How To Become A Consumer Sales Representative: What It Is and Career Path

What is a consumer sales representative and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Frederik Beuk,

John Cicala Ph.D.

Consumer sales representatives are the principal point of contact between a business and its customers. They ensure current consumers have the right products and services, identify new markets and customer leads, and pitch prospective consumers. Any industry that sells something can benefit from their services. They may work in office, or out of it, visiting workplaces or homes.

The duties and responsibilities that consumer sales representatives fulfill include, but are not limited to, knowing what the product is and what the company's background is. Moreover, they also follow leads and target people most likely to be interested in the products or services that the client or company is offering. They will also generate interest to gain people's attention and maintain relationships with the existing consumers by answering queries and helping in any way they can. Most consumer sales representatives hold a high school diploma, although a bachelor's degree in marketing is more preferable. Moreover, prior work experience in sales and marketing may prove beneficial.

The average hourly salary for the position is $15.26, which amounts to $31,744 annually. These figures may vary depending on commissions and other bonuses.

What general advice would you give to a consumer sales representative?

Frederik Beuk

Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Akron

The key consideration is whether you really want to maximize your initial salary. For instance, envision two job opportunities: one offering a salary of $50,000 per year, where you'd be the most junior team member, and the other providing $75,000 per year, with the caveat that you would be the sole sales representative for the firm. The optimal choice is to prioritize learning opportunities. In this context, being the lone salesperson for a company that compensates its highest-earning sales professional $75,000 might not be your superior option. Instead, seek a position that offers the greatest potential for learning. Subsequently, demonstrate your negotiating prowess, a critical sales skill, by securing a slightly higher salary. However, it's essential not to fixate on maximizing your starting salary. Your career requires a long-term strategy, and you have several decades ahead of you to maximize income.

ScoreConsumer Sales RepresentativeUS Average

Salary

3.0

Avg. Salary $38,514

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

5.9

Growth rate -4%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.69%

Asian 6.76%

Black or African American 11.63%

Hispanic or Latino 19.40%

Unknown 5.26%

White 56.25%

Gender

female 60.23%

male 39.77%

Age - 39

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 39

Stress level

5.9

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.6

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.5

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a consumer sales representative

Explore consumer sales representative education requirements

Most common consumer sales representative degrees

Bachelor's

56.6 %

Associate

19.1 %

High School Diploma

13.4 %

Start to develop specific consumer sales representative skills

Skills	Percentages
Broadband	40.40%
Product Knowledge	7.95%
Inbound Calls	6.78%
Outbound Calls	5.22%
Data Entry	3.73%

Complete relevant consumer sales representative training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New consumer sales representatives learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a consumer sales representative based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real consumer sales representative resumes.

Research consumer sales representative duties and responsibilities

Join online marketplace specializing in local deals to manage customer engagements while providing industry-best service.
Enroll consumer in health insurance supply information on different health plan medicaid, chp, episode etc
Verify medicaid waive eligibility for non-emergency transportation.
Make both inbound and outbound calls in order to sell DIRECTV products including upgrading services.

Prepare your consumer sales representative resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your consumer sales representative resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a consumer sales representative resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable consumer sales representative resume templates

Build a professional consumer sales representative resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your consumer sales representative resume.