VP of sales

Before You Hire:
Vice President of Sales Job Description

Our team is looking for an analytical, dedicated VP of sales to join our team. Your daily responsibilities will be overseeing sales activities, meeting with large clients, designing sales strategies, writing sales reports and marketing our software and services.

As a critical member of our team, you’ll be responsible for overseeing our sales operations in our Southwest offices.

Our ideal candidate is a:

• Natural leader
• Motivating
• Sales expert with at least 10 years of experience
• Ability to recruit top sales talent

Qualifications include:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree
• 10+ years of experience in sales management
• 5+ years of experience as a director or VP
• Understanding of commission structure
• Understanding of software licensing
• Etc.

This is a very basic example of a job description that you may find on some of the world’s leading job boards.

Businesses are looking to hire vice presidents who have a mix of the leading soft skills and hard skills to fill their ranks. A few of the leading soft skills, include:

• Communication
  :
  As a VP, communication is key if you’re to find success in sales. You need to be able to communicate with other teams to ensure that the business’ goals are met. If you’re not a master of communication, you’ll need to work on this in-demand skill or you will be unlikely to be hired for the position.
• Customer Service
  :
  Major clients will want top-tier service and are likely to reach out to you personally when they have a problem. You’ll need to have robust customer service skills to keep these high-value accounts happy.
• Management
  :
  Working in an executive role means being able to manage all of the sales teams below you. Depending on the position, you may need to work with teams across multiple offices and find a way to manage them properly.
• Analytical
  :
  One of the most in-demand skills in the business world is being analytical. VPs of sales must be extremely analytical because the revenue of the business will rely on you extensively.

The salary for a vice president of sales varies greatly, so before you make your offer to your VP sales hire, make sure to review this carefully. According to Linked In, the national average base salary for a VP of sales is $160,000 per year. On the high end, a VP of sales may earn $220,000 or more. At SaaS companies and large enterprises, salaries often exceed $300,000 per year.

This is only part of their compensation.

It’s important to note that this is the average for just the base salary. A VP of sales may also receive additional compensation in the form of:

• Commission – $90,000 median per year
• Bonuses – $42,000 median per year
• Stock options – $40,000 median per year
• RSUs – $50,000 median per year

Location will also play a major role in how much a VP of sales will earn. Salary data from Linked In shows the median base salary for this role in several key cities.

• Chicago: $170,000/year
• New York City Metro: $164,000/year

The vice president of sales has a wide range of responsibilities. Along with their role as a sales leader, the VP of sales will also serve as a mentor, strategist and manager.

In order to meet sales quotas and reach the company’s objectives, a VP of sales must perform several tasks, including:

• Developing strategies and plans
• Recruiting and hiring
• Working with other senior leadership across the company
• Promoting company services and products
• Managing sales operations
• Keeping an eye on competitor activity
• Motivating the sales team to reach their goals
• Communicating and working with the marketing department
• Set goals for quarterly and annual sales
• Reviewing customer activity
• Finding ways to improve customer satisfaction
• Arranging face‑to‑face meetings with customers and partners to nurture relationships

A good VP of sales must have excellent communication skills to work with their sales and marketing teams. They must also have excellent written communication skills, as they will be responsible for generating sales reports and forecasts.

The primary goal of hiring the ideal VP of sales is to ensure that the company is on the right track to meeting its sales quotas and goals for the quarter and year. For this reason, their responsibilities are wide‑ranging. Some VP of sales will need to handle tasks that are unique to an individual company.

A VP of sales is a leader, mentor, motivator and strategist. They have many responsibilities, and they need a great deal of skill to excel in this role.