with ones of your own to use, or even read through various relevant job descriptions to see what kind of action verbs companies tend to use when they’re looking to hire sales employees.
• Provided recommendations for service improvements impacting over 150,000 customers; included analyzing competitor strategies, ‘voice of the customer’ data, and process mapping. .
• Spearheaded retail distribution expansion into 8 new territories and markets in South Brazil; resulted in 85% sales growth and the fastest growing sales location in South America in 2015.
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Sales Associate Resume Guide.
When you’re applying to become an operations manager, you should always start your bullet points with precise and powerful verbs that tell hiring managers what you accomplished in your prior work experiences.
Operations managers do need a range of skills for their jobs, but as upper-level managers, they especially need to display leadership and management capabilities. Although there are many possible action verbs they could choose from, aspiring operations managers may want to pay special attention to the Executive and Management verbs.
• Generated over $500K in new sales opportunities for ticketing software products through prospecting, networking, and marketing..
• Developed an ingenious system that tracked the preferences of 4K customers which led to an improved sales profit of 30%. .
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Operations Manager Resume Guide.
To keep your resume engaging and demonstrate to hiring managers that you are comfortable in the supply chain field, you should lead each one of your bullet points with a relevant action verb whenever possible. Each bullet point should be a short, succinct summary of a single accomplishment, keeping them hard-hitting and informative. Try not to duplicate the action verbs too many times throughout the resume, though including some of them two or three times can help reinforce your experience in that role.
Remember to keep in mind that relevant skills can vary based on the particular position you’re applying for. Analysts, for example, should emphasize accomplishments in which they “analyzed”, “evaluated”, “identified”, or performed similar skills for previous employers.
• Completed the turnaround of 10 products merchandising mix, resulting in a 20% revenue increase & 11.5% margin increase in Q1 and Q2 of 2017. .
• Led over 12 software sales pilots generating $8MM+ total revenue in license and consulting service fees; clients included Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Credit Suisse..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Supply Chain Resume Guide.
Real estate agents are savvy salesmen/women and jack of all trades. They have the organization to maintain paperwork, the EQ to prospect new clients, and the marketing chops to successfully sell themselves.
It’s important to emphasize your skills in these areas when writing your real estate resume. For example, to highlight your prospecting abilities, use words such as “developed” or “collaborated”.
Real estate is, at its core, the business of selling houses, so it’s important to draw attention to all the deals you’ve successfully closed with strong action verbs. Use strong verbs to start out your bullet points, and demonstrate your accomplishments in leadership .
• Maintained a target 80% clientele renewal rate,with an average renewal length of 3 years through building client relationships, educating consumers, and networking..
• Initiated and managed relationships with key enterprise customers; wrote and executed business plan that resulted in 120% ($5MM) increase in division revenue over 3 years.
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Real Estate Agent Resume Guide.
Each of your achievements and bullet points on in the experience section of your sales engineer resume should emphasize your sales and technical abilities. Sample action verbs for your resume are listed below. These action verbs are related to leading projects, undertaking new initiatives and growing business objectives. Don’t repeat action verbs more than twice on your resume - use different verbs to highlight different experiences.
• Created 3K bugs in 4 sandboxes and assigned them to 100 developers who worked and resolved the defects within a 24-hour deadline. .
• Led over 12 software sales pilots generating $8MM+ total revenue in license and consulting service fees; clients included Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Credit Suisse..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Sales Engineer Resume Guide.
• Supervised a team of 18 inside sales representatives to achieve the highest revenue growth in RW’s history and successfully transformed their outside call center model to a 100% in-house remote workforce. .
• Promoted and expanded the company's thought leadership capabilities, integrated marketing programs, and digital advertising that showed a 52% increase in engagement..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Resume Guide.
An eCommerce position requires a lot of analyzing, strategizing, and marketing. Using action verbs that address all three is an efficient way to prove your capabilities to recruiters.
We have compiled a list of action verbs focused on eCommerce-related tasks as well as managerial tasks that you can expect of an eCommerce manager. The right action verbs are an easy way to spotlight yourself and help showcase your most relevant skills in a few words.
• Pioneered innovative sales efforts to include fashion, music, accommodations, and travel features, driving sales 15% higher..
