Sales Cover Letter: 3 UK Examples for Graduate, Field and Inside Sales
Each letter answers a specific advert and talks about the company's market before it talks about the writer.
The employers are fictional. Replace every detail with your own.
Example 1: A Graduate Moving Into B2B Sales
Ollie has a business degree and a year selling memberships at a gym chain. He applies for a graduate sales executive role at a company supplying catering equipment to restaurants in Manchester.
Why This Letter Works
Ollie has no B2B experience, so the letter uses a sales job that's close enough and gives it numbers: members signed, rank in the branch, and a conversion rate with the change he made to improve it. A sales director can compare those figures with what they see in their team.
The paragraph about restaurant hours shows he's thought about the customers. The close asks for a meeting, as a salesperson should.
Example 2: A Field Sales Rep Changing Sector
Shauna has eight years in field sales for an agricultural machinery dealer and applies for a field sales role at an industrial packaging manufacturer covering Yorkshire and the North East.
Why This Letter Works
Shauna is changing sector, and the letter shows what travels: a large book of accounts, growth with the method behind it, and experience with demanding buyers. Explaining how the result was achieved makes it believable.
The third paragraph is the deciding argument. Part of the target market is already in her network, and a head of sales reads that as a faster start.
Example 3: An Inside Sales Role Selling Software
Eilidh has three years in telesales for a business energy supplier and applies for an inside sales role at a software company selling job management tools to tradespeople, in Glasgow.
Why This Letter Works
Eilidh already knows the customers, tradespeople, and shows how she talks to them: the van, the twenty seconds. The figures are precise and in context, an appointment rate compared with her team and fourteen months of targets met.
She's tried the product and picked her opening argument. For a sales manager, that's the clearest sign she'll be selling quickly.
Why an Example Isn't Enough
A sales manager reads your letter the way they'd listen to your first call to a prospect. Copied under your name, Shauna's letter still talks about 130 accounts in agricultural machinery and 21% growth. Those are her numbers, and you'll need to defend your own at interview.
Tailoring means starting from the company's market, its customers and how it sells, field or inside. Then pick the result from your own experience that comes closest, explain how you got it, and finish by asking for a meeting.
Our cover letter generator starts from your CV and the advert you paste in, and writes a letter for that job.
Your Letter, Written for the Job You Want
Create a free account, add your CV, answer a few questions about what you're after, then paste the job ad, and we'll write the letter from your background and what the employer is asking for. On your first application the cover letter is free, download included.
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Which Numbers to Give
Revenue or growth, accounts managed, new business won, conversion or booking rates, targets hit. Always give the context: over what period, on what patch, compared with what. A number with an explanation is believable; a percentage on its own much less so.
Field, Inside, B2B or B2C
For a field role, talk about your territory, how you plan your week and your driving licence. For inside sales, your call volumes, your CRM and your conversion rate. In B2B, show you know who makes the decision at the customer; in B2C, that you can close quickly and well.
Common Mistakes
Writing "I'm a natural salesperson" instead of giving a result. Spending three paragraphs on yourself without mentioning the company's market. Ending without asking for a meeting. For the overall structure, our guide on how to write a cover letter takes you through it step by step.
Prepare for the Interview
Once the letter is sent, the interview comes next. Our Sales Representative page brings together the questions that come up most, with tips on how to answer them.
Sales Representative