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The differences between account executives and sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a sales manager has an average salary of $73,952, which is higher than the $69,618 average annual salary of an account executive.
The top three skills for an account executive include customer service, CRM and healthcare. The most important skills for a sales manager are product knowledge, customer satisfaction, and sales performance.
| Account Executive | Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $69,618 | $73,952 |
| Hourly rate | $33.47 | $35.55 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 205,561 | 119,066 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Years of experience | - | 8 |
An account executive is responsible for supporting existing clients, closing client deals, and developing sales strategies to increase the company's sales and satisfaction. An account executive must be competitive enough to keep up with the constant changes in the sales industry, including the high demands of digital marketing, a different approach to product advertising, effective negotiation, and presentation skills. An account executive also requires excellent communication skills for the successful acquisition of client accounts and immediately resolve possible complaints as they arise.
Sales managers are responsible for leading the organization's sales team. They oversee the progress and performance of the whole team, set area assignments to team members, and set weekly or monthly quotas. Sales managers oversee training team members during onboarding and providing further coaching to help them achieve their goals. They manage the challenges that team members may meet and help mitigate any problems that come along the way. Sales managers also set the strategic direction of the sales team and follow through by ensuring that the team's activities are in line with the goals.
Account executives and sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Account Executive | Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $69,618 | $73,952 |
| Salary range | Between $44,000 And $109,000 | Between $42,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | Portland, OR | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | Oregon | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | Hitachi Vantara | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | Finance | - |
There are a few differences between an account executive and a sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Account Executive | Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 78% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between account executives' and sales managers' demographics:
| Account Executive | Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 44 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 57.2% Female, 42.8% | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.7% Unknown, 4.0% Hispanic or Latino, 16.3% Asian, 5.6% White, 66.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 3.2% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 9.8% Asian, 4.1% White, 78.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 7% |