A commercial refrigeration sales manager runs a branch's sales reps and grows repeat work with supermarkets, restaurants and cold storage warehouses. They set agreement prices with the general manager, lead chain bids, and make sure contracts renew before they lapse.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Annual pay: 10th percentile $83,210, middle half $104,040 to $181,000, 90th percentile $230,300. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025.
Reports to
General Manager
Department
Sales
Schedule
Weekdays, office and customer sites · Split between the office and customer sites, with some overnight trips to chain offices and early or late store meetings
Also called
Branch sales manager · Commercial sales manager · Service agreement sales manager · Business development manager
You'll lead the branch's sales team and grow recurring revenue: preventive maintenance agreements, equipment replacements and install projects for grocery stores, restaurants and cold storage. You set pricing rules with the General Manager, coach the Sales Representatives, and run bids for multi-site accounts.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Hire, coach and manage the Sales Representatives and their territories.
Set service agreement pricing by equipment count, visit frequency and response time, with the General Manager.
Lead bids and proposals for multi-site accounts, such as regional grocery chains and restaurant groups.
Work with the Project Manager & Estimator on large install proposals and with the Service Manager on replacement quotes.
Build the sales forecast and pipeline report, and keep the CRM accurate.
Run agreement renewals so expiring contracts are renewed before they lapse.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review the pipeline and each rep's calls, site visits and proposals.
Join reps on key meetings with facility directors, owners and franchisees.
Pick which open replacement quotes from the service department need an in-person follow-up.
Check agreements coming up for renewal in the next [90] days.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
New service agreement revenue: [your target].
Agreement renewal rate: [your target].
Proposal close rate: [your target].
Install backlog sold: [your target].
Sales against forecast: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[5+] years of business-to-business sales in commercial refrigeration, HVAC, foodservice equipment or facility services, including [2+] years managing salespeople.
A track record selling recurring service contracts.
Enough technical knowledge to talk through walk-ins, display cases and condensing units with a facility manager.
Experience with a CRM such as [your CRM].
6. Preferred Experience
Relationships with grocery, restaurant or cold storage buyers in [your region].
Experience answering formal requests for proposal from chains or property groups.
Experience explaining the refrigerant phase-down and replacement options to owners.
7. Physical Requirements
Office work with time at a computer and on the phone.
Walk customer back rooms, walk-ins and machine rooms on site visits.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Split between the office and customer sites in [territory].
Overnight travel to chain headquarters: [how often].
Occasional early or late meetings around store hours.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new sales manager gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
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What makes commercial refrigeration sales management different
Your buyers run food businesses, where one failed walk-in can mean a dumpster full of stock. They weigh response time and track record next to price, and the points below follow from that.
Build the price sheet from the equipment list
A cafe with a few reach-ins and an ice machine and a grocer with a rack, long lines of cases and a walk-in freezer can't share a price. Build a sheet by equipment type, visits per year and promised response time, and let reps change only the counts. Each quarter, pull the agreements that ran over their labor budget and fix the price at renewal.
Undersized boxes are a code problem
The FDA's model Food Code, 2026 edition, says a food business needs enough cooling and cold holding equipment to keep food at the code's temperatures. Local health departments enforce their state's or county's version. When a tech writes up a box that runs nonstop and still can't hold, send a rep. The owner may have added menu items or stock the old unit can't carry, and that's a replacement sale. Source: FDA Food Code 2026, section 4-301.11: Cooling, heating, and holding capacities.
Renewal clauses can need a notice
Some states limit auto-renewal in maintenance contracts. New York is one example. There, a contractor can't hold a customer to an automatic renewal of a service or repair contract unless it first sends a written reminder that points to that clause. It must go by hand or certified mail, no earlier than 30 and no later than 15 days before the customer's cancel-by date. Have a lawyer check your agreement form for each state you sell in. Source: New York General Obligations Law 5-903: Automatic renewal of service, maintenance or repair contracts.
Franchise brands have a say
A restaurant franchisee may sign your agreement while the brand decides which equipment goes in and who may work on it. Before reps spend weeks on a franchise group, learn which calls the owner makes and which the brand makes. Ask, too, if you need to be an approved vendor first.
