Top 12 Advertising Sales Skills to Put on Your Resume

In a noisy job market, advertising sales pros win by showing a sharp, mixed toolkit. Skills that signal you can find demand, shape a pitch, measure proof, and keep clients coming back. Put them on the page with intention, and back them up with outcomes.

Advertising Sales Skills

1. CRM Software
2. Google Analytics
3. SEO/SEM
4. Salesforce
5. HubSpot
6. Google Ads
7. Excel
8. PowerPoint
9. LinkedIn Sales Navigator
10. Market Research
11. Negotiation
12. Cold Calling

1. CRM Software

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software keeps prospects, clients, deals, and activity in one living system. For ad sales, it captures pipelines, interactions, and campaign outcomes so you can move faster and sell smarter.

Why It's Important

It centralizes data, tightens follow-up, and reveals where revenue is hiding. Better targeting, better timing, fewer dropped balls. Stronger retention, too.

How to Improve CRM Software Skills

Level up by making the CRM work the way ad sales runs, not the other way around:

1. Integrations that matter: Connect email, calendars, ad platforms, billing, and proposal tools so activity and revenue flow back to accounts and opportunities.

2. Mobile-first: Update notes, tasks, and next steps from anywhere. Real-time beats end-of-day memory.

3. Automation you trust: Auto-assign leads, schedule reminders after key signals, and trigger sequences on stage changes.

4. Custom dashboards: Surface metrics that sell: meetings set, open pipeline by product, forecast vs. quota, churn risk, campaign ROI.

5. AI for focus: Use predictive lead scoring and next-best-action to prioritize outreach that converts.

6. Collaboration built-in: Notes, mentions, and shared records keep sales, ops, and ad ops aligned.

7. Data hygiene and security: Required fields, validation rules, dedupe, roles, and permissions. Trustworthy data or bust.

When the CRM mirrors your motion, velocity climbs and conversions follow.

How to Display CRM Software Skills on Your Resume

2. Google Analytics

Google Analytics tracks what visitors do and where they came from. With GA4, it’s event-based and tuned for journeys across devices—perfect for tracing the steps from click to contract.

Why It's Important

You see who engages, what converts, and which placements drive pipeline. That means spend shifts from guesswork to proof.

How to Improve Google Analytics Skills

Make the setup reflect your sales reality:

1. Define conversions: Configure GA4 events and conversions for demo requests, proposal downloads, booked calls, and key micro-actions.

2. Use UTM discipline: Consistent tags across every campaign so source/medium and content comparisons stay clean.

3. Ecommerce and revenue: For paid packages, pass transaction values or offline conversions back in so ROI is visible.

4. Audience segmentation: Build segments by industry, behavior, and funnel stage; compare outcomes rather than averages.

5. Custom reports and Explorations: Spotlight campaign cohorts, time lag, and assisted conversions.

6. Integrate with Google Ads: Share audiences, import conversions, and optimize to the outcomes that matter.

7. Review and iterate: Check trends weekly; prune losers, feed winners, test the in-betweens.

Clean data turns “we think” into “we know.” That’s persuasive.

How to Display Google Analytics Skills on Your Resume

3. SEO/SEM

SEO earns visibility in organic search; SEM buys it. Together they capture high-intent demand and feed the funnel with prospects who are already leaning in.

Why It's Important

Search brings qualified traffic, repeatable lead flow, and measurable revenue impact. Spend goes further when you match queries to solutions.

How to Improve SEO/SEM Skills

1. Ruthless keyword intent: Map queries to funnel stages. Build content and ads for problems buyers actually articulate.

2. On-page precision: Page titles, headers, internal links, schema. Fast loads, mobile-friendly, Core Web Vitals in the green.

3. Authority building: Earn credible backlinks with original data, case studies, and partner content that people want to cite.

4. Local presence: Keep your Google Business Profile accurate; consistent NAP data; reviews that reflect reality.

5. SEM structure: Tight ad groups, responsive search ads with strong hooks, and aligned landing pages.

6. Relentless testing: Variations on headlines, CTAs, offers, and forms. Pause the underperformers, scale the champs.

7. Track, learn, adapt: Tie search efforts to pipeline, not just clicks. Reinvest where revenue shows up.

You’re fishing with the right bait, in the right waters, at the right depth.

How to Display SEO/SEM Skills on Your Resume

4. Salesforce

Salesforce is a cloud CRM that organizes accounts, contacts, opportunities, and revenue. For ad sales, it’s the spine: process, visibility, and forecasting in one place.

Why It's Important

It drives consistency at scale. Leads route to the right reps, deals move with fewer stalls, and management sees the whole picture in time to act.

