# Sales Managers

> Plan, direct, or coordinate the actual distribution or movement of a product or service to the customer. Coordinate sales distribution by establishing sales territories, quotas, and goals and establish training programs for sales representatives. Analyze sales statistics gathered by staff to determine sales potential and inventory requirements and monitor the preferences of customers.

- **SOC code:** 11-2022.00
- **Canonical URL:** https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-2022-00
- **Also known as:** District Sales Manager, Sales Director, Sales Manager, Sales VP (Sales Vice President), Fractional Sales Executive, National Sales Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Sales Operations Manager (Sales Ops Manager)
- **Frame:** "AI exposure" means task overlap (how codifiable the work is), not jobs lost or a forecast. Every figure below is traced to a named public dataset.

## What this work is

**Core tasks** (O*NET):
- Oversee regional and local sales managers and their staffs.
- Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
- Monitor customer preferences to determine focus of sales efforts.
- Confer with potential customers regarding equipment needs, and advise customers on types of equipment to purchase.
- Review operational records and reports to project sales and determine profitability.
- Plan and direct staffing, training, and performance evaluations to develop and control sales and service programs.
- Direct and coordinate activities involving sales of manufactured products, services, commodities, real estate, or other subjects of sale.
- Determine price schedules and discount rates.
- Prepare budgets and approve budget expenditures.
- Confer or consult with department heads to plan advertising services and to secure information on equipment and customer specifications.
- Visit franchised dealers to stimulate interest in establishment or expansion of leasing programs.
- Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.

**Emerging tasks** (O*NET):
- Coach staff on sales tactics.
- Establish and monitor staff's sales goals.

## Skills, tools, capabilities

**Knowledge, skills & abilities** (O*NET, highest importance first):
- Sales and Marketing _(knowledge)_
- Customer and Personal Service _(knowledge)_
- English Language _(knowledge)_
- Administration and Management _(knowledge)_
- Active Listening _(essential_skill)_
- Speaking _(essential_skill)_
- Negotiation _(transferable_skill)_
- Oral Comprehension _(ability)_
- Written Comprehension _(ability)_
- Oral Expression _(ability)_
- Written Expression _(ability)_
- Reading Comprehension _(essential_skill)_

**Skills in demand:**
- English Language _(Common Skill)_
- Negotiation _(Common Skill)_
- Active Listening _(Common Skill)_
- Social Perceptiveness _(Common Skill)_
- Reading Comprehension _(Common Skill)_
- Inductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Deductive Reasoning _(Common Skill)_
- Critical Thinking _(Common Skill)_
- Time Management _(Common Skill)_
- Speech Recognition _(Specialized Skill)_
- Instructing _(Specialized Skill)_
- Complex Problem Solving _(Common Skill)_

**Tools & technology:**
- Microsoft Excel _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Office software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft Outlook _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Microsoft PowerPoint _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Salesforce software _(hot technology, in demand)_
- Adobe Acrobat _(hot technology)_
- Adobe Creative Cloud software _(hot technology)_
- Bentley MicroStation _(hot technology)_
- Eclipse IDE _(hot technology)_
- Facebook _(hot technology)_
- Google Analytics _(hot technology)_
- Google Docs _(hot technology)_

## AI exposure & outlook

- **AI task-overlap index:** 74th percentile (High) across all occupations — composite of current-era exposure studies (ai-exposure-index-v1).
- **Overall AI exposure (Felten et al.):** 84th percentile (High) — source: felten_aioe.
- **LLM task exposure, γ (OpenAI / Eloundou):** 78th percentile (High) — source: eloundou_gamma.
- **AI assistant applicability (Microsoft):** 56th percentile (Moderate) — source: microsoft_applicability.
- **Frey–Osborne (2013, historical computerization estimate):** 8th percentile — kept separate from current-era studies.
- **Remote-capable (Dingel–Neiman):** yes — task structure, not who actually works remote.
- **Projected employment (BLS 2024–34):** 4.7% growth (About average); 49k annual openings; 619.5k → 648.5k jobs.
- **Pay & employment (BLS OEWS, May 2024):** median $138,060; 603,710 employed.

## How people actually use AI here

Anthropic Economic Index — measured AI conversations mapped to this occupation's tasks:

- **Automation vs augmentation:** 31% automation, 40% augmentation (usage-weighted).
- **Autonomy median:** 4.0 (higher = AI acts more independently).
- **Dominant collaboration mode:** task iteration.

**Tasks most handed to AI here:**
- Resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service. _(1.3% of measured AI use; task iteration)_
- Represent company at trade association meetings to promote products. _(0.8% of measured AI use; directive)_

**Example prompts (honest phrasings of the tasks above — starting points, not endorsed instructions):**
- Help me resolve customer complaints regarding sales and service.
- Help me represent company at trade association meetings to promote products.

## Sources

- **O*NET** (30.3) — U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** (May 2024) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS Employment Projections** (2024–2034) — U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **Anthropic Economic Index** (v4 (2026-01-15) + v2 (2025-03-27)) — Anthropic. https://www.anthropic.com/economic-index
- **Microsoft “Working with AI”** (working-with-ai) — Microsoft Research. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/
- **“GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.)** (arXiv 2303.10130) — OpenAI / academic. https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.10130
- **AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE)** (Felten, Raj & Seamans) — academic. https://github.com/AIOE-Data/AIOE
- **Frey & Osborne (2013)** (frey-osborne-automation) — academic. https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/publications/the-future-of-employment/
- **Dingel & Neiman (2020)** (dingel-neiman-workathome) — academic. https://github.com/jdingel/DingelNeiman-workathome

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_Generated from Singulariki's joined dataset; data snapshot 2026-06-02T21:00:32.945303+00:00. https://singulariki.com/roles/role-11-2022-00_