• Scripted and tested phone sales process; increased customers by 30% in 6 months.
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full E-Commerce Resume Guide.
Strong action verbs help recruiters understand your role in specific tasks. An advertiser's resume should use action verbs that are relevant to advertisement. Action verbs like "Developed", "Inspired" or “Revamped" are examples of strong action verbs for this profession.
• Ignited 55 new sales opportunities via inbound lead follow-up and cold calls/emails which converted 60% of leads to RW clients within 3 weeks..
• Developed spend analysis that supported the $2.4M quarterly savings goal and price reductions of 10 departments under 4 months of executing the initiative. .
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Advertising Resume Guide.
Action verbs are grammatical tools to help you enhance the information in your resume. By using the right action verbs, you will be able to explain your role and experience accurately and precisely. We have curated some of the best action verbs you can use for your SaaS resume. Check them below.
• Acquired new business clients with annual revenues up to $4 million by utilizing internal leads, creating a network of contacts, and seeking out referrals..
• Increased the sale of 5+ low performing items by 20% by using merchandising techniques that included product placement and visual strategies..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full SaaS Resume Guide.
It is crucial to be descriptive and precise when writing your work experience in your merchandising resume. You want to make sure you explain your responsibilities clearly and concisely. That’s why you should use the appropriate action verbs instead of being too general. Action verbs such as “researched”, “planned”, and “executed” will efficiently illustrate your duties.
• Recorded 95 daily cold calls that resulted in 10 new qualified prospects, which exceeded company standard of 6% in 5 years. .
• Created custom user-interfaces by building VisualForce pages in Lightning which improved user experience by 85% and streamlined workflow processes..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Merchandising Resume Guide.
If you want to capture people’s attention and increase your donor base you need to have excellent communication skills. You must be direct, precise, and a storyteller. The best thing you can do is demonstrate those traits in your resume. Action verbs can help you simplify your information and accurately illustrate your duties in past jobs.
Use bullet points in your work experience section and start with a strong action verb to showcase reliability and accountability. Remember not to repeat them across your resume. If you need some inspiration, take a look at the following ones:
• Initiated four marketing strategies, including the launch of TikTok and Snapchat Ads, that increased new business by 25% and retained existing clients.
• Generated 50+ donors through cold call sales and systematic email outreach; qualified leads based on industry and location..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Fundraising Resume Guide.
Your resume should be treated as a sales campaign. It must be persuasive, have excellent communication, and display your value. Yet, there’s one thing you need to leave behind; “salesy” and overly general (vague) words. Recruiters value those resumes that use precise language. You’ll be surprised by how much of a difference it makes to be straight to the point in your resume
Using the right action verbs is beneficial because they are descriptive and precise. Industry-relevant action verbs provide you with accountability and trustworthiness. You can use action verbs like “Negotiated” or “Increased” which are highly relevant to your industry. Below, you can find more relevant action verbs for your director of sales resume.
• Supervised the planning, production, and buying for RW’s brands and sales channels (retail, wholesale, and eCommerce) leading to $20M in sales revenue, up 10% from previous years. .
• Reviewed purchase specifications for accuracy so that Purchase Order (PO) quantities and other specifications were correct, reducing purchasing errors by 10%. .
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Director of Sales Resume Guide.
Your sales coordinator's resume should reflect your communication skills and reliability. Why not leverage your work experience to demonstrate that? You can give the right impression on your resume by using strong action verbs. Try streamlining your work history by using bullet points. You can start each point with a strong action verb.
Action verbs are precise and hold you accountable for achievements in the sales team, so it’s also a great idea for mentioning your accomplishments. If you need some inspiration to use various action verbs, check the list below.
• Transferred 7 business units into a shared global Salesforce platform, saving Resume Worded ~$15M every year on legacy platforms. .
• Developed standardized reporting templates which reduced turnaround time on administrative tasks by 35% and increased data collection efficiency by 60%..
If you'd like a deeper dive into this role, read the full Sales Coordinator Resume Guide.
If you have a version of your resume ready, remember to get it checked using our free resume scanner below. It will make sure all your action verbs are strong enough, and give you feedback on any mistakes you might have overlooked, so you can fix them before a recruiter sees them.
