An industrial cleaning sales manager heads the team selling degreasing, hydroblasting and tank cleaning to factories, food plants and warehouses, and closes the largest plant accounts personally. The job is setting the rate sheet, coaching reps through slow plant buying decisions and keeping shutdown work booked months ahead.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, building services companies · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $63,920, middle half $73,930 to $143,320, 90th percentile $201,990. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
General Manager
Department
Sales
Schedule
40-hour weeks with territory travel · Regular plant visits and industry events, some evening client events, and on-call time in busy periods or emergencies
Also called
Business development manager · Industrial sales manager · Director of sales · Regional sales manager
Responsible for driving and managing sales growth within the industrial cleaning and degreasing sector. Develops and executes strategic sales plans to secure commercial and industrial cleaning contracts. Provides leadership and mentoring to the sales team, ensuring consistent achievement of targets. Plays a critical role in expanding the company’s market presence and enhancing customer satisfaction.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Sets clear and ambitious sales goals while aligning team activities with overall business objectives.
Mentors, trains, and supports sales representatives to optimize their performance and professional growth.
Actively identifies and pursues commercial and industrial cleaning contracts to expand the client base.
Collaborates with marketing, operations, and customer service teams to ensure a unified approach to sales.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Conducts proactive outreach to potential commercial and industrial clients.
Reviews and analyzes individual and team sales metrics to ensure targets are met.
Organizes regular team meetings and one-on-one coaching sessions to address performance challenges.
Leads negotiations and closes deals with key accounts in the industrial cleaning sector.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
New Sales Closed per Month: Minimum of 5 contracts per month.
Revenue Growth: Achieve a minimum monthly increase of 10% over the previous month.
Pipeline Conversion Rate: Attain a conversion rate of at least 30% from lead to sale.
Customer Satisfaction Rating: Maintain an average client satisfaction rating of 4.8 stars or higher.
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
Bachelor’s degree in Business, Marketing, or related field.
Minimum of 5 years’ experience in sales, preferably in the home services or industrial cleaning industry.
Proven leadership skills with the ability to mentor and motivate a diverse team.
Excellent communication, negotiation, and customer relationship skills.
6. Preferred Experience
Prior experience managing sales teams within industrial cleaning, degreasing, or related home services sectors.
History of exceeding sales targets in a competitive market environment.
Demonstrated success in developing and executing strategic sales plans.
Familiarity with CRM systems and sales analytics tools.
7. Physical Requirements
Ability to travel to various commercial and industrial sites as required.
Occasional lifting of sales collateral and marketing materials.
Capability to work in varying environmental conditions when visiting client locations.
Extended periods of sitting or standing during client meetings and presentations.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Standard work hours of 40 hours per week with occasional extended hours for client events.
Regular travel to client sites and industry events within the assigned territory.
On-call responsibilities during critical sales periods or client emergencies.
A dynamic work environment that includes team collaboration sessions and independent project work.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Base salary range: $80,000 - $100,000 USD per annum based on experience.
Attractive commission structure and performance-based bonuses.
Comprehensive benefits package including Health, Dental, Vision, and 401k.
Additional perks such as company car allowance, professional development opportunities, and flexible work arrangements.
10. Company Culture and Overview
We are a forward-thinking organization committed to excellence in the industrial cleaning services industry.
Our culture is collaborative, innovative, and highly supportive of personal and professional growth.
We value diverse perspectives and foster a work environment where creativity and success are celebrated.
Join us to be part of an energetic team dedicated to making a significant impact in our community and industry.
11. How to Apply
If you meet the above criteria and want to be part of a growth-oriented company focused on customer satisfaction, please send your resume to [INSERT EMAIL HERE] or apply online at [INSERT WEBSITE LINK HERE].
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What makes industrial cleaning sales management different
Plant work is sold to several people at once, often long before the job, and public and federal sites buy through their own systems. The sales manager decides how the team prices and where it hunts.
North Dakota won't enforce a rep's noncompete
North Dakota law voids any contract that keeps a person from a lawful profession, trade or business, to that extent. The exceptions cover selling a business's goodwill and owners who split up or leave the company, not employees. So plan for a rep leaving: make sure each key plant also knows your operations manager and field supervisor, and log every contact in the CRM. Rules differ in other states. Source: North Dakota Century Code chapter 9-08, section 9-08-06 (contracts in restraint of business).
State work comes through a bid portal
In North Dakota, state agencies and institutions post bids in NDBuys. Suppliers must register there and pick the right commodity codes to join new bids and get the automatic email notices. Give one person the job of keeping the registration and codes current in each state you serve, and have them check new postings every week. Source: North Dakota Office of Management and Budget: NDBuys.
Most plant work runs off a rate sheet
Plants often buy by the hour and the unit rather than by the job. The sales manager owns the yearly rate sheet: straight and overtime crew rates, truck and pump rates, standby time, travel and waste handling. Reps quote from it and can't change it without approval, and every update goes to the office the day it takes effect.
