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Job outlook for area sales directors in the United States
Area sales director job growth summary. After extensive research, interviews, and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
The projected area sales director job growth rate is 5% from 2018-2028.
About 23,800 new jobs for area sales directors are projected over the next decade.
Area sales director salaries have increased 12% for area sales directors in the last 5 years.
There are over 114,543 area sales directors currently employed in the United States.
There are 77,250 active area sales director job openings in the US.
The average area sales director salary is $90,206.
Are area sales director jobs in demand?
Area sales director job and salary trends over time
Area sales director jobs over time
Area sales director job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 114,543 | 0.03% |
| 2020 | 98,482 | 0.03% |
| 2019 | 101,620 | 0.03% |
| 2018 | 95,675 | 0.03% |
| 2017 | 93,747 | 0.03% |
Average area sales director salary over time
Area sales director salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | $90,206 | $43.37 | +4.5% |
| 2025 | $86,353 | $41.52 | +1.9% |
| 2024 | $84,703 | $40.72 | +2.6% |
| 2023 | $82,549 | $39.69 | +2.6% |
| 2022 | $80,435 | $38.67 | +3.6% |
Area sales director jobs by state
Most common states for area sales directors
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 288 | 42% |
| 2 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 229 | 26% |
| 3 | Iowa | 3,145,711 | 674 | 21% |
| 4 | Arkansas | 3,004,279 | 628 | 21% |
| 5 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 658 | 16% |
| 6 | Oklahoma | 3,930,864 | 626 | 16% |
| 7 | Massachusetts | 6,859,819 | 1,042 | 15% |
| 8 | Alabama | 4,874,747 | 754 | 15% |
| 9 | Louisiana | 4,684,333 | 712 | 15% |
| 10 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 433 | 14% |
| 11 | Mississippi | 2,984,100 | 409 | 14% |
| 12 | Rhode Island | 1,059,639 | 143 | 13% |
| 13 | Vermont | 623,657 | 82 | 13% |
| 14 | Illinois | 12,802,023 | 1,558 | 12% |
| 15 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 995 | 12% |
| 16 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 690 | 12% |
| 17 | Minnesota | 5,576,606 | 589 | 11% |
| 18 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 181 | 11% |
| 19 | Delaware | 961,939 | 108 | 11% |
| 20 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 62 | 11% |
Most common cities for area sales directors
| Rank | City | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl | Avg. salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lynnwood | 2 | 5% | $94,689 |
| 2 | Ocala | 1 | 2% | $74,422 |
| 3 | Sherman | 1 | 2% | $83,497 |
| 4 | Atlanta | 3 | 1% | $73,697 |
| 5 | Fort Lauderdale | 1 | 1% | $69,950 |
| 6 | Norman | 1 | 1% | $69,000 |
| 7 | Schaumburg | 1 | 1% | $100,116 |
| 8 | Wilmington | 1 | 1% | $81,803 |
| 9 | Anaheim | 1 | 0% | $89,051 |
| 10 | Charlotte | 1 | 0% | $81,018 |
| 11 | Chicago | 1 | 0% | $100,401 |
| 12 | Indianapolis | 1 | 0% | $91,250 |
| 13 | Los Angeles | 1 | 0% | $89,620 |
| 14 | Miami | 1 | 0% | $69,419 |
| 15 | New York | 1 | 0% | $114,103 |
| 16 | Orlando | 1 | 0% | $73,223 |
| 17 | Sacramento | 1 | 0% | $104,798 |
| 18 | San Francisco | 1 | 0% | $103,830 |
Area Sales Director job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of area sales director experts
Texas Christian University
Baylor University
Longwood University
Montana State University
Michigan State University
Fordham University
Western State College of Law
Western Oregon University
MHI – Material Handling Industry
Ken Corbit Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice in MarketingTexas Christian University
Specialized Sales, Merchandising And Marketing Operations
What general advice would you give to an Area Sales Director?