Win chain bids on the site walk
A regional chain's request for proposal may list stores, cases and response times that don't match what's on the floor. Walk a sample of stores with a rep and a lead technician, price what you find, and attach the equipment list your price covers. That list settles arguments about scope for the life of the contract.
How much commercial refrigeration sales managers make
Sales managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $137,120 a year ($65.92 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 1,260 of the 637,080 sales managers in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Most plans pair a base salary with a bonus or an override tied to the branch's agreement and project sales. Some also pay on renewals so the book doesn't shrink while new sales grow.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$137,120$137,120 median Middle half $104,040–$181,000 10th–90th $83,210–$230,300
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
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$83,210
$104,040
$137,120
$181,000
$230,300
All industries
$73,170
$100,360
$148,270
$207,340
$290,540
BLS doesn’t publish pay for refrigeration contractors on their own. These figures cover plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Coaching outside reps through ride-alongs and weekly pipeline reviews
Pricing recurring service by equipment, visit count and response time
Writing proposals and RFP answers for multi-site accounts
Talking through walk-ins, display cases and condensing units with a facility manager
Keeping a CRM forecast the general manager can trust
Teach these on the job
Your branch labor rates, truck stock and after-hours coverage
How your service software turns tech findings into quotes
Which install jobs your crews can take, and when
Your agreement form and the renewal notice steps in each state
Each chain's vendor portal and onboarding paperwork
Expect to live in your CRM, tied to the service software that holds each site's equipment list and the techs' open quotes. A pricing workbook for agreements and a tablet with site photos cover most bid work.
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 · Saving renewals
A restaurant group's agreement renews in two months, and they've complained about response times. What do you do?
A strong answer: Gets the data from the Service Manager, meets them early, owns problems, presents fixes, and renews on fair terms.
Behavioral · Coaching reps
Tell me about a rep you coached who struggled to show restaurant or grocery owners what preventive maintenance saves them.
A strong answer: Names the gaps (site surveys, pricing, explaining fewer emergency calls and less lost product), how they coached, and how agreement sales changed.
Set each target from the branch's last year of sales and renewals, then adjust it every quarter with the general manager.
New service agreement revenue
Add the yearly value of agreements signed in the period, counted on the signed date. Keep renewals and price increases on existing sites out of it.
Agreement renewal rate
Of the agreements that reached their end date in the period, count the share that renewed. Track lost ones by reason: price, service complaints or a store closing.
Proposal close rate
Divide proposals won by proposals sent, by rep and by type: agreements, replacements and installs. Count a proposal once, even when it was revised.
Install backlog sold
Total the signed install and replacement work not yet built, from the project manager and estimator's job list. Review it with operations so reps sell into open crew weeks.
Sales against forecast
Compare each month's booked sales to the forecast you gave the general manager, by rep. Note what moved: a lost bid, a delayed remodel or a chain that paused.
What physical tasks come with a refrigeration sales manager's site visits?
The template says this job walks back rooms, walk-ins and machine rooms. That means touring a store's back hall with a rep and stepping into walk-ins to read equipment tags. It also means looking over condensing units in a machine room. In the ad, name each of these tasks and about how often the manager visits stores, and offer to discuss reasonable accommodation.
How much does a commercial refrigeration sales manager make?
Sales managers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $137,120 a year ($65.92 an hour) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $104,040 and $181,000 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and bonus terms.
Who owns a replacement quote, sales or service?
The tech writes up the problem, and the service manager signs off on the quote. Sales steps in when the owner needs options, a price or a meeting. Set a rule for which quotes go to sales, such as a whole condensing unit or a walk-in system. Pay commission only on those, so reps and techs don't fight over small repairs.
How can you test a refrigeration sales manager candidate?
Give finalists a short site list: a restaurant with reach-ins, a walk-in and an ice machine, and a small grocer with a rack and display cases. Ask how they'd price each, what they'd check on the site walk, and how they'd coach a rep who lost the grocer on price. Strong candidates ask about response time and visit count before naming a number.
How early should agreement renewals start?
Treat the template's look-ahead window as a floor. Chain agreements can need more time because pricing reviews and purchase approvals move slowly. Open each renewal with a cost check: compare the past year's labor and parts at that site to what the agreement paid, then decide whether to renew at the same price, reprice or change the visit schedule.
