Sales managers lead the sales department of a company and are responsible for sales figures. Traditionally, this includes employees in internal sales, key account management and field sales. If these managers have completed and passed an Advanced Federal Professional Examination (AFPE), they bear the title of federally certified sales manager. Thanks to their specialist and management knowledge, they are responsible for planning the sales organization and implementing sales concepts in line with the company's objectives and strategies. In other words, they manage all sales and distribution activities with the aim of increasing sales of the company's products. By maintaining and managing customer relationships - also in terms of customer loyalty - federally certified sales managers make a significant contribution to the company's success. Sales managers are also responsible for optimizing processes, carrying out sales checks to determine sales success, clarifying sales-related legal issues and positioning products on the market. Sales managers are employed at middle management level.

According to a survey conducted by the education platform Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch, interest in further training for sales managers is mainly due to a comparison of needs. 79% of those surveyed would like to check whether the course meets their needs. 14% are interested in the further training course that prepares them for a higher specialist examination in sales management because of a recommendation. 7 % of respondents were interested in the course because this qualification is often required in job advertisements. One of the participants showed us with the free text answer "employee" that interest in the course can also result from everyday challenges. Other free text responses include:

• I might have the opportunity to take on this task at my long-standing employer.
• Sadly, the only chance to get a sales manager job without a bachelor's or master's degree
• As I completed the sales specialist course last year
• Reorientation

The following personal requirements make sense for further training in sales management:

• analytical skills
• Good accounting knowledge
• Organizational talent
• Communicative
• Good knowledge of foreign languages

According to job advertisements, the following skills are required in sales manager jobs:
Hard skills:

• Customer advice and personnel management
• Sale of products and services
• Development of sales strategies
• Recognition of market opportunities
• Product training for employees
• Result control
• Interface for external service providers
• Coordination of objectives with management and internal departments

 
Soft skills:

• Specialist skills in the area of sales (e.g. accounting)
• Personnel management skills
• Negotiating skills
• Communication skills
• Analytical skills
• Organizational skills
• Customer orientation
• Good knowledge of German and foreign languages

According to a survey, the following information about lecturers is most important for sales manager course participants (multiple answers possible):

• 61 percent Subjects they teach
• 58 percent Teaching methodology
• 53 percent Lecturers' professional experience
• 49 percent Current function and activity in the company
• 44 percent Training and further education for lecturers
• 31 percent recorded lesson sequence
• 28 percent current portrait
• 22 percent Introduction video
• 20 percent ratings from other graduates
• 16 percent previous successes
• 7 percent linking to social media (Xing, LinkedIn)
• 6 percent Leisure activities

A federally certified sales manager specializing in key account management has the following tasks:

• Support for key customers
• ensure customer loyalty and customer care
• Further development of own market performance and the company through the findings from customer support
• Support sales strategy and ensure that sales targets are achieved
• Create sales planning for the KAM area
• Informs the marketing or management about the success of the implemented sales activities
• Controls, analyzes and optimizes the sales measures implemented
• Decides on the distribution of the sales budget in the KAM area
• Develop, maintain and optimize all elements of market cultivation in the KAM area

A federally certified sales manager specializing in sales management performs the following tasks:

• Develop sales strategy and ensure that sales targets are achieved
• Create sales planning for operational sales activities
• Develop, maintain and optimize marketing elements
• inform the marketing or management about the success of the implemented sales activities
• monitor, analyze and optimize implemented sales measures
• Optimization of processes in the sales organization
• decide on the distribution of the sales budget
• Maintain and manage customer relationships
• Coordination of sales activities with marketing activities and activities from other areas of the company

Several years of practical experience in sales or marketing are required for admission to the sales manager training course. You must have at least three years' experience in a managerial and/or property management role in sales. A one to one and a half year continuing education, further training can prepare you for a job as a sales manager. The sales manager training provides the necessary management and planning skills for this management position in sales. The training is federally regulated and the examination subjects and teaching structure are the same at all schools. The course content, however, may vary slightly depending on the training provider. In addition to the mandatory requirements, students on a sales manager training course gain knowledge that goes beyond the examination content in order to be able to competently meet the demands of the job later on.

