Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Outside Sales Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Outside Sales Manager is a field-focused sales leader responsible for driving revenue growth across a defined territory or market segment by developing and executing strategic territory plans, managing key accounts, coaching and leading field sales representatives, prospecting new business, and closing high-value deals. This role requires a hands-on approach to B2B and enterprise selling, strong relationship development, CRM discipline (Salesforce or similar), accurate forecasting, and cross-functional collaboration with marketing, product, operations, and customer success teams to deliver repeatable, scalable growth.

This position is ideal for a goal-oriented sales manager who combines hunter-driven prospecting with strategic account management, excels at solution selling, and is comfortable traveling frequently to meet customers, partners, and prospects.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Senior Field Sales Representative / Outside Sales Representative
Territory Sales Representative
Regional Account Executive

Advancement To:

Regional Sales Director
Head of Field Sales / Director of Sales
VP of Sales, Enterprise Sales Leader

Lateral Moves:

Strategic Account Manager
Channel / Partner Sales Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Develop, implement, and continuously refine a territory sales strategy that aligns with corporate revenue goals, target segments, and product positioning to consistently meet or exceed quarterly and annual sales quotas.
Build and maintain a robust sales pipeline by proactively identifying, qualifying, and prioritizing new business opportunities through cold calling, email outreach, networking, trade shows, and referrals.
Manage and grow strategic accounts by building trusted executive-level relationships, conducting regular business reviews, and delivering tailored solution selling that drives expansion, renewals, cross-sell, and upsell opportunities.
Lead the end-to-end sales cycle for complex deals, including needs discovery, product demonstrations, solution configuration, proposal development, pricing strategy, contract negotiation, and successful close.
Coach, mentor, and develop field sales representatives (if applicable) by setting clear performance expectations, conducting ride-alongs and call coaching, delivering sales training, and running weekly pipeline review sessions to improve team performance.
Maintain accurate pipeline and opportunity data within the CRM (Salesforce preferred) and ensure timely, disciplined entry of activity, notes, forecasts, and deal stages to support accurate forecasting and executive reporting.
Produce and deliver monthly and quarterly sales forecasts, projections, and territory plans to senior leadership, demonstrating forecast accuracy, deal health, and risk mitigation strategies.
Work cross-functionally with Marketing to execute targeted demand generation campaigns, account-based marketing (ABM) initiatives, and local events to accelerate pipeline creation and conversion.
Partner with Solutions Engineering / Product Specialists to design compelling demos and proofs-of-concept that address customer pain points and demonstrate ROI and product-market fit.
Negotiate commercial terms, pricing, and contractual agreements in coordination with Legal and Finance, ensuring margin protection while maximizing deal velocity and customer satisfaction.
Conduct competitive analysis and market intelligence gathering to identify white-space opportunities, pricing pressures, product gaps, and competitor strengths/weaknesses to refine sales tactics and messaging.
Execute territory-level account planning for top customers, including multi-year growth plans, stakeholder mapping, risk identification, and escalation management to protect revenue and reduce churn.
Drive customer onboarding handoffs and coordinate with Operations and Customer Success teams to ensure smooth implementation, on-time delivery, and measurable time-to-value for new accounts.
Represent the company at industry conferences, trade shows, and local networking events to raise brand awareness, generate leads, and maintain a visible presence in the market.
Monitor and manage travel, expense budgets, and territory resources efficiently to maximize face-to-face selling time and ROI of field activities.
Implement consultative selling practices and value-based selling frameworks to quantify business outcomes and improve closing ratios on mid-market and enterprise opportunities.
Lead renewal and retention efforts for assigned accounts, proactively identifying at-risk customers and developing remediation plans to preserve recurring revenue.
Drive continuous improvement through post-sale win/loss analyses and incorporate lessons learned into playbooks, objection handling guides, and competitive positioning materials.
Champion customer feedback and product insights internally to influence product roadmap prioritization, pricing, packaging, and service delivery improvements.
Establish and maintain productive relationships with channel partners, distributors, and resellers in the territory, setting joint business plans, co-selling motions, and performance KPIs.
Execute strategic pricing and discount strategies within delegated authority and escalate complex pricing requests appropriately to maintain margin governance.
Track and analyze territory-level KPIs (e.g., revenue, average deal size, sales cycle length, win rate, pipeline coverage) and implement corrective actions to achieve target metrics.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc sales data requests and contribute to CRM data hygiene initiatives to improve organizational reporting quality.
Collaborate with Revenue Operations and Sales Enablement to implement sales tools, playbooks, and enablement programs that increase rep productivity and pipeline conversion.
Participate in cross-functional product launch planning and field enablement to accelerate adoption of new products or features in the territory.
Mentor junior sales staff on prospecting tactics, presentation skills, and objection handling to build a high-performing sales culture.
Facilitate customer reference programs and case study development to support marketing and sales enablement efforts.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Territory and field sales management: proven ability to design and execute territory plans that scale revenue across markets.
CRM proficiency: advanced user of Salesforce (or comparable CRM) for pipeline management, forecasting, and reporting.
Pipeline and forecast management: strong knowledge of forecasting methodologies, sales stages, and deal qualification frameworks (MEDDIC, BANT, CHAMP, etc.).
Contract negotiation: experience negotiating pricing, terms, SOWs, and master service agreements with strong commercial acumen.
Proposal and presentation development: ability to create persuasive proposals, RFP responses, ROI analyses, and executive-level presentations.
Sales analytics: use of sales dashboards, Excel modeling, and analytics tools to track KPIs and inform strategy.
Solution selling: experience selling consultative, technical, or multi-product solutions to mid-market and enterprise customers.
Account planning and CRM-based account segmentation: ability to segment and prioritize accounts by ARR, growth potential, and strategic fit.
Channel and partner management: experience creating co-selling programs and managing distributor/reseller relationships.
Trade show and event management: planning and executing field marketing events and local activations to generate leads.

Soft Skills

Leadership and coaching: proven ability to inspire, coach, and develop field reps and create accountability for results.
Excellent communication: superior verbal and written communication skills for stakeholder alignment, executive presentations, and negotiation.
Relationship-building: strong EQ and interpersonal skills to build long-term customer trust with C-level and operational stakeholders.
Problem-solving and adaptability: quick to diagnose customer needs, navigate ambiguity, and adapt strategy to changing market conditions.
Time management and organization: disciplined planner who optimizes travel, territory activity, and sales cadence.
Resilience and persistence: tenacious attitude toward prospecting and overcoming obstacles to close deals.
Strategic thinking: ability to connect tactical field activity to long-term business outcomes and revenue strategy.
Customer-centric mindset: focus on delivering value and measurable outcomes that drive renewals and referrals.
Collaboration and cross-functional influence: ability to work effectively with marketing, product, operations, and support teams.
Ethical judgment and compliance: adherence to contract policies, discount governance, and company values.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Business, Marketing, Communications, Finance, or related field; OR equivalent demonstrable work experience in field sales and territory management.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor’s degree with coursework or certification in sales methodologies, negotiation, or business analytics; MBA or relevant graduate degree considered a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Business Administration, Marketing, or Sales Management
Finance, Economics, or Supply Chain (for solution-selling contexts)
Technical degree for product-heavy selling environments (Engineering, IT, or Computer Science)

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

5–10+ years in field/territory sales with at least 2–3 years in a sales leadership or management capacity.

Preferred:

Demonstrated track record of meeting/exceeding quota in B2B or enterprise sales, experience with Salesforce CRM, experience in solution selling and complex deal negotiations, and prior success leading small field sales teams or indirect channel partners.