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Resume example

Sales assistant resume example

In France, a sales assistant, assistant commercial or assistante commerciale, is an office role, not a shop job: you support a sales team from the administrative and customer side.

Your day is spent in the company's ERP and CRM. You prepare quotes from the price list, enter and confirm orders, check delivery dates with logistics, issue invoices or send them to accounting, and follow up late payments. Clients call you when an order is late or a delivery is wrong, and you sort it out. You also keep the sales reps' calendars, prepare their client files before visits, update sales reports and help organise trade fairs. In larger companies, part of the role is called ADV (administration des ventes) and focuses on the order-to-invoice cycle. With export clients, you also handle shipping documents and incoterms.

Resume example

[First name Last name]

Sales Assistant, Sales Administration and Customer Support

[City] · [phone] · [email]

Profile

Sales assistant with [x] years supporting a team of [x] field reps in industrial supplies. I manage the order-to-invoice cycle, handle client claims, prepare monthly sales reports and coordinate trade fair logistics.

Experience

Sales Assistant, [Company], [City]

[month year] to present

  • Prepared quotes and entered [x] orders per week in the ERP for a team of field reps
  • Handled client calls on delays and errors, coordinating solutions with the warehouse
  • Followed up overdue invoices with clients before passing files to accounting
  • Built a monthly Excel sales report used by the sales manager in team meetings
  • Organised logistics for two trade fairs: stand booking, samples, client invitations

Resume headlines

  • Sales Assistant, Sales Administration and Customer Support
  • Sales Assistant | Quotes, Orders, Invoicing, ERP
  • Bilingual Sales Assistant (French, English), Export Clients

Summaries for your profile

Entry level

Recent BTS graduate with a work-study year in the sales administration team of a building supplies distributor. I prepared quotes, entered orders in the ERP and handled client calls about deliveries.

Experienced

Sales assistant with [x] years supporting a team of [x] field reps in industrial supplies. I manage the order-to-invoice cycle, handle client claims, prepare monthly sales reports and coordinate trade fair logistics.

Career change

After several years as a hotel receptionist, I am moving into sales support. I already manage bookings, quotes for groups and invoicing, and I want to apply this rigour in a B2B company.

Tips

  • Name the ERP and CRM tools you used: recruiters filter on them.
  • Show that you know the full cycle from quote to payment.
  • State your level in Excel concretely (pivot tables, lookups).
  • If you worked with export clients, mention languages and the documents you handled.
  • Mention the number of sales reps you supported, using a placeholder if needed.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Confusing the role with retail sales on a shop floor.
  • Leaving out the tools, which are central to the job.
  • Describing yourself as a 'secretary' when your work covered quotes, orders and claims.
  • Ignoring client-facing tasks.

Working as a sales assistant in France

Search for assistant commercial, assistante commerciale, assistant ADV (administration des ventes), assistant commercial export or assistant commercial sédentaire. Be careful: in France this is an office role, while shop sales associates are called vendeurs. The job is not regulated. Typical French diplomas are the BTS NDRC, the BTS Support à l'action managériale and the BTS Commerce international, often obtained in work-study. Recruiters check software skills (ERP, CRM, Excel) closely. Export roles are a good entry point for English speakers, though French is usually needed for internal work. Foreign degrees can be documented through ENIC-NARIC France.

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Frequently asked questions

Which diploma leads to sales assistant in France?

The most common are the BTS NDRC, the BTS Support à l'action managériale and the BTS Commerce international for export roles. A titre professionnel for commercial assistants also exists. Many sales assistants train through work-study, which recruiters value.

What is ADV?

ADV stands for administration des ventes, the team that manages orders from entry to invoicing and payment. In some companies, sales assistants and ADV assistants are the same role; in larger ones, ADV is a separate department. Searching both terms gives more results.

Is English required?

Not always, but it opens many more roles, especially in companies with export clients or international groups. State your level using CEFR terms and give an example of how you used it, such as handling foreign client orders or emails.

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