Ken Corbit Ph.D.: Strategic
Company Selection:
Focus on joining companies with robust sales training programs, emphasizing consultative selling. Look for organizations that invest in your development, providing live calling experiences, quota-driven sales processes, and exposure to tools like Salesforce.
Tech
Proficiency and Sales Tools Mastery:
Familiarize yourself with cutting-edge sales technologies, including CRM tools like Salesforce. Your proficiency in these tools will not only streamline your sales processes but also position you as a tech-savvy professional in the competitive sales landscape.
Hands-On
Experience:
Actively engage in live calling, take ownership of sales funnels, and work with senior hiring authorities during your training. This hands-on experience will not only build your confidence but also prepare you for the challenges of consultative selling.
Research
and Decision-Making Skills:
Develop strong research skills to evaluate companies based on fit, growth opportunities, compensation structures, and overall potential. This informed decision-making approach will set you apart and empower you to navigate the sales landscape strategically.
Mentorship
and Networking:
Seek mentorship both within and outside your organization. Building relationships with mentors who invest in your sales skills and knowledge will provide valuable insights. Additionally, actively participate in online forums to connect with practical sales
knowledge and best practices.
Andrea Dixon Ph.D.
Executive Director, Center for Professional Selling, Frank and Floy Smith Holloway Endowed Professorship in Marketing, President, University Sales Center Alliance 2019-2021Baylor University
Hankamer School of Business
What skills stand out on Area Sales Director resumes?
Andrea Dixon Ph.D.: Like salespeople, sales managers must focus their resumes on tangible, objective performance results that are achieved by their teams.
Growth in revenue or quota attainment for the overall team are examples of the types of objective performance results that matter.
High-performing sales managers also highlight long-term performance indicators, which includes both long-term revenue growth by the unit
AND investment metrics that signal the sales manager is building company results for the long run. For example, a high-performance sales manager focuses on building and maintaining a high-performing unit. Such a manager looks to move low performers to other roles where they can be successful.
Another investment metric that a sales manager can signal is the percent of their unit promoted to managerial roles in the organization.
What soft skills should all Area Sales Directors possess?
Andrea Dixon Ph.D.: Since sales professionals have a lot of information available to them today via customer relationship management (CRM) systems, the sales manager's "supervisory" role is less important (especially for experienced sellers). Consequently, the sales manager needs to be more of a coach and enabler of high performance. Having confidence balanced with humility allows the sales manager to engage more effectively with their salespeople.
One of the critical soft skills for sales managers going forward will be the ability to connect members of the sales team to others in the organization - in other words, the sales manager of the future needs to have strong skills in network building for others. Sellers have access to data which helps them build success.
They also need access to the right people to turn to when they need specific expertise or assistance.
What hard/technical skills are most important for Area Sales Directors?
Andrea Dixon Ph.D.: One of the growing technical skill requirements for sales managers is in the area of data analytics. Our performance and customer systems provide a myriad of data, and the role of the sales manager is to be a sense-maker of that mound of data. What are the implications for changes in strategy or behavior evident in last quarter's activity? How can the sales manager help a specific seller "see" where the data suggest new approaches?
What skills will help Area Sales Directors earn the most?
Andrea Dixon Ph.D.: People who can recognize patterns (in data, in people), build connections with and across others, create a focus on high-performance behaviors, and lead with a confident humility are those who will win today and in the future business environment.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Area Sales Directors to find work opportunities?
Dr. David Lehr: Most job growth will continue to be in urban centers and the surrounding suburbs. Rural areas will continue to struggle (remote work notwithstanding).
What skills stand out on Area Sales Director resumes?
Dr. David Lehr: Information flow skills, particularly surrounding data analytics.
What skills stand out on Area Sales Director resumes?
