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Commercial director vs commercial sales manager

The differences between commercial directors and commercial sales managers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 8-10 years to become a commercial director, becoming a commercial sales manager takes usually requires 6-8 years. Additionally, a commercial director has an average salary of $143,615, which is higher than the $90,126 average annual salary of a commercial sales manager.

The top three skills for a commercial director include project management, kpis and healthcare. The most important skills for a commercial sales manager are customer service, sales targets, and CRM.

Commercial director vs commercial sales manager overview

Commercial DirectorCommercial Sales Manager
Yearly salary$143,615$90,126
Hourly rate$69.05$43.33
Growth rate10%5%
Number of jobs97,667144,012
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Average age3946
Years of experience108

What does a commercial director do?

Commercial Directors are executives who manage the performance and subsequent growth of the company. They lead activities related to the commerce side of the business. Commercial directors study the current trends in both the economic market and in the industry that the business operates in. They also study their target market. With this research, they devise ways to ensure that a company's performance will not decline as they navigate the changing market landscape. Commercial Directors should have good foresight and strong analytical skills to make sense of the current trends and how they would affect their future.

What does a commercial sales manager do?

Commercial sales managers have various duties and responsibilities. These include managing marketing campaigns via phone, direct mail, and the internet, supervising the sales executive teams to develop and maintaining good relations with healthcare professionals, and managing client relationships and identifying opportunities for new business. Additional duties include evaluating supply chain and logistics infrastructure, negotiating contract terms, and bidding on new projects. Commercial sales managers are also responsible for overseeing the company's business growth, identifying areas that can be developed, and generating quotes for prospective customers.

Commercial director vs commercial sales manager salary

Commercial directors and commercial sales managers have different pay scales, as shown below.

Commercial DirectorCommercial Sales Manager
Average salary$143,615$90,126
Salary rangeBetween $93,000 And $221,000Between $56,000 And $142,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CANewark, CA
Highest paying stateMassachusettsPennsylvania
Best paying companyEmergent BioSolutionsMicrosoft
Best paying industryManufacturingManufacturing

Differences between commercial director and commercial sales manager education

There are a few differences between a commercial director and a commercial sales manager in terms of educational background:

Commercial DirectorCommercial Sales Manager
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 67%Bachelor's Degree, 52%
Most common majorBusinessBusiness
Most common collegeUniversity of GeorgiaUniversity of Southern California

Commercial director vs commercial sales manager demographics

Here are the differences between commercial directors' and commercial sales managers' demographics:

Commercial DirectorCommercial Sales Manager
Average age3946
Gender ratioMale, 80.9% Female, 19.1%Male, 83.4% Female, 16.6%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 3.0% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 8.7% Asian, 8.2% White, 74.6% 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 Percentage10%7%

Differences between commercial director and commercial sales manager duties and responsibilities

Commercial director example responsibilities.

  • Monitor and manage budgets on each account to ensure high ROI and biggest bang for each buck.
  • Lead start-up of new far-east OEM partner, including selection process, technical & manufacturing management and relationship development.
  • Lead global project to commercialize expand portfolio of adhesive utilizing company synergies to establish a strong, highly-competitive distribution channel.
  • Define and implement the CRM and phone systems and infrastructure need to support commercialization efforts.
  • Create and maintain adoption measurement for SFDC resulting in increase usage of CRM tool, globally.
  • Institute metrics to document cost savings, purchase requisition turnaround, and number of POs issue.
  • Show more

Commercial sales manager example responsibilities.

  • Lead efforts on the renewable energy, energy efficiency and GHG goals & KPI's.
  • Manage the commercial agreements between Rolls-Royce and their customers (airline owners and/or operators) in the Americas region.
  • Analyze and manage export-import logistics for select Chilean products import to Spain.
  • Manage a team of sales executives to establish and maintain professional relationships with healthcare professionals in their prospective territories.
  • Produce accurate KPI reports for strategic and tactical decision making.
  • Experience in apply, commercial and residential HVAC products and installation accessories.
  • Show more

Commercial director vs commercial sales manager skills

Common commercial director skills
  • Project Management, 9%
  • KPIs, 8%
  • Healthcare, 8%
  • Business Development, 8%
  • Customer Service, 7%
  • Lead Generation, 5%
Common commercial sales manager skills
  • Customer Service, 59%
  • Sales Targets, 36%
  • CRM, 1%
  • Customer Satisfaction, 0%
  • Product Knowledge, 0%
  • Work Ethic, 0%

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