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The differences between area sales directors and sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-8 years to become both an area sales director and a sales manager. Additionally, an area sales director has an average salary of $90,206, which is higher than the $73,952 average annual salary of a sales manager.
The top three skills for an area sales director include customer service, CRM and sales management. The most important skills for a sales manager are product knowledge, customer satisfaction, and sales performance.
| Area Sales Director | Sales Manager | |
| Yearly salary | $90,206 | $73,952 |
| Hourly rate | $43.37 | $35.55 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 77,250 | 119,066 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 8 | 8 |
Area sales directors manage, train, and motivate the organization's team members to run revenue growth. Besides developing and managing efficient sales distribution networks, area sales directors also create reliable marketing strategies and sales strategies for the sales team's target setting and assigned territory. These professionals collect market feedback and customer feedback and update the organization about these comments/responses. They engage in periodical forecasting, analyze sales information, monitor sales team members' performance, and update the company heads.
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.
Area sales directors and sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Area Sales Director | Sales Manager | |
| Average salary | $90,206 | $73,952 |
| Salary range | Between $57,000 And $141,000 | Between $42,000 And $129,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Jersey City, NJ |
| Highest paying state | - | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | - | Capgemini |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between an area sales director and a sales manager in terms of educational background:
| Area Sales Director | Sales Manager | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 63% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | University of Southern California | University of Southern California |
Here are the differences between area sales directors' and sales managers' demographics:
| Area Sales Director | Sales Manager | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 67.2% Female, 32.8% | Male, 68.7% Female, 31.3% |
| Race ratio | 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% | 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 | 7% | 7% |