Dr. Angela Woodland Ph.D.: Skills that are immediately useful stand out on resumes. Right now, data analytics skills are in hot demand. A desirable job candidate should be able to import large data sets in various formats, clean data, manipulate data, interrogate data, and draw conclusions from the data. Additionally, the job candidate should be able to prepare informative and easy-to-follow data visualizations of the results. This skill set allows a job candidate to be immediately useful in an organization. It is the new way of analyzing and communicating.
Wyatt Schrock Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of MarketingMichigan State University
Broad College of Business
What type of skills will young Area Sales Directors need?
Wyatt Schrock Ph.D.: For graduates entering careers in sales, two skills that come to my mind are (1) listening skills and (2) analytical skills. First, I think listening is indeed a skill that can be developed with techniques and practice. Importantly, and for several reasons (e.g., building rapport, overcoming objections), I do not think you can be a good salesperson and be a bad listener. Second, I think analytical skills may be overlooked in terms of importance for salespeople. Certainly, selling is about relationship-building. However, and simultaneously, selling is also about delivering quantifiable value. It may be increasingly important for salespeople to have the ability to demonstrate exactly how or where they intend to help their customers grow revenue or reduce expenses.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Area Sales Directors?
Peter Johnson DPS: From an academic standpoint, I believe there will be a minimal long-lasting impact on our graduates. All students will be required to complete the necessary credits and be assessed for their performance. Many of their courses will be online, but there is currently no research body that clearly indicates that online teaching is significantly less effective than in class. Several studies of work from home (WFH) indicate comparable or increase productivity.
What type of skills will young Area Sales Directors need?
Peter Johnson DPS: There are three things that employers are looking for:
1. Demonstrated ability to solve problems
2. Ability to analyze and make decisions based on data
3. Communication skills with management, teams, and clients
What type of skills will young Area Sales Directors need?
Deirdre Kelly: Young graduates will need the same traditional legal skills that they have always needed. Additionally, they will need to be resilient and creative to weather a more challenging and ever-evolving work environment. They will need to be very disciplined and able to work independently, if they are working more remotely, and have enough technical skills to navigate the virtual world. New graduates will need to think about how they build relationships with their co-workers and develop mentors, as well as develop clients and networks, if the future means working remotely more and not as many in-person meetings.
What are the biggest trends we'll see in the Area Sales Director job market given the pandemic?
Adry S. Clark Ph.D.: The major change we've seen, so far, in the job market is the move to remote working and job cuts in some significant sectors. This will probably mean that we will see remote working become more common in the years to come. Companies will enhance their capacity to hire remote workers, and workers may look for opportunities where they can work from home.
While the 25-34 age group has been hit the most, those with high-school degrees or less have taken the greatest hit.
Employers are going to prioritize skills, more than specific roles, in order to be more flexible. I would encourage people to develop critical skills that potentially open up multiple opportunities for their career development, rather than preparing for a specific next role. That may mean that English majors develop some skills that are technical, such as writing blogs or writing web content.
Michael Mikitka
Executive Vice PresidentMHI – Material Handling Industry
Knowledge Center and Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC)
What type of skills will young Area Sales Directors need?
Michael Mikitka: Courses and internships are essential. While the required depth of knowledge may vary from one position to another, employers are generally looking for candidates with strong "people-related" skills, those who are willing to continue to learn, and those with the ability to be flexible and adapt.
By "people-related" skills, I mean the abilities associated with effective communication (listen and express ideas and direction) and the skills related to working independently and a team.
As for the interest to continually learn... from a technology, data, and equipment perspective, today's supply chain looks very different than it did 10-years ago. The willingness and ability to continually learn are essential for anyone in a leadership role.
As for flexibility and adapting...supply chain/logistics is as much about responding to disruption and demand as it is planning for it. There is a predictable demand (i.e., seasonal...everyone knows when back-to-school shopping begins). Then there is the unpredictable demand (i.e., power-outages, wildfires, pandemic) that impact market and the ability to operate. Candidates that express flexibility and problem-solving skills will be much sought-after.