Sell next year's shutdown this year
Plants pick their outage contractors well before the line stops. Coach reps to ask each maintenance planner when the next outage list gets set and who approves it, then book a site walk before that date. A rep who shows up the month of the shutdown tends to find the work already given out.
Three people usually sign off
At many plants the maintenance manager wants the job done, safety wants your written programs and training records, and purchasing wants the price and the paperwork. When your crew will do turnaround or other specialty work next to a process that OSHA's process safety rule covers, the plant must check your safety performance and programs before it picks you. Teach reps to meet all three people early, and when a deal stalls, ask in coaching which one is missing. Source: OSHA: 29 CFR 1910.119(h), process safety management, contractors.
How much industrial cleaning & degreasing sales managers make
Sales managers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $99,910 a year ($48.04 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the $148,270 median for sales managers in all industries. About 1,470 of the 637,080 sales managers in that survey work for building services companies.
Expect a base salary and either commission or a bonus on team results, with a car allowance at many firms. Before commission, the template's base band tops out near the median BLS reports for sales managers in this industry.
Building services companies
$99,910$99,910 median Middle half $73,930–$143,320 10th–90th $63,920–$201,990
All industries
$148,270$148,270 median Middle half $100,360–$207,340 10th–90th $73,170–$290,540
$0k$50k$100k$150k$200k$250k$300k$350k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
Building services companies
$63,920
$73,930
$99,910
$143,320
$201,990
All industries
$73,170
$100,360
$148,270
$207,340
$290,540
BLS doesn’t publish pay for industrial cleaning companies on their own. These figures cover services to buildings and dwellings, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
The pay line in the template above is an example from our Role Blueprint. Set yours from these figures and what local companies pay.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Has led a team that sold a service to plants, contractors or facilities
Builds a rate sheet and knows the margin behind each line
Coaches each rep from joint plant walks and reviews of their calls
Reads a plant contract and flags the terms that need the general manager
Keeps the pipeline honest in the CRM, with real dates and next steps
Teach these on the job
Each service's crew size, equipment and time on site
Plant safety terms reps will hear on site walks
Federal and state bid portals and registrations
Which branch covers which plants in the territory
How the company's estimating tool builds a quote
A CRM such as Salesforce, HubSpot or Pipedrive holds the pipeline, and quotes are usually built from the rate sheet in a spreadsheet or estimating tool. Many large plants run bids and invoices through a supplier portal, often SAP Ariba or Coupa, so someone on the team has to know how to work in them.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Bid discipline
A rep wants to win a fixed-price contract by cutting the estimate below your margin floor. What do you do?
A strong answer: Reviews the assumptions, considers time-and-materials or phased pricing, and walks away if the numbers don't work.
Behavioral · Coaching
Tell me about a time you coached a technical salesperson to improve.
A strong answer: Diagnosed the gap through call or site-walk reviews, practiced with them, and measured the change in proposals or wins.
The template's goals are illustrations. Base yours on last year's closed contracts and monthly revenue, since shutdown seasons make some months much bigger than others.
New Sales Closed per Month
Count signed contracts, master agreements and first purchase orders from new plant accounts in the month they're signed. Keep repeat orders under existing agreements in a separate count so this number shows only new business.
Revenue Growth
Compare each month's billed revenue from sales-managed accounts with the month before and the same month last year. Shutdown months swing hard, so the year-over-year view tells you more than one month alone.
Pipeline Conversion Rate
Divide deals won by qualified leads that entered the pipeline in the same period. Agree first on what counts as qualified, such as a booked site walk or a written request for a quote, so the rate compares fairly over time.
Customer Satisfaction Rating
After each job closes, ask the plant contact for a quick rating of the work. Track scores by account and by service, so a weak service line shows up well before renewal talks start.
Which physical tasks come with the template's site travel and lifting lines?
They describe plant visits. Tasks include driving to plants in the territory, carrying sample kits, binders and a trade show display, walking production floors and outdoor tank farms in the gear the plant requires, and standing through presentations or sitting through long bid meetings. The plant gives a safety orientation, and the manager follows it like any visitor.
How much does an industrial cleaning & degreasing sales manager make?
Sales managers who work for building and home services companies earned a median of $99,910 a year ($48.04 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $73,930 and $143,320 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Who should price a large shutdown, sales or operations?
Both. The sales manager owns the rates and the customer's terms, and the operations manager owns the crew count, equipment and hours. Build the estimate together, and have operations sign the labor plan before the price goes out. When a bid is lost, look at it together too, to learn whether price or scope cost you the job.
What background makes a good industrial cleaning sales manager?
Look for people who have sold a service into plants, such as industrial maintenance, chemical supply, waste hauling, safety equipment or plant staffing. They already know how purchasing, safety and maintenance share the decision. A manager from home services sales may need time to adjust to long sales cycles and to buyers who ask for written safety programs before price.
When would a sales manager here get an after-hours call?
A key account may call when a line is down or an inspection is coming. In that moment the sales manager confirms the request, gets operations moving and keeps the customer posted, but doesn't run the crew. Afterward, ask whether the emergency points to regular service the plant should buy.