How to Improve Salesforce Skills

1. Salesforce Flow, not busywork: Automate lead assignment, SLAs, renewals, and approvals with Flow. Less manual entry, more selling.

2. CRM Analytics (formerly Einstein Analytics): Predictive insights, pipeline health, and cohort views that inform the week—not the quarter after.

3. CPQ for speed: Use CPQ to package, price, and discount accurately. Fewer errors, faster signatures.

4. Marketing and ad platform integrations: Connect form fills, campaign members, and opportunity influence for end-to-end attribution.

5. Field design that fits ad sales: Inventory, impression goals, flight dates, makegoods, and billing notes—captured cleanly.

6. Data quality: Duplicate prevention, required fields, validation. Garbage in, garbage forecasted.

7. Mobile readiness: Notes, tasks, and approvals on the go. Momentum never waits for a desk.

Configure for clarity and speed. Adoption follows when the system saves time.

How to Display Salesforce Skills on Your Resume

5. HubSpot

HubSpot blends marketing, sales, and service tools with a CRM core. A single place to attract leads, nurture them, and convert to won deals.

Why It's Important

It unifies campaigns and conversations. You can see which ads pulled, which emails nudged, and which reps closed—then rinse and repeat.

How to Improve HubSpot Skills

1. Ad integrations that sync: Connect Google, LinkedIn, and Meta so audiences, costs, and conversions feed HubSpot and inform budgets.

2. Attribution you can defend: Use multi-touch models to understand how content, ads, and sales touches lift deals.

3. Smart lists and segments: Slice by industry, stage, and behavior; tailor sequences and ads to each slice.

4. Workflows that shepherd buyers: Lead routing, SLAs, reminders, and enrichment that happen automatically.

5. Lead scoring: Blend fit and intent so reps focus where momentum lives.

6. Clean handoffs: Playbooks and properties that capture the details ad ops and finance need later.

When marketing and sales speak the same data language, CAC falls and LTV climbs.

How to Display HubSpot Skills on Your Resume

6. Google Ads

Google Ads is Google’s platform for paid search, display, video, and more. It captures high-intent demand and scales reach precisely.

Why It's Important

Targeting, measurement, and flexibility. You meet prospects at the moment of need—and prove performance down to the keyword.

How to Improve Google Ads Skills

1. Keyword and match-type discipline: Mix exact, phrase, and (carefully) broad. Build robust negatives to cut waste.

2. Resonant creative: Responsive Search Ads with strong value props and clear CTAs. Align copy to the query and the landing page promise.

3. Landing pages that convert: Fast, focused, and consistent. One primary action. Minimal friction.

4. Smart bidding with guardrails: Use tCPA or tROAS once you’ve got conversion volume. Feed offline conversions for better signals.

5. Audience layering: In-market, custom segments, remarketing. Steer bids toward your best-fit buyers.

6. Campaign structure: Segment by intent and theme. Keep budgets and tests clean.

7. Experiment relentlessly: A/B creatives, bid strategies, and audiences. Keep a control, crown a winner, move on.

8. Consider Performance Max thoughtfully: Great for reach and dynamic assets—monitor placement and lead quality.

Tight loops between search terms, ads, and outcomes turn spend into sales.

How to Display Google Ads Skills on Your Resume

7. Excel

Excel is the everyday engine for analysis and reporting. In ad sales, it tracks pacing, forecasts revenue, and visualizes performance without breaking stride.

Why It's Important

It’s fast, flexible, and everywhere. When you can wrangle data on the fly, you win meetings and make better calls.

How to Improve Excel Skills

1. Modern lookup mastery: XLOOKUP, INDEX/MATCH, and SUMIFS to stitch sources together quickly.

2. PivotTables and PivotCharts: Cut data by rep, product, vertical, and month. Spot trends at a glance.

3. Power Query and Power Pivot: Clean, combine, and model big datasets from CRM and ad platforms.

4. Dashboards that speak: Slicers, sparklines, and consistent visuals. Decision-ready in one view.

5. Error proofing: Data validation, conditional formatting, and named ranges to reduce mistakes.

6. Automation: Macros or VBA to eliminate repetitive tasks—import, format, report, repeat.

7. Shortcuts habit: Keystrokes over clicks. Speed compounds.

Clarity beats complexity. Keep models transparent and maintainable.

How to Display Excel Skills on Your Resume

8. PowerPoint

PowerPoint turns strategy into a story your buyer can believe. Visuals, numbers, narrative—stitched into a path that ends with yes.

