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The differences between consumer sales representatives and customer service representatives can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 6-12 months to become both a consumer sales representative and a customer service representative. Additionally, a consumer sales representative has an average salary of $38,514, which is higher than the $32,260 average annual salary of a customer service representative.
The top three skills for a consumer sales representative include broadband, product knowledge and inbound calls. The most important skills for a customer service representative are cleanliness, POS, and data entry.
| Consumer Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Yearly salary | $38,514 | $32,260 |
| Hourly rate | $18.52 | $15.51 |
| Growth rate | -4% | -4% |
| Number of jobs | 216,394 | 209,515 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 4 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 12 |
Customer sales representatives' primary role is to present their employer's offerings to potential buyers. They may work out of an office, travel to conferences where their offerings might be suitable to attendees. It is their responsibility as customer sales representatives to get people to buy physical items, such as cars, new windows for their home, and skincare products. They perform a variety of tasks promoting their employer's offerings, sell policies for insurance companies, promote bundle deals for telecommunication industries, gym membership plans, and persuade parents to let their children join the tutoring system.
Customer service representatives are the first point of contact of the customers, acting as the frontiers of the company and help in driving customer loyalty and retention by leaving a great impression and resolving all of their concerns. They accommodate customer queries by providing useful and comprehensive information about any products or services. Some would use that as an opportunity to market and promote more sales. The most challenging issues they use to handle are customer complaints and processing of refunds and returns. They also assist in basic troubleshooting or accounts and payment setup with the use of specific guidelines or step by step procedures. At most, they help and solve customer issues on their own, but sometimes they would need support from supervisors or other departments.
Consumer sales representatives and customer service representatives have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Consumer Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average salary | $38,514 | $32,260 |
| Salary range | Between $21,000 And $67,000 | Between $25,000 And $41,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Des Moines, WA |
| Highest paying state | - | Washington |
| Best paying company | - | Oracle |
| Best paying industry | - | Insurance |
There are a few differences between a consumer sales representative and a customer service representative in terms of educational background:
| Consumer Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 57% | High School Diploma, 33% |
| Most common major | Business | Business |
| Most common college | - | - |
Here are the differences between consumer sales representatives' and customer service representatives' demographics:
| Consumer Sales Representative | Customer Service Representative | |
| Average age | 40 | 40 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 39.8% Female, 60.2% | Male, 30.5% Female, 69.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.3% Hispanic or Latino, 19.4% Asian, 6.8% White, 56.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% | Black or African American, 11.6% Unknown, 5.2% Hispanic or Latino, 21.2% Asian, 6.3% White, 55.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.7% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |