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Hiring in 2023 is hard and home improvement call centers are no exception. As a sales manager or business owner, you know in your head what and who you're looking for, but putting it into words is another story.
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In this post, we're going to show you how to write an awesome sales job description, with real examples of what works (and what doesn't) so you can stand out to your ideal candidates.
Table of contents
- Sales rep roles and responsibilities
- How to write a great sales rep job description
- Sales job description examples and templates for:
Sales representative roles and responsibilities
Sales representative roles will of course vary from business to business, but in general, they are the ones who interact with customers throughout their journey from lead to prospect to customer. Their job is to sell but really it's to help the customer make the right buying decision for them.
A sales representative role may include:
- Understanding prospective customers' pain points and needs
- Recommending the right product or solution for them
- Answering questions and concerns about the product/solution
- Building relationships and trust so it's a positive experience
Sales representative responsibilities may include:
- Creating and sharing presentations and pitch decks
- Reaching out to and engaging leads
- Meeting with prospects
- Following up with prospects (because we know that one-call closing does not work anymore)
- Handing them off to a support or success rep once they are a customer, or remaining the point of contact
Ideally, marketing team members, and not the sales reps are responsible for generating the leads, and for most call centers, those in administrative roles monitor the inbound leads, schedule the appointments, and pass the information on to the reps. You can learn more about call center team structures here.
Tips for writing a great sales job description
When you're hiring for a sales representative, here are some important considerations for writing your job description.
Use keywords
The first tip is to use keywords in your job description. These are the words and phrases that your ideal candidate would type into a search engine or job posting board. Types of job description keywords to consider include:
- Location-specific: call center sales rep Boston
- Industry-specific: home improvement sales jobs, home remodeling sales job openings
- Tool/jargon terms: sales rep jobs no cold calling, sales rep job with CRM
- Role: alternative names to the role like business development manager or account manager
- Company-specific: specific brand, product, or service names.
Your keywords should go in the job title as well as throughout the description.
Make it flow
A job description is basically a piece of marketing content. Just like with your website pages, you should prioritize information so that it is attractive and intuitive to the reader. Generally, readers expect this type of information flow:
- Snapshot (title, company, location, salary, job type)
- Overview
- Roles/responsibilities
- Requirements/Skills
- Perks
- Additional details (schedule, location, etc.)
- Company details
Mention company credentials
Just like your customers, job candidates are vetting many companies, so be sure to sell yourself! Mention things that distinguish you, like:
- How long you’ve been in business for
- If you’re your location’s or industry’s only, first, best, fastest, etc.
- Awards and nominations
- Partnerships
- Media mentions
Think about your value proposition—what makes your employees proud to work for your company?
Speak to the applicant
You don’t want your job description to read like, well, a company job description. You want it to read like a person is telling the applicant about the job.
Write in conversational tone and inject some personality into it.
For example, instead of “Applicant should possess the following skills,” say “You’ll be a great fit if you have these skills.” Or instead of “Tasks include”, you can say “Your day to day will look something like this,”
Use words like “you” and “we” to make it more personalized and human-sounding.
Emphasize your values
Keywords and company achievements will make your job description attractive, but you want to make sure you’re getting applicants who will be a good culture fit.
Either create a section in the description explicitly stating your company mission and values, or weave that language into he posting as a whole.
Keep it positive, but not salesy
The idea is to get searchers excited about your company and the job, and to conveys that you’re an exciting place to work, but using all caps and throwing in a bunch of exclamation points isn’t going to do that. An over-enthusiastic tone will come off as desperate or salesy. As long as you keep it honest and conversational and speak in your brand’s tone and mention values, the description will be effective.
Address important questions/highlights
Don’t forget the details! Think about the things that matter to job seekers, like:
- What kind of growth opportunities are there, whether in the role or in the salary?
- What kind of training and support will be available?
- Will they need to do their own lead generation and prospecting?
- Do you have a specific CRM that you use?
Answer these questions up front.
Sales job description examples and templates
Below you'll find real examples of sales representative job descriptions for a range of home improvement businesses, including:
- The job description structure
- What makes it great
- Where it could be improved
1. Remodeling sales representative job description example
This sales rep job description is for a sales representative for a home remodeling company.
Structure
- About us
- Role
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
- Benefits
- Equal opportunity statement
What makes it effective
- Focuses on values right in the beginning as well as how they set up their sales representatives for success.
- Speaks to the applicant, using phrases like "your role will be to..." and "We only ask that you."
- Impressive benefits list.
- Equal opportunity employer statement.
Where it could be improved
- “Team building and mentorship” is not very clear. Will they be responsible for team building and mentorship activities? Attending them?
- The Responsibilities and Qualifications sections aren’t the most personal, although the About Us and Role sections make up for that.
2. Home improvement sales representative job description example
This job description example is for a sales representative for a family of home improvement brands.
Structure
- Company
- Lead generation
- Compensation
- Learning, development and culture
- Responsibilities
- Qualifications
What makes it great
- Opens with strong statements about the success of the company ("a leader in the home improvement industry since 1966."
- Paints a clear picture right away of the day to day role.
- Good level of detail on the compensation and addresses key concerns right away (lead generation, compensation, and development).
- Section dedicated to learning, development, and culture.
Where it could be improved
- "Phenomenally successful" is a bit on the over-enthusiastic side—remember, you don't want to sound too salesy.
- The description as a whole doesn’t quite flow. While lead generation, compensation, and learning are clearly important points, they make more intuitive sense if they come after the responsibilities and qualifications section. Plus the all caps feels a bit stern.
- The learning development and culture section is the right idea but there isn’t much in the way of culture, values, and mission. You don’t get a sense of the company culture or brand voice.
3. Roofing sales rep job description example
This job description example is for a home improvement sales representative for a roofing company.
Structure
- Title, salary, job type
- About
- Benefits
- Location/type
What makes it great
- Catchy, conversational introduction—asking questions is a good way to capture attention and converse with the reader.
- The questions convey the company’s desire for the candidate to grow and succeed. This description does a nice job of being career-focused rather than role-focused.
- More conversational language throughout, like “the occasional excursion.”
- Value propositions like their "proven lead generating system" and "31 years in the industry."
Where it could be improved
- It could afford to be broken out into sections with bullets. This is what people are accustomed to when reading job descriptions.
- Plus, people like to be able to skim through first and get a general sense before committing to reading through paragraphs.
- Remember, your job description is basically an ad, so you must apply a marketing mindset to it.
4. Bath remodeling sales representative job description example
Example #4 is for a sales representative for a bath remodeling company.
Structure
- Title
- Company, location, job type
- Salary
- Job description
- Type
- Pay
- Benefits
- Schedule
What makes it great
- Distinguishes itself from other businesses as “New England’s fastest growing bath remodeling company” (it's in the job title, in fact) with the "most advanced presentation and estimating technologies available." Great value statements—things the employee can be proud of.
- Good information organization, the story flows.
- Mention of the company mission and career development opportunities.
Where it could be improved
- There is mention of the company mission but it's just "exceptional customer satisfaction mission." This feels a bit generic—a more authentic choice of words could make this more attractive.
- A little too much focus on the company. It is all good information, but it could be balanced out with some more verbiage to support the statements about career growth and expansion opportunities.
5. Fencing sales consultant job description example
Sales representative job description #5 is for sales consultant for a fencing and rail company.
What makes it great
- Value proposition statements like "industry leader" and "largest fence contractor in the country."
- Incorporates company values into the description, including strong work ethic, giving and earning respect, positive attitude.
- Covers the details like paid training, what equipment is provided and when, reimbursement process and travel requirements.
- Good level of detail in job responsibilities.
Where it could be improved
- There are some areas where information is repeated. This isn't terrible, but it can be condensed to make it a faster and more succinct read.
- While there is no flowery or salesy language and it gets right to the point, it could afford to be a little more friendly and personable. However, the incorporation of values into the description helps to offset this and gives a sense of the company culture.
6. Contractor sales representative job description example
Sales Rep for a contractor.
Structure
- Job description
- Why work with LeafFilter?
- What's in it for me?
- Essential duties and responsibilities
- Minimum skills and competencies
- Are we your company?
What makes it great
- Great section titles that give the description a personable and conversational feel ("Why work with LeafFilter?" "Are we your company?"
- Good focus on the applicant (for example, the section titled "What's in it for me?" and "we want you to join in on our success."
- Authentic copywriting ("dominating the gutter protection industry" is more interesting than "an industry leader".)
- Focus on company culture and values ("We work hard and play harder. We're a big company with a small company feel. We have ambition and drive..."
Where it could be improved
- The use of all caps "UNLIMITED" and "TODAY" gives off a bit of a salesy feel. Other than that, this description is great!
7. Construction sales consultant job description example
The final sales job description is for a home improvement sales consultant for a construction company.
Structure
- Description
- Do you have
- We can offer you
- You must possess
- Job type
- Benefits
- Schedule
- Company description
What makes it great
- Use of questions to capture attention in the beginning.
- Excellent conversational copywriting that resonates with the desires and qualities of a sales candidate ("Tired of the same old day to day work routine? Do you have an undeniable ability to connect with people?").
- Value statements ("over 1,000 local A+ and 5-star reviews," "best pay plan in the industry," "we know this is not a mindset that other companies in our industry embrace, which is how we are different!"
- Addresses those detail concerns like no cold calling or prospecting.
- Incorporation of values, and not just skills and tasks, into the description (work ethic, accountability, perseverance).
Where it could be improved
- Similar to the previous description, the all caps can be a little off-putting.
- The company description in the end is too long. No need to put your whole about us page in there! Keep it brief and link to your website for candidates to learn more.
- Otherwise, this is a top notch description.
Start writing the perfect sales job description for your call center
Now you have what it takes to write a great sales representative job description. Keep the pros and cons of each example in mind as you write yours, and remember these key tips:
- Use keywords
- Make it flow
- Mention company credentials
- Speak to the applicant
- Focus on company values and culture
- Keep it enthusiastic, but not too salesy
- Address important questions