Associate/team lead vs store sales associate

The differences between associate/team leads and store sales associates can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an associate/team lead and a store sales associate. Additionally, an associate/team lead has an average salary of $54,721, which is higher than the $30,284 average annual salary of a store sales associate.

The top three skills for an associate/team lead include excellent interpersonal, product knowledge and quality standards. The most important skills for a store sales associate are sales floor, POS, and product knowledge.

Associate/team lead vs store sales associate overview

	Associate/Team Lead	Store Sales Associate
Yearly salary	$54,721	$30,284
Hourly rate	$26.31	$14.56
Growth rate	-	-
Number of jobs	247,018	524,877
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Average age	43	43
Years of experience	6	6

What does an associate/team lead do?

An associate/team lead oversees the performance of team members while ensuring that clients get to receive optimal services. Their responsibilities typically include establishing guidelines and objectives, managing schedules, generating leads, performing market research and analysis, and developing strategies to optimize the daily operations. They may communicate with clients and assist them by identifying their needs, answering inquiries, and resolving issues and concerns. Moreover, as an associate/team lead, it is essential to guide and encourage staff to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's policies and regulations.

What does a store sales associate do?

A store sales associate is responsible for assisting store customers, directing them to the correct area of their needs, and responding to their inquiries and concerns regarding a product. Store sales associates also support the store's promotional campaigns, selling goods and services to the customers by demonstrating the product and its benefits. They keep the store premises clean and tidy to avoid any potential hazards during operations. A store sales associate must have excellent communication skills, especially on resolving customer complaints, processing replacements, and issuing refunds.

Associate/team lead vs store sales associate salary

Associate/team leads and store sales associates have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Associate/Team Lead	Store Sales Associate
Average salary	$54,721	$30,284
Salary range	Between $28,000 And $104,000	Between $23,000 And $39,000
Highest paying City	Boston, MA	Elizabeth, NJ
Highest paying state	Rhode Island	New Jersey
Best paying company	Citi	Rooms To Go
Best paying industry	-	Hospitality

Differences between associate/team lead and store sales associate education

There are a few differences between an associate/team lead and a store sales associate in terms of educational background:

	Associate/Team Lead	Store Sales Associate
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 50%	Bachelor's Degree, 47%
Most common major	Business	Business
Most common college	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi	SUNY College of Technology at Delhi

Associate/team lead vs store sales associate demographics

Here are the differences between associate/team leads' and store sales associates' demographics:

	Associate/Team Lead	Store Sales Associate
Average age	43	43
Gender ratio	Male, 51.8% Female, 48.2%	Male, 40.7% Female, 59.3%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.9% Asian, 7.0% White, 61.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%	Black or African American, 8.4% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 6.9% White, 61.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7%
LGBT Percentage	9%	9%

Differences between associate/team lead and store sales associate duties and responsibilities

Associate/team lead example responsibilities.

Accomplish requirements, allocating resources, scheduling and coordinating staff and assure accuracy of payroll.
Ensure all sales transactions, refunds and POS system function smoothly and take corrective action when necessary.
Process sales transactions, POS, credit applications, discounts, trade-in allowances, warranties and delivery dates.
Provide leadership and mentoring of team members to increase productivity while ensuring accuracy.
Handle inbound/outbound escalate customer complaints, including executive escalations from various levels of leadership.
Aggregate, analyze and organize information from QC reports into a department-wide WIKI to facilitate information sharing and best practice utilization.

Store sales associate example responsibilities.

Manage to sales KPI's (including sales and expense budget numbers), assuring efficient and effective use of resources.
Earn management trust by serving as keyholder, responsibly opening and closing the store.
Audit all jewelry counts daily, banking deposit log, cashier logs, sales logs.
Utilize the company's POS system to cash customers out or administer returns to the store.
Work as a sales associate and keyholder throughout the summer and a bit of the school year.
Help customers choose jewelry, pierce ears, open and close out register, set up displays.

Associate/team lead vs store sales associate skills

Common associate/team lead skills

Excellent Interpersonal, 18%
Product Knowledge, 9%
Quality Standards, 9%
Leadership, 7%
Math, 6%
Customer Satisfaction, 6%

Common store sales associate skills

Sales Floor, 20%
POS, 10%
Product Knowledge, 10%
Store Sales, 8%
Customer Service, 6%
Stock Room, 5%

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Sales Industry
Associate/Team Lead
Associate/Team Lead vs Store Sales Associate

Updated January 8, 2025

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