In continuing education, further training for sales managers, participants learn the following:

• Management tasks: Leadership, budgeting, network maintenance, work technique
• Market, environment and trend analysis (market research and statistics)
• Market performance design: product and pricing
• Market development: customer relationship management, marketing communication, distribution
• Control of the offer processes

The following content is added to the Sales Management specialization:

• Sales and expansion strategies, strategic sales partnerships
• Control of sales processes

The following topics are covered in the Key Account Management specialization:

• Project management and solution development
• Customer relationship management

With this acquired knowledge, sales managers can take overall responsibility for sales in a company and manage all sales processes in line with the company's objectives.

A sales manager with a federal diploma has the following skills:

• Development of marketing strategies on behalf of the management
• Carrying out market analyses and creating concepts
• Designing market services
• Create sales plans
• Targeted use of marketing instruments
• Managing the offer and sales process
• Shaping customer relationships
• Monitor sales budget
• Manage sales department and reorganize if necessary
• Providing employees with targeted training and development
• Manage projects

Anyone who has obtained a Swiss educational qualification from the Swiss Marketing Confederation (SMC) as a sales manager since February 2021 will receive a European certificate. Earlier professional qualifications can also be retroactively certified according to the European standard at least 10 years in the past. This is because SMC is an official certification partner of EMC (European Marketing Confederation). As a sales director, the sales manager qualification with a federal diploma is internationally comparable, understandable and recognized. The Sales Director corresponds to an additional diploma as a Bachelor's degree with international recognition.

The examination parts of the advanced sales manager examination are as follows:

• Situational questions marketing and sales (written)
• Integrative case study 1 (written); Integrative case study 2 (written)
• Situations critical to success (oral)
• Presentation (oral); technical discussion (oral)

If you are looking for a suitable sales management school, you should consider the following criteria when choosing a school:

• Awareness of the school for training as a sales manager
• Image of the school
• Satisfaction of graduates
• Certifications and labels of the Sales Manager School
• Content and focus of the subjects and coordination with examination subjects
• Infrastructure, furnishings and feel-good factor
• Lecturers and speakers
• Website, quality of advice and information events
• Training methodology, networking opportunities and career advancement
• Success rates as a sales manager school and further training opportunities
• Locations
• Course variants
• Implementation guarantee
• Price

If you think about and research all these points, you are sure to find the right sales manager school.

According to a survey on our platform, the respondents' last training was so long ago (date of graduation):

• 17 % less than one year
• 7 % one year
• 14 % two to four years
• 24 % five to ten years
• 10% more than ten years
• 28 % have never done any further training

These answers show roughly who completed training in sales manager jobs and how long ago.

A survey conducted by Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch revealed the following: 64.5 % of respondents requested detailed documents from a school regarding further training for sales managers because they had previously read a positive online review of the school. A further 21 % stated that the school had been recommended to them. The remaining 14.5 % enquired about schools that they already knew beforehand. Another reason is revealed by an optional statement of alternative reasons: "Stumbled across it by chance". Or "just like that". This shows how carefully online reviews are read and how much influence they have on the choice of school. At Ausbildung-Weiterbildung.ch you will therefore find numerous reviews of different schools. Another generally cited the "internet", "just like that" or the "location" as well as "closest to my home" or "is near me" as the trigger for the inquiry.

The following further training courses can be attended after the sales manager training:

• Higher professional examination for the Federal Diploma in Marketing Management
• Advanced technical college in business administration HF
• With a vocational baccalaureate or "sur dossier": Bachelor's degree in business administration at a university of applied sciences
• Postgraduate studies at a university of applied sciences such as CAS in Sales and Distribution Management or CAS Online Shop and Sales Management or MAS in Marketing Management