Why It's Important

Complex offerings become simple. Skeptics see evidence. Decision-makers see outcomes.

How to Improve PowerPoint Skills

1. Open with a story: Problem, tension, resolution. Make the customer the hero.

2. Design lightly: One idea per slide. High contrast, generous whitespace, readable type.

3. Show the proof: Charts and benchmarks that matter to your buyer, not vanity stats.

4. Use strong visuals: Real product shots, clean icons, relevant imagery—no filler stock.

5. Embed motion sparingly: Short clips or demos where they clarify, not distract.

6. Engage live: Polls, quick Q&A pauses, and clickable agendas to adapt in the moment.

7. Land the ask: A clear next step with timing—pilot, inventory hold, or calendar invite.

Slides don’t sell alone; they set the stage for a confident conversation.

How to Display PowerPoint Skills on Your Resume

9. LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Sales Navigator upgrades LinkedIn for prospecting. Precision filters, alerts, and contact intel built for account-based outreach.

Why It's Important

It shortens the path to the right people and the right message. Less spray, more resonance.

How to Improve LinkedIn Sales Navigator Skills

1. Advanced search mastery: Layer industry, headcount, seniority, technologies, and geography to mirror your ICP.

2. Save leads and accounts: Get alerts on job changes, posts, and growth signals—perfect timing for outreach.

3. Warm it up: Engage with posts, comment thoughtfully, and reference specifics before you message.

4. Personalized InMail: Short, specific, value-forward. One ask, not three.

5. Lists and tags: Organize by vertical or play. Track progress without juggling spreadsheets.

6. CRM sync: Log activity so sequences and follow-ups never slip.

Better targeting plus relevant context equals higher reply rates.

How to Display LinkedIn Sales Navigator Skills on Your Resume

10. Market Research

Market research gathers the signals—audience needs, channel behavior, pricing sensitivity—so ad strategies hit with precision.

Why It's Important

It reduces guesswork, sharpens positioning, and directs dollars to places that move the needle.

How to Improve Market Research Skills

1. Start with the question: Define decisions you need to make. Let that shape methods.

2. Mix methods: Qual (interviews, panels) for the why; quant (surveys, analytics) for the how much.

3. Leverage first-party data: CRM, site analytics, and campaign performance reveal real buyer behavior.

4. Social listening: Watch topics, pain points, and competitor mentions your audience cares about.

5. Competitor sweeps: Offers, messaging, pricing cues, and channel mix—then position to stand apart.

6. Pilot and measure: Run small tests, track lift, and scale what wins.

7. Trend tracking: Keep tabs on industry reports and shifts in buyer preferences; update your playbook quarterly.

Insights aren’t reports—they’re choices made with more confidence.

How to Display Market Research Skills on Your Resume

11. Negotiation

Negotiation in ad sales aligns value, pricing, and terms so both sides can win—campaign goals met, margins protected, relationships intact.

Why It's Important

It turns interest into signed IOs without eroding value. Long-term partnerships are built here.

How to Improve Negotiation Skills

1. Preparation as leverage: Know your inventory, outcomes, benchmarks, and walk-away points.

2. Anchor on value: Tie price to business impact—reach, lift, qualified pipeline—not just impressions.

3. Structured give/get: If you move on rate, gain term length, volume, or case study rights.

4. Package smartly: Bundle formats and placements to meet objectives and protect CPMs.

5. Listen for constraints: Budgets, timing, approvals—solve the blocker and the deal moves.

6. Protect the future: Mind renewal clauses, makegoods, and measurement so next quarter is smoother.

Calm, clear, and curious beats hardball nine times out of ten.

How to Display Negotiation Skills on Your Resume

12. Cold Calling

Cold calling reaches prospects who haven’t raised a hand yet. Done right, it opens doors that would stay shut.

Why It's Important

It builds pipeline on demand, uncovers timing and fit, and sparks conversations that ads alone won’t.

How to Improve Cold Calling Skills

1. Research first: Know the company, role, and a likely pain. Two minutes of prep earns two minutes on the call.

2. Lead with relevance: A crisp opener: who you help, how, and why it matters to them.

3. Listen like a pro: Ask short questions. Reflect what you hear. Adjust the pitch in real time.

4. Handle brush-offs: Acknowledge, reframe, and offer a next step that respects their calendar.

5. Follow-up cadence: Multi-channel touches—calls, email, LinkedIn—spaced with intent, not noise.

6. Refine continuously: Track talk time, connects, meetings set, and outcomes. Keep what works, cut what doesn’t.

Preparation, personalization, persistence. That trio pays.

How to Display Cold Calling Skills